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Remedial Order permitting single applicants to apply for Parental Orders now in force
Olivia Stiles
As with the original Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, the Remedial Order provides that intended parents will have six months from the birth of their child in which to make their application for a parental order. The Remedial Order came into force at the start of 2019 and, as there was going to be a large number of single parents who by then would already have had children born following surrogacy arrangement, the Remedial Order gave a six month window within which they could retroactively apply for a parental order. This six month window expires on 2 July 2019 and eligible single parents whose children were born prior to 3 January 2019 will therefore have to submit their applications swiftly in order to comply.
All intended parents are required to do within the time limit is to have submitted their application for a parental order, which can be done by hand delivering it to the family court. For intended parents acting in person, it may be useful to prepare a covering letter to accompany your application and ask the court staff to date stamp it for you to keep for your records. For those instructing solicitors, they will deal with this for you.
In the event that an intended parent misses the six month time limit and does not lodge their application by 2 July, it is unlikely that this will be an absolute bar to applying for a parental order in the future but it could make their case more complicated. The ability to proceed will depend on the reason for the delay and the circumstances of the case.
If you have any questions or require advice about making an application for a parental order, either as a single application or as part of a couple, please contact a member of our family team.
You may also be interested in reading more about international surrogacy and the position in the UK HERE. Further information can also be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page about surrogacy and our previous blogs.
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
Olivia Stiles
Connie Atkinson
Connie Atkinson
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