Family Law Team
Family Law Specialists |
Surrogacy and Fertility Law
With the Family Departments considerable experience in all aspects of children’s law, we recognise and have the experience to offer specialist legal advice to a diverse range of families. These include married and unmarried couples and single people bringing up a child or wishing to have a child. A number of our Solicitors are members of the Law Society Children Panel with experience of representing and advising children in family proceedings. We are consequently well placed to offer a full service of advice and representation in this fast developing area of law.
Surrogacy
Surrogacy is increasingly looked to as an option for childless families, including domestic and international surrogacy. The law is complex and can be a minefield without specialist legal advice. In the case of international surrogacy, immigration law is also critical and it is usually necessary for families embarking on international adoption to obtain or access through us legal advice in the foreign country where they plan the surrogacy to take place. In these cases we work closely with specialist immigration lawyers to assist our clients in obtaining the necessary legal advice abroad.
The service we offer includes:-
- Advice to all involved in a proposed surrogacy, either domestic or international including to the proposed parents, the surrogate parent/s, the child and the children’s guardian in parental order or adoption proceedings.
- Advice and representation to proposed parents on the range of options available to them to obtain legal rights in respect of a surrogate child.
- Representation in parental order or adoption proceedings for all those involved in a surrogacy, including prospective parents, surrogate parent/s, the child or children’s guardian.
- Expert advice to local authorities, foreign lawyers or agencies and to clients living abroad, including on important issues in relation to surrogacy such as domicile.
Fertility Law
Fertility Law is at the cutting edge of legal practice as increasing numbers of families embark on alternative ways of having children. In addition to surrogacy, families are seeking to use donor gametes (either sperm or eggs) and frozen embryos.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 has introduced important changes both in surrogacy law, enabling civil partners or couples who are neither married or civil partners but are living as partners in ‘an enduring family relationship’, whether same sex or heterosexual. There are also important changes as to who the law recognises as a ‘parent of a child’. The latter is important in relation to who the law recognises as having parental responsibility for a child, inheritance and on family breakdown contact and child maintenance disputes.
Naomi Angell and Bridget Thompson provide specialist and sensitive advice in cases including:-
- Advice to birth parents, co-parents or donors on how the law applies and on what legal rights they will acquire on the birth of a baby or by subsequent agreement or court application.
- Advice to birth parents, co-parents, either same sex or otherwise, egg or sperm donors and the children involved in advising on who has parental responsibility or who or how additional people can acquire it.
- Representation to all involved in any dispute over who is recognised as a child’s legal parent, applying to change that legal status or how to acquire it.
- Advice and representation on family breakdown.
Where appropriate, we will assist our clients in resolving disputes by mediation or using collaborative law. |
