Surrogacy
What is surrogacy itself?
- When a woman carries and gives birth to a child with the previously agreed intent of the child being given over to an individual or couple, who will then raise the child as their own
Types of surrogacy and relation to parental and legal rights
- Surrogacy law can get extremely complex
- To explain this, we will use an example family
- Parent F is the female parent of the child that is being had for them through surrogacy
- Parent M is the male parent of the child that is being had for them through surrogacy
- Surrogate F is the female, biological parent of the child, and is giving birth to them with the full intent of handing the child over to parent F and M
- Surrogate FN is the female, non-biological parent of the child – she has been given the eggs of parent F and with the sperm of parent M – she is simply carrying the child
- Surrogate M0 is the biological male parent of the child, which has been used to fertilise the egg given to the surrogate mother. Surrogate M0 is not the father in the relationship
- Parent M1 is the surrogate father who is a relationship with Parent F, and their sperm is being used to fertilise the egg given to the surrogate mother. They are also parent M.
- There are two main types of surrogacy:
- Partial, where the genetics are those of Surrogate F and Parent M1
- Total, where the genetics are those of Parent F and Parent M1
Now that we’ve set out the (complex!) guidelines, who is who to the child?
Surrogate F and Surrogate FN are both the mother of the child legally. If she has a husband, even if it is not his DNA, the husband will be treated as the legal father in certain circumstances.
Essentially, by using a surrogate, you lose a lot of rights to your child, including parental rights and responsibilities. However, this is where Parental Orders come in. Sterling Law will help you with this complex process to ensure you are recognised as the parents of the child. After the parental order, you and your partner will be the legal parents of the child, if the court accepts it.
CONSULTATIONWe value your time. After the consultation, we will let you know what the next steps are. We will request the documents we need, and only call you when necessary. We are proactive, will update you on your case as soon as we have any news so that you don’t need to call, meaning you can rest assured that no actions are needed from your side.
We haven’t forgotten about you, but we believe you’d rather spend time doing something that really matters than on the phone with a lawyer.
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Requirements
- The child that you wish to adopt must be under 18 (at the point when the application is made)
- The child must never have been married or in a civil partnership.
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