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Archive for the ‘Parenting Law’ Category

Independent’s Pink List 2010 honours Natalie Gamble

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Gamble and Ghevaert is delighted that founding partner Natalie Gamble has been named in the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List 2010, the paper’s renowned annual review of the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain.  At number 88, Natalie is recognised as a “pioneer of fertility law” who was “heavily involved in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and nominated in 2008 as Stonewall’s Hero of the Year”.

The only practising lawyer named, Natalie is ranked alongside British gays and lesbians at the very top of a broad range of professions.  The Pink List 2010 includes politicians Lord Mandelson and Deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes, judges Lord Justice Etherton and Sir Adrian Fulford, former head of the Law Society Dame Janet Paraskeva, business leaders Lord Black (the Telegraph), Sir Michael Bishop (BMI) and Dawn Airey (CEO of Channel 5), theatre directors Sir Nicholas Hytner and Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor, Radio 4 broadcaster Evan Davis, poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Turner Prize winning painter Sir Howard Hodgkin, Rabbi Lionel Blue, authors Sarah Waters and Philip Hensher, fashion designers Christopher Bailey and John Galliano, actors John Barrowman, Fiona Shaw and Simon Russell Beale, and celebrities Stephen Fry, Sue Perkins, Matt Lucas, Gok Wan, Alan Carr, Will Young and Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills.  The number one spot - balanced fairly between the sexes - is rightly shared by leading business guru Mary Portas and courageous rugby player Gareth Thomas.

A new entrant to the list at number 88, Natalie is ranked among these pre-eminent individuals as the 25th most influential lesbian in today’s Britain.  Her inclusion recognises Natalie’s groundbreaking work as a leading fertility lawyer, and her work as a prominent champion and advocate of same sex parents.

Prime Minister David Cameron, writing in the Independent on Sunday 1 August, said “The wall of prejudice is chipped away by high-profile role models, by public celebrations, by a positive approach to diversity. That’s why I congratulate everyone on this list for doing their bit to inspire and change attitudes. This is a country where people can be proud of who they are – and quite right too.”

You can find out more about Natalie Gamble and her work or read the Independent’s Pink List 2010 in full.

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Posted in Gamble and Ghevaert news, Natalie Gamble, Parenting Law, Uncategorized, donor conception, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, lesbian parenting, same sex parenting | Comments Off

Judge rules that lesbian mum is not a ‘parent’

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

The High Court has decided that a lesbian (non birth) mother does not have to financially support the ten year old child she conceived together with her partner.  In a landmark decision, the  court has ruled that even though the mother was awarded ’parental responsibility’ for her child and the right to full involvement in her child’s care, she cannot be held financially responsible because, at law, she is not a ‘parent’. 

The decision highlights the complexity of concepts of parenthood as they apply to same sex parenting, and the problems that arise when relationships break down. 

It is not the first time that there have been difficulties over maintenance and financial responsibility.  Sperm donor Andy Bathie (represented by G&G partner Natalie Gamble) was pursued for maintenance by the CSA after the lesbian couple he donated to split up, because (as a biological father who had donated outside a licensed clinic) the law treated him, rather than the lesbian non-birth mother, as the children’s other ‘parent’.

The case also highlights why it is so important for lesbian couples who have children together to ensure that they secure their legal position fully as parents.  Lesbian non birth mothers are now automatically treated as the second  ’parent’ of any child they conceive with their partner, if the couple are civil partners at conception and/or the couple conceives at a UK licensed fertility clinic.  The new rules apply to children conceived after 6 April 2009 but are not retrospective.  For couples who have children together who were conceived before 2009, they will need to go through an adoption process to ensure that both partners (and no one else) are share responsibility fully, both legally and financially.

For more information about how the law applies to disputes between lesbian parents, see the parenting and children section on our website, and our pages for lesbian couples who conceive a family together.

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Fertility law, assisted reproduction and the importance of specialist legal advice

Friday, February 19th, 2010

By Louisa Ghevaert, partner at Gamble and Ghevaert LLP

If you are thinking about or undergoing fertility treatment or assisted reproduction you will no doubt spend time and energy thinking about a range of factors including success rates, clinics, cost, treatment options, egg and sperm donation, timescales and process.  However, will you stop and think about the importance of specialist fertility law advice?  You wouldn’t buy a house, get divorced or make a Will without first obtaining legal advice.  So why take any unnecessary risks when you are building your much wanted family?

Fertility treatment and assisted reproduction is often time consuming, stressful, expensive and emotionally draining.  Why potentially make matters worse by failing to get to grips with the legal issues? Fertility law often overrides biology and this can create the wrong legal outcome for the unwitting, particularly as many people have complicated personal lives and family arrangements.

If you need third party assistance to conceive are you confident that the law will recognise you as a legal parent?  Are you sure you can be named as parent on your child’s birth certificate?  Will you be able to exercise parental responsibility and for example consent to medical treatment and vaccinations for your baby? Are you sure about the legal status your partner, spouse, surrogate or donor will have for your child?

If you adopt a laissez-faire approach or lull yourself into a false sense of security that the legal side of things will be alright you could be doing yourself and your family a huge disservice.  Once you have conceived it’s often too late to avoid some of the legal pitfalls and you may then need complicated legal solutions further down the line.

If you take early specialist fertility law advice before you conceive and you tackle the legal issues as they apply to your particular circumstances you may save yourself a lot of heartache.  A well drafted donor agreement if you’re involving a known donor or a clear understanding of surrogacy law if you plan to conceive through surrogacy or a specialist Will could save you time, money and worry.

Don’t leave the legal side of things to chance.  Fertility law isn’t always well designed for modern twenty first century living.  Invest in specialist fertility law advice at the start and take control of your family’s future.

For more information about family building see our family building service.

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Posted in Co-parenting, Gamble and Ghevaert news, Louisa Ghevaert, Natalie Gamble, Parenting Law, Surrogacy, donor conception, family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, lesbian parenting | Comments Off

Louisa Ghevaert published in respected Family Law Journal

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Louisa Ghevaert’s article on the Changing Face of Parenthood has been published in August’s Family Law Journal.  

Louisa’s article reviews the concept of legal parenthood and considers how it has evolved remarkably over the past few decades, transforming from a relatively straightforward concept linked to marriage and biology, to something much more complex and multi-faceted.  Louisa’s reviews the changes which have prompted the law’s increasingly wide-ranging understanding of parenthood, including social changes to family structures, same sex parenting, fertility treatment, surrogacy and the recognition of the involvement of grandparents and other non-parent adults in parenting. 

More on parenting law from the Gamble and Ghevaert website.

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Posted in Co-parenting, Gamble and Ghevaert news, Louisa Ghevaert, Parenting Law, Surrogacy, donor conception, fertility law, lesbian parenting | Comments Off