Surrogacy law pages
Welcome to our surrogacy law pages, where you can find a wealth of information put together by the UK's leading surrogacy solicitors.
Click on the links to the left to read our guidance on surrogacy law - whether you are heterosexual, gay or single, and whether your family is conceived at home or abroad. You can find out more about birth certificates, parental orders, Wills, the regulation of surrogacy, and problems with surrogacy law in the UK.
On this page you can access resources on surrogacy law including:
Judgments from leading English surrogacy law court cases
Media coverage on surrogacy law issues, here and on our blog
Published articles on surrogacy law
Other sites with useful information about surrogacy
Surrogacy law: Gamble and Ghevaert in the news
The national press and media frequently asks us to comment on surrogacy stories, and we have acted in several high profile surrogacy cases. Our media coverage includes:
The Pink List 2010 (ranking Natalie Gamble as a pioneer of fertility law and one of the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain) - The Independent on Sunday, 1 August 2010
Why can't I have a baby on my own? - (The Independent, 20 May 2010)
Couples who pay surrogate mothers could lose the right to raise the child - (The Observer, 5 April 2010)
New surrogacy law eases the way for gay men to become legal parents - (The Observer, 28 March 2010)
Ministers face a legal challenge over rules barring women who use a surrogate from receiving maternity pay - (Evening Standard, 27 October 2009)
Couple win battle to save frozen embryos from destruction - (The Times, 10 September 2009)
Woman's Hour on Surrogacy with Natalie Gamble - (BBC Radio 4, 19 June 2009)
Parents who hire foreign surrogates risk losing children - (Evening Standard 28 May 2009)
Surrogacy law is a global issue - (Evening Standard 21 May 2009)
Also see our media archive which includes:
BBC Radio 4, 27 January 2009 - File on Four ‘Surrogacy'
The Times, 12 December 2008 - British surrogacy ruling saves baby twins from Ukraine orphanage (by Mark Henderson)
The Daily Mail, 12 December 2008 - Couple win fight for custody of ‘stateless' surrogate twins (by Rebecca Camber)
Pinknews, 6 October 2008 - Stonewall awards attract top names to V&A ceremony (by Tony Grew) - Natalie Gamble nominated as Stonewall Hero of the Year
Surrogacy law articles:
We have had many published articles on surrogacy law. We are able to reproduce most of our published articles here, but please contact us if you want to read any of those mentioned which do not have a link.
Birth certificates: a new era? - Louisa Ghevaert (Bionews, May 2010)
Bringing up baby (the options for gay men) - Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert (Out in the City magazine, May 2010)
Fertility tourism: what you need to know from a legal perspective - Natalie Gamble (Infertility Network UK magazine, Winter 2010)
What happens when surrogacy goes wrong? The recent Indiana case in its wider context - Louisa Ghevaert (Bionews, February 2010)
International surrogacy, fertility tourism and the American Bar Association - Louisa Ghevaert (The Review, January/February 2010)
The chosen middle ground: England, surrogacy law and the international arena - Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert (International Family Law, November 2009)*
Moving surrogacy law forward? The Department of Health consultation on parental orders - Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert (Bionews, 3 November 2009)
Modern surrogacy in the UK - Natalie Gamble (The Review, September 2009)
Morally straightforward but legally complex: a welcome change to the new embryo storage rules - Natalie Gamble (Bionews, 14 September 2009)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008: revolution or evolution? - Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert (Family Law, August 2009)
Crossing the Line: the legal and ethical problems of foreign surrogacy - Natalie Gamble (Reproductive Biomedicine Online, August 2009)**
The Changing Face of Parenthood - Louisa Ghevaert (Family Law Journal, July/August 2009)
21st Century Surrogacy in the UK: Bust or Boom - Louisa Ghevaert (G&G Blog 29 May 2009)
Surrogacy laws in the UK:
The law which governs surrogacy in the UK is in three major pieces of legislation passed by Parliament. The Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 places restrictions on the conduct and arrangement of surrogacy in the UK. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 contains important laws regulating parenthood in assisted reproduction situations, and the rules on parental orders which were specifically designed for surrogacy. Both pieces of legislation were updated by the HFE Act 2008 last year.
You can read the law itself below, or you can use the links on the left to learn more about how these laws work in practice.
Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 – see section 30 (law on parental orders for applications before 6 April 2010)
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 – see sections 33 to 54 (law on parenthood, and law on parental order applications from 6 April 2010 onwards)
Surrogacy law court cases:***
The English courts hear applications from parents seeking to become the legal parents of a child born through surrogacy. Most cases are heard privately, but when difficulties or complications arise, a judge sometimes publishes his or her decision. Published judgments are rare but provide invaluable insight into the approach the courts take to surrogacy applications. The following are three of the leading surrogacy cases heard in the English High Court in the last three years.
Re X and Y (foreign surrogacy) 2008 – first UK case to award parenthood to a British couple who conceived through an international commercial surrogacy arrangement (which partners Louisa Ghevaert and Natalie Gamble litigated in the High Court)
In the matter of N (a child) 2007 – care awarded to intended parents after surrogate mother wanted to keep the child
Re G (surrogacy: foreign domicile) 2007 – problems experienced by a Turkish couple who conceived with a UK surrogate mother
To learn more about what these judgments mean for other people conceiving through surrogacy, you can browse our guidance using the links on the left.
Surrogacy law court forms:
If you are representing yourselves in a parental order application, the following are the court forms you will need (as updated as from 6 April 2010):
Parental order application form (C51)
Parental order acknowledgement form (C52)
If you would like help completing these forms, or want to know more about how the court process works in practice, you can find out more by using the links on the left, or you can contact us for legal advice on your own situation.
Other websites with useful information on surrogacy:
There is lots of information on the web about surrogacy, and it isn't always easy to know where to start. The following are the websites of the major UK bodies, non-profit organisations and charities in the UK which deal with surrogacy:
Surrogacy UK - one of the UK's non-profit making surrogacy agencies, which operates on a non-commercial basis and provides support for surrogacy arrangements and helps surrogates and intended parents to make contact with each other.
COTS - one of the UK's non-profit making surrogacy agencies, which operates on a non-commercial basis and provides support for surrogacy arrangements and helps surrogates and intended parents to make contact with each other.
A Little Wish - a smaller UK non-profit making surrogacy agency, which operates on a non-commercial basis and has a particular focus helping women who have had hysterectomies after childbirth.
Fertility Friends - a large online community of fertility patients where intended parents, surrogates and fertility patients share information and support via online forums.
Infertility Network UK - a leading UK charity which provides support with all aspects of fertility treatment, including surrogacy.
HFEA - the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which is the UK's regulatory body for fertility treatment and oversees licensed fertility clinics in the UK.
British Infertility Counselling Association - the UK's professional association of fertility clinic counsellors.
Surrogacy law: how can we help?
Gamble and Ghevaert LLP has unique and leading experience in both UK and international surrogacy law. Partners Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert have years of experience in this complex field and litigated the UK's first international surrogacy case Re X and Y (foreign surrogacy) in the High Court in 2008. We have advised hundreds of clients from all over the world on both domestic and international surrogacy, and our significant and sustained experience in this complex field distinguishes us from any other lawyers in the UK.
If you would like further information or legal advice on your particular circumstances, please contact us. We can help with:
- legal advice on international surrogacy law, including ensuring the legal status of your family and entry clearance and citizenship issues. We have advised clients based in the UK and abroad, and have significant experience dealing with most foreign surrogacy destinations, including the USA, the Ukraine, India and many others,
- advising on UK surrogacy, including parenthood following surrogacy and the legal framework and restrictions on surrogacy in the UK,
- helping parents prepare for and handle parental order applications to the court (including providing legal representation in more complex cases, and giving guidance to parents in more straightforward cases enabling them to represent themselves),
- advising fertility clinics, charities and non-profit making organisations on the legal aspects of dealing with surrogacy in the UK and with dealing with British patients abroad,
- providing legal representation in disputes relating to surrogacy and
- drafting specialist Wills for intended parents and surrogate mothers.
English law prevents us from negotiating surrogacy arrangements and this makes it illegal for us (or for any other solicitor in the UK) to write the terms of a surrogacy agreement or to find you a surrogate mother. Given the legal complications of surrogacy law, we strongly recommend that you seek specialist legal advice on how the law applies to your situation, and assistance with the legal processes required to secure your family's position.
* Please contact us if you would like a copy of this article
** Click here for further information about this article from Reproductive Biomedicine Online
*** Case transcripts reproduced by kind permission of Westlaw UK
