Surrogacy law pages
Welcome to our surrogacy law pages, where you can find a wealth of resources on the legal aspects of surrogacy put together by the UK's leading surrogacy solicitors.
Read our detailed written legal guidance on surrogacy law - use the links on the left
Read journal and magazine articles about surrogacy law
Read the judgments from leading English surrogacy law court cases
Read press and media stories about surrogacy, here and on our blog
Find other sites with useful information about surrogacy
We have many published articles on surrogacy. If you are interested in understanding the context of surrogacy law and practice in the UK, our articles are a great place to start. (We are able to reproduce most of our published articles on our website, but please contact us if you want to read any articles not reproduced in full here).
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 and reasoning. Published judgments are rare but provide invaluable insight into the approach the courts take to surrogacy applications. The following are three 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
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:
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.
Please note that the forms will be changing for applications on or after 6 April 2010 and we will update this section as soon as the new forms become available.
Surrogacy law news and media stories:
As the UK's leading surrogacy solicitors, we often comment on surrogacy law stories in the national press. Sometimes leading surrogacy law cases we have acted in are also reported (although only with our clients' permission or where cases are of such public importance they are reported anonymously by the court).
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
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 massive 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 is the UK's regulatory body for fertility treatment, which 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 the UK's leading expertise and experience in UK and international surrogacy law. Specialist solicitors Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert dealt with leading High Court international surrogacy case Re X and Y (foreign surrogacy) in the High Court in 2008, and we are the only solicitors in the UK who deal with both straightforward and complex surrogacy law cases every day.
If you would like further information or legal advice on your particular circumstances, please contact us. We we can help with:
- legal advice on international surrogacy law, including ensuring the legal status of your new family, entry clearance and citizenship issues, and experience dealing with the USA, the Ukraine, India and many other jurisdictions (we have the UK's leading expertise and experience in international surrogacy law),
- 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 (or other) applications to the court (including providing legal representation in more complex cases),
- 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.
The provisions of the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 restrict us from helping you negotiate a surrogacy agreement. This means that it is illegal for us to help you to write the terms of a surrogacy agreement or to find you a surrogate mother. What we can do is to advise you on how the law applies to your situation at any stage, and we can help you with the legal processes required to secure your family’s legal 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
