Fertility Law

Building a family through fertility treatment, donor conception, surrogacy, or co-parenting can be an exciting and deeply personal journey, but the legal landscape surrounding modern family creation is often complex. Establishing legal parenthood, securing parental responsibility, and understanding the implications of consent, clinic processes, and cross-border treatment all require precise legal guidance.

At JMW, our dedicated fertility lawyers provide specialist advice across the full spectrum of fertility law, supporting individuals, couples, and LGBTQ+ families as they navigate assisted reproduction. Our work includes advising on donor conception, co-parenting arrangements, surrogacy law, applications for adoption orders, parental orders, and declarations of parentage.

Many of our clients come to us with complex needs, including the law relating to going abroad for fertility treatment, multi-parent arrangements and cross-border movement of embryos or gametes. Whatever your circumstances, our team offers clear, compassionate advice with a strong focus on safeguarding your family’s legal security from the outset.

If you need expert assistance with any aspect of fertility law, you can contact us on 0345 872 6666, or complete our online enquiry form to arrange a confidential discussion.

How JMW Can Help

Modern families are created in many different ways, and the law surrounding assisted reproduction has grown increasingly complex. Whether you are exploring fertility treatment, donor conception, surrogacy, or forming a family through co-parenting, it is essential that the legal framework supporting your plans is robust and reflects your intentions from the outset. Our role is to give you clarity, protect your position, and ensure your child’s legal status is secured.

At JMW, our fertility law solicitors advise individuals, couples, and LGBTQ+ families across all areas of fertility law in the UK, including:

• Sperm or egg donation, using both known and anonymous donors.
• Surrogacy, including domestic and international arrangements.
• Legal parenthood, parental responsibility, and applications for parental orders, adoption orders, and declarations of parentage.
• Co-parenting agreements and pre-conception planning.

Our team has substantial experience advising on both straightforward and highly technical matters, including multi-jurisdictional arrangements, cross-border movement of embryos or gametes, disputed legal parenthood, or uncertainties surrounding consent.

Family Law Partner Beverley Jones leads our fertility law offering. Beverley is recognised for her deep expertise in surrogacy law both within the UK and internationally, as well as her work with LGBTQ+ families on donor conception, multi-parent arrangements, and adoption proceedings. Alongside her fertility law work, she has extensive experience advising parents in complex disputes involving children, including cases of international child abduction and high-conflict parental disagreements.

This combination of specialist fertility knowledge and broader family-law expertise means Beverley and the team are uniquely placed to anticipate potential legal risks, highlight any gaps in proposed arrangements, and help you establish clear, secure parental rights from the start. Whatever your route to parenthood, we will support you with care, precision, and an understanding of the profound importance of these decisions for your future family.

Learn more below about how we can help you with your alternative parenthood journey:

Meet Our Team

Our family law team provides expert advice and compassionate support for alternative families and individuals navigating fertility law, helping you understand your rights and legal options on the journey to parenthood.

Find out more about our family law team by watching our video introduction:

What Is Fertility Law?

Fertility law governs the legal framework surrounding assisted reproduction, donor conception, surrogacy, and modern family-building arrangements. It determines who is recognised as a child’s legal parent, who can acquire parental responsibility, and what steps must be taken to secure those rights.

In the UK, fertility law is shaped primarily by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which sets out the rules applying to:

• IVF and assisted reproduction, including the consent forms needed for treatment.
• Conception using donor eggs, sperm, or embryos.
• Legal parenthood, including where donor gametes or surrogacy are involved.
• Surrogacy arrangements, both domestic and international.
• Storage and use of genetic material, including withdrawal of consent and posthumous conception.
• Disputes relating to the use of embryos or gametes.
• Access to the HFEA Register of Information.

Because fertility law interacts with wider areas of family law, including adoption, child arrangements, inheritance rights, and nationality, the consequences of a mistake or missing consent can be significant. This is why early legal advice is essential. Even small errors - such as an unsigned IVF consent form or incorrect clinic paperwork - can affect whom the law recognises as a child’s parent.

Whether you are planning treatment or worried about a legal parenthood issue, our fertility lawyers will provide the clear, informed guidance you need to move forward with confidence.

Legal Parenthood Explained

When a child is conceived through assisted reproduction, donor conception, or surrogacy, the law does not always recognise the intended parents automatically. Legal parenthood determines who is responsible for the child in the eyes of the law, which can affect inheritance, nationality, parental responsibility, financial obligations, and who can make applications in the family court.

In fertility law, legal parenthood depends on factors such as:

• How the child was conceived (IVF, donor conception, home insemination, or surrogacy)
• Whether the correct HFEA consent forms were signed
• The marital or civil partnership status of the intended parents
• Whether treatment took place at a licensed UK clinic
• Whether a parental order, adoption order, or declaration of parentage is needed.

Where paperwork has been completed incorrectly, or where the law does not automatically recognise the intended parents - including in donor conception, known-donor arrangements, LGBTQ+ families, and surrogacy arrangements - steps must be taken to secure or confirm legal parenthood.

JMW’s fertility lawyers can advise on your position from the outset, identify any gaps in the legal framework, and take the steps needed to establish or confirm legal parentage, whether through revisiting clinic consents, obtaining a parental order, or making an application for a declaration of parentage. Our goal is to ensure your child’s legal status aligns fully with your intentions.

Surrogacy Law Explained

Surrogacy is a meaningful route to parenthood for many individuals and couples, including LGBTQ+ parents, those experiencing infertility, and families using donor conception. However, surrogacy law in the UK is complex, and it is essential to understand how legal parenthood is established and what steps must be taken to protect everyone involved.

The surrogate is considered to be the child’s legal parent at birth. If she is married or in a civil partnership, her spouse or partner will usually be the second legal parent, regardless of whether they have a genetic connection to the child.

This means the intended parents are not automatically recognised as the legal parents, even in cases of gestational surrogacy using their own embryos. To become the child’s legal parents, intended parents must apply for a parental order. This order:

• Negates the surrogate’s legal parenthood status.
• Confers legal parenthood on the intended parents.
• Allows the reissue of the birth certificate in the intended parents’ names.

A parental order can only be granted if several legal criteria are met, including:

• The surrogate (and her spouse, where relevant) freely consent to the order
• At least one intended parent has a genetic link to the child (for UK surrogacy)
• Intended parents meet the domicile criteria
• The arrangement involves only reasonable expenses (commercial surrogacy is prohibited in the UK)
• The application is made within the statutory timeframe

Where the criteria cannot be met, adoption or alternative applications may be required.

International surrogacy is increasingly common but presents further challenges, especially around:

• Immigration and nationality.
• Recognition of foreign parental rights.
• Cross-border movement of embryos, gametes, or newborn children.
• Ensuring UK parental orders can be obtained after returning home.

Intended parents must seek early advice, as missteps can cause delays in bringing a child to the UK or securing parental rights.

Q

What is parental responsibility?

A

Parental responsibility refers to the legal rights and duties that a parent has towards their child. It includes making important decisions in relation to a child, such as their name, where they should go to school, where they should live, and any medical treatment they should receive. Parental responsibility is defined in the Children Act 1989, as all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities, and authority which, by law, a parent of a child has in relation to the child and their property​.

In the UK, birth mothers automatically have parental responsibility for their child. Fathers also automatically have parental responsibility if they are married to the birth mother. Unmarried fathers can obtain parental responsibility through being named on the child’s birth certificate or in other ways, such as by making an application to court for a parental responsibility order or by entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother.

Parental responsibility legally ends when a child reaches the age of 18.

Q

Can gay men start a family with a surrogate?

A

Men can conceive through surrogacy whether they are single or in a marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting couple. In the UK, a male couple can become the legal parents of a child born through surrogacy, provided that one of them is genetically related to the child. A single man can also become a legal father through surrogacy in the UK provided he is genetically related to the child.

The legal framework for surrogacy differs markedly throughout the world, ranging from full recognition of intended parents’ legal status before birth to an outright ban on any form of surrogacy. We always recommend that anyone considering surrogacy overseas takes specialist advice in both the overseas country and in the UK to ensure that the path they wish to take is capable of the necessary legal recognition. This will help to prevent any immigration-related problems associated with bringing the child to the country in which the intended parents reside.

Q

Can we use a known sperm donor to start a family?

A

Couples and individuals who need to undergo assisted reproduction can choose to use sperm from an anonymous donor or an individual known to them. An anonymous donor has no possibility of establishing parental responsibility in their biological child’s life while they are under 18. Once the child reaches 18 years old, they can obtain the donor’s name, date of birth and last known address if the donation took place on or after April 1st 2005.

Depending on the family composition and the circumstances of donor conception, a known sperm donor may or may not be treated as the child’s legal parent. Whether or not the sperm donor is technically the legal parent of the child, they may still play a role in the child’s life.

In the event of a dispute between a sperm donor and the child’s primary carer(s), the court can make a child arrangements order or other orders to govern the extent and nature of contact between the child and the sperm donor.

Donors, couples and individuals who wish to become parents using sperm from a known donor should do so with their eyes open to the legal consequences of their chosen arrangement. The adults’ expectations of who should play a parental role in the child’s life may differ from the allocation of parental status in accordance with the law, and it is crucial to be aware of this from the outset. It may also be worthwhile to discuss the potential emotional and relationship impact of conceiving via a known donor with a fertility counsellor.

A donation agreement can be a helpful way of identifying potential areas of dispute or misunderstanding. Our fertility solicitors can help you put this agreement together and advise you on the legal considerations of your plans to build your family.

Q

Can I pay someone to act as a surrogate for me?

A

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in the UK, so a surrogate or surrogacy agency cannot make a profit from offering their service without breaking the law. However, intended parents can pay a surrogate 'reasonable expenses' to cover costs associated with the pregnancy and birth, such as private medical expenses, travelling expenses for antenatal appointments, the purchase of maternity clothes, and so on.

What constitutes a reasonable expense will depend on the particular circumstances of both the surrogate and the intended parents.

Our fertility law solicitors have advised on numerous surrogacy arrangements and have a good instinct for what may present a difficulty. The earlier legal advice is taken, the easier it is to foresee potential problems and guard against them.

Q

Can I use a surrogate from another country?

A

Couples and individuals who wish to build their family through surrogacy can use a surrogate based in the UK or in a foreign country. The legal situation is more complicated when aspects of the surrogacy arrangement take place overseas. It is always very important for intended parents to undertake thorough research before proceeding, and more so where there is an international element.

Different countries regulate surrogacy in different ways. Many do not allow it at all. Some only allow certain groups (e.g. opposite sex married couples) to become parents through surrogacy. In some other countries and jurisdictions, such as certain US states, commercial surrogacy is entirely legal, in contrast to the UK and other locations.

When considering international surrogacy, intended parents who live in the UK should take specialist legal advice both here and in the country in which the surrogacy arrangement will take place. This legal advice should address the legality of the surrogacy and any payments to be made, the allocation of legal parenthood, and the process to acquire parental responsibility. The intended parents will also need advice on the immigration aspects of the arrangement, so that they can be present in the overseas country for the required amount of time, bring their child home easily, and secure the appropriate citizenship for the child in their home country.

Q

What happens if a disagreement arises between a surrogate and the intended parents?

A

Such disputes are rare, but if they arise, there is potential for them to be resolved through dialogue and negotiation. However, when this is not possible, the court will have to decide.

If a dispute arises before legal parenthood has been transferred - for example, if a surrogate will not allow the child to leave her care or has changed her mind after handing the child over - the court will have to make a decision as to the child’s future living and contact arrangements. The court’s paramount consideration will be the child’s welfare. There are no presumptions as to what will be in the child’s best interests and it will depend entirely on the particular circumstances of the case.

Once the intended parent(s) have had legal parenthood transferred to them following the making of a parental order, the child’s birth mother has no legal rights to be involved in the child’s life or take part in decision-making. Many surrogates do, in fact, stay in contact with the families they have helped, with both sides valuing this uniquely special relationship. Individuals need to make a decision about what is right for them.

After a parental order has been made, the surrogate is not automatically entitled to make an application to the court about the child and would need to make a strong case for permission to be granted before proceeding.

Q

If I become a sperm donor, can I be traced in future? Will I have potential financial obligations to the child?

A

Following changes to the law in 2005, a child conceived after this date using donor sperm and/or eggs (gametes) can find out identifying information about the donor once they reach the age of 18. A donor could be traced by a child conceived with their gametes once they have become an adult.

However, if the donation took place via a licensed fertility clinic, there is no legal link between the child and the donor and, therefore, no potential for any financial claim to be made against them.