Legal services

We are the first and only UK fertility clinic to offer legal advice. Why? Because we want to ensure you understand the law and protect the family we help you create.

Working with Lester Aldridge LLP and leading specialist solicitor Natalie Gamble, we offer all our patients legal information and a personal legal advice consultation as part of your treatment.

We can advise you on your legal position as parents, the rights of your child and the legal position of any donor or surrogate you use. In particular:

Patients conceiving with donated eggs or sperm

We will advise you on who will be the legal parents of your child, and on the rights of your donor (particularly if you are using a known donor, or if you are a single woman in the process of divorce). We will also help you understand the rights you and your child will have to information about the donor and any donor-conceived siblings, and the rules which govern the storage and the use of donated eggs and sperm.

Same sex couples

Currently a lesbian non-birth mother is not recognised as a legal parent of your child automatically. We will tell you what you need to do to protect her position, and explain the proposed changes to the law which may in the future allow her to be named on the birth certificate. If you are using a known sperm donor, we will also advise you on the legal position of your donor.

Surrogacy patients

UK law provides that a surrogate mother is the legal mother at birth (and, if she is married, her husband is the legal father). It is important to understand the court process you will need to follow to become your child’s legal parents after the birth, and to ensure that you will be able to comply with all the conditions for obtaining a parental order.

 

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