Is Egg Freezing The New Fertility Insurance Policy?
Key Points Egg Freezing can extend the biological clock Freezing eggs does not affect their ability to create a healthy pregnancy Freezing 10-20 eggs before you are 35 gives you a 70-90% chance of success using those eggs In the UK, it is only possible to store eggs for a maximum of 10 years after […]
Surrogacy In The UK Is Legal Provided The Legal Framework Is Strictly Complied With
Surrogacy is legal in the UK, but if you make a surrogacy agreement it cannot be enforced by the law. The legal parents at birth. A Parental Order transfers parentage from a surrogate mother to the intended parent or parents. This is a process that can only happen once the baby is born and is subject to conditions. Couples or indeed single people […]
Changes are afoot in the Surrogacy field
The law relating to surrogacy is currently being reviewed by the Law Commission to see if it is fit for purpose. As a lawyer practising in this area and dealing on a day to day basis with surrogates and intended parents, I can tell the Law Commission it most certainly is not. The speed of […]
Legal Thoughts on Parentage
The law surrounding parentage is complex and ever-changing. In days gone by the question of who were a child’s parents was simple. The woman who gave birth was the mother and her husband was the father. The social climate of the time, and the absence of any form of DNA testing, meant this scenario would […]
Freezing Issues: Do you know the law around freezing your eggs?
The law relating to the freezing of eggs is in the news at present as a result of the first legal challenge in the UK against the current legislation that places a 10 year limit on the storage of frozen eggs. As the law stands, eggs frozen for social reasons have to be destroyed after […]
You, Me & Co-parenting
The term co-parenting is not one that has a formal legal definition but is a term that is becoming more widely used by the general public. Previously, a reference to co-parenting usually meant a situation where parents who were in a relationship had separated and were no longer living together, meaning they were having to […]
When Family Matters
The concept of family has changed beyond all recognition in the space of a generation. The idea of a nuclear family unit comprising of a married mum and dad with 2.4 children seems as outdated now as the idea of a world without mobile phones or the internet. Nowadays, families are whatever we want them […]
Surrogacy in the UK
With all the recent Newspaper headlines about celebrity couples using surrogacy as a way of creating or extending their families, it is perhaps unsurprising that the number of couples exploring surrogacy as an option in the UK is on the increase. However, it is important for those considering surrogacy to remember that many of these […]
Are You Considering Adoption?
There are many reasons why people choose adoption as the way to grow their family. For some it is their first choice, for others it is a decision taken when natural conception and/or fertility treatments have not succeeded. Whatever the circumstances, adoption is the process through which the adoptive parent(s) assumes permanent legal responsibility for […]
Should same sex couples take legal advice before starting a family?
Same sex couples need no reminder of the impact the law can have on their private lives. As we mark 50 years since the 1967 Act, and rightly celebrate the enormous progress that has been made – equalisation of the age of consent; same sex marriage; Gender Recognition Act to name but a few milestones, […]
Our new experts from Laytons Solicitors address the legal issues around starting a family
“The question of who, in law, is or are the parent(s) of the child born is, as a moment’s reflection will make obvious, a question of the most fundamental gravity and importance. What, after all, to any child, to any parent, never mind to future generations, and indeed to society at large, can be more […]