Ruling good news for parents in international arrangements
Senior family judge, Sir James Munby has ruled against a strict six-month deadline for parental orders where a child is born to a surrogate mother.
The case, in Re X (A Child: Surrogacy: Time Limit) [2014] EWHC 3135, concerned a child, X, born in India to a surrogate mother using eggs donated by a third party and the intended father’s sperm in December 2011, and who entered the UK on a British passport in July 2013. Under s 54(1)(c) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, a court can grant a parental order as long as the intended parents apply within six months from the date of birth. The parents of X were unaware of this law.
Claire Wood, Kingsley Napley family law solicitor, said the judgment gave children “better legal protection. This [six-month] requirement has long been criticised by surrogacy law specialists as there is no justification for an absolute deadline. We have seen this time limit extended in this case which is good news for the thousands of parents involved each year in international surrogacy arrangements.”
Natalie Gamble, partner at Natalie Gamble Associates, specialists in surrogacy and fertility law, said: “Many parents do not properly address the legalities after surrogacy abroad (whether innocently or knowingly), and the long term consequences for their children are potentially grave, with looming problems over inheritance, guardianship, nationality, financial maintenance, medical decision-making and many other basic rights.
“For children living in the black hole of unresolved legal status, this ruling is welcome because it means the door may not be closed to a remedy.”
