Archive for the ‘fertility law’ Category
Thursday, October 24th, 2013
We recently wrote for our blog about our evidence to the Hague Conference about whether international surrogacy should be regulated globally. The Hague has now asked us to help them make a final appeal for information, targeting health professionals and surrogacy agencies across the world. Here is their message:
The Hague Conference on Private International Law is currently seeking responses to two online Questionnaires on surrogacy. The deadlines for both have been extended to 8 November 2013:
• Health Professionals with experience in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART), particularly those with experience of cross-border cases and international surrogacy arrangements. Click here to answer Questionnaire No 3 (Health Professionals).
• Surrogacy Agencies i.e. anyone who provides intermediary services in relation to international surrogacy arrangements. Click here to answer Questionnaire No 4 (Surrogacy Agencies).
The Hague Conference on Private International Law is a global inter-governmental organisation with 75 Members (74 countries and the European Union) which works to develop and service international treaties, including in the area of international child protection. The organisation is currently looking into the issues which may arise for children as a result of differing laws in countries concerning who are their legal parents. One area where this has become a particular problem is in the field of international surrogacy arrangements.
The responses to the two online Questionnaires will inform the writing of a report requested by Members of the Hague Conference on the topic of parentage / surrogacy and will facilitate Members’ consideration of whether the development of a new international treaty (i.e. a new Hague Convention) might be desirable and feasible. A new international treaty might include, for example, rules to ensure that the legal parentage of a child, established in one country, is recognised in all other countries which join the treaty. Such a treaty might also facilitate co-operation between countries concerning these matters and might set down minimum safeguards which must be complied with.
These questionnaires provide an important opportunity for those with relevant experience in this field to have their voice heard and to inform future work at the international level.
For more information see http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=text.display&tid=183. For further information or word versions of the questionnaires, contact (Laura Martinez-Mora and Hannah Baker). If you are not a Health Professional or Surrogacy Agency but have relevant experience in this field to share, please let us know.
Tags: cross border surrogacy, Hague Conference, Hannah Baker, international surrogacy, law, overseas surrogacy, parentage, UK surrogacy
Posted in fertility law, international surrogacy | Comments Off
Friday, October 18th, 2013
Natalie writes a regular article for the magazine published for UK fertility patients by leading charity Infertility Network UK. Natalie’s article this quarter discusses sperm donation and the legal rights donors have if they want contact with their genetic offspring. Read: Sperm donors given rights of contact – surely not?
Infertility Network UK is the UK’s leading national infertility charity, dedicated to supporting everyone affected by infertility and leaders of the National Infertility Awareness Campaign for fair and equitable access to NHS funding for fertility treatment. You can find out more about the wonderful work I N UK does at http://www.infertilitynetworkuk.com/ or come and meet them at the Fertility Show, taking place as part of National Infertility Awareness Week 28 October to 3 November.
If you want to know more about lesbian parenting or sperm donation law, there is more information on our website.
Tags: contact, Infertility Network UK, law, lesbian parenting, Re G and Re Z, sperm donation, The Fertility Show
Posted in donor conception, fertility law, lesbian parenting, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting | Comments Off
Friday, October 11th, 2013
Richard has written an article published in this month’s The Review on what divorce lawyers need to know about managing relationship breakdown cases for couples who have conceived through fertility treatment or in alternative family structures. You can read the full article here.
At NGA we deal with many divorce, civil partnership dissolution and relationship breakdown cases and have particular expertise helping non traditional families, including gay and lesbian couples and families conceived through surrogacy, donor conception and fertility treatment. Richard joined our team to support this aspect of our work, and his article explains some of the complexities involved in the cases we deal with. These include civil partnership dissolution for same sex couples, children law issues for parents with donor or surrogacy conceived children, couples who have been through fertility treatment and may have embryos in storage, and untangling the financial issues that arise in these scenarios. These types of cases can be challenging and complex and clients often need specialist advice and value experience of the sensitive issues involved.
The Review is a leading UK journal for family lawyers. It is published by Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association), an association of family lawyers committed to handling family law cases in a constructive and non-confrontational way. Richard is a member of Resolution.
If you would like more information about how we can help with relationship breakdown, whether it be civil partnership dissolution, divorce, known donor disputes, or children matters please contact Richard at [email protected] or 0844 357 1602. There is also more information about our relationship breakdown services on our website.
Tags: civil partnership dissolution, Dissolution, divorce, donor conception, finances, gay divorce, known donor disputes, Separation
Posted in civil partnership, Dissolution, Divorce, donor conception, family building, fertility law, Gay marriage, lesbian parenting, Natalie Gamble Associates news, Parenting Law, Richard Perrins, same sex parenting, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
Natalie was delighted to be invited to speak at the Modern Families conference in St Helier, Jersey on Friday 4 October. A gathering of leading lawyers, practitioners and academics, the conference (organised by the Association of Lawyers for Children and Hanson Renouf advocates, and chaired by His Honour Judge Bellamy) addressed the challenges facing modern families throughout the UK.
The keynote speaker was Mrs Justice Theis, the High Court judge who many of our clients know as the court’s main international surrogacy judge. Theis J recounted the revolution of judicial thinking on same sex parenting since the 1970s, and talked about the court’s current experience of international surrogacy. She warned of the ‘ticking time bomb’ of future legal problems for parents who have had a child through surrogacy but not resolved the UK legalities properly.
The one day conference covered a broad range of topics including same sex parenting, surrogacy, adoption and fostering, with speakers from a legal, academic, medical and social work background. Natalie spoke on the subject of ’IVF, surrogacy and donor parenting’, describing what we see happening on the ground with our fertility law work, including divorces involving children conceived through assisted reproduction, same sex parenting disputes and surrogacy. Natalie spoke out about how UK surrogacy law is currently failing parents, surrogates and children, and desperately needs to be reviewed and updated.
For more information about our work, see our website www.nataliegambleassociates.com.
Tags: Association of Lawyers for Children, Hanson Renouf, Jersey, Modern Families conference, Mrs Justice Theis, Natalie Gamble
Posted in adoption, Co-parenting, donor conception, fertility law, international surrogacy, lesbian parenting, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates news | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 1st, 2013
The HFEA’s new Code of Practice, which comes into force today, contains new guidance for UK fertility clinics dealing with surrogacy cases. The changes affect how clinics deal with the forms which allocate legal parenthood in surrogacy cases.
Cases where the surrogate is married or in a civil partnership
If the surrogate is married or in a civil partnership, she and her husband (or civil partner) will be the legal parents of the child. There may be some rare cases in which the surrogate’s spouse does not consent to the arrangement as a question of fact (for example if the couple are separated). However, in the vast majority of cases a surrogate’s spouse cannot simply opt out of becoming a legal parent by signing a withdrawal of consent form.
The HFEA gives new guidance making this clear, and instructions to clinics about how the paperwork should be completed.
Cases where the surrogate is not married
If the surrogate is legally single (or if her spouse genuinely does not consent), there is new guidance on what clinics should do. The HFEA no longer says that in these circumstances the child has no second legal parent. Instead, the new rules provide that there are choices to be made as to who can be named on the child’s first birth certificate with the surrogate mother (something which brings the HFEA guidance into line with the approach of the family courts and register offices).
In practice, there are three options and clinics will need to consider the alternatives carefully with patients before treatment proceeds:
1) Do nothing – the intended (biological) father will be the legal father and can be named on the birth certificate with the surrogate. No parenthood election forms need be signed.
2) Nominate the intended mother as the other parent. The clinic will need to ensure that the new the parenthood election forms for surrogacy (Forms SWP and SPP) are signed by both women before conception. This enables the two women to be named on the birth certificate together when the child is born.
3) Nominate a non-biological father as the father (e.g. the other dad in a gay couple or, probably more rarely, an intended father in a case where a couple is conceiving with the intended mother’s eggs and donor sperm). The clinic will need to ensure the parenthood election forms (SWP and SPP) are signed by the nominated non-biological father and the surrogate mother before conception. The non-biological dad can then be registered on the birth certificate with the surrogate.
The parenthood election forms are critical documents which patients will need when they go and register their child’s birth, so it is important that licensed centres provide patients with a copy and keep a copy on file. They must be signed before artificial insemination or embryo transfer to be legally effective.
Intended parents will still need to apply for a parental order after their child is born to secure their joint parentage and to extinguish their surrogate’s legal responsibilites. This will, in the long run, give the intended parents a birth certificate naming them both as the parents - the new HFEA rules only deal with the interim position before this process is complete. It is therefore also important that licensed centres are familiar with parental orders, or otherwise make sure their patients have legal advice.
There is more information and FAQs from the HFEA here and more information about legal parenthood after surrogacy on our website. We have assisted the HFEA with its new guidance, and have worked with hundreds of families created through surrogacy. We can offer training to licensed centres, and advice and support to families with navigating these new rules.
Tags: Code of Practice, HFEA, legal parenthood, SPP, SWP, UK surrogacy
Posted in fertility law, gay men surrogacy, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Monday, September 23rd, 2013
Our team had a great day exhibiting at this year’s Alternative Parenting Show on Saturday. The popular show – which has been running for 3 years – is held in central London and is often a first port of call for parents looking for information about building families in alternative ways. We were there representing the leading legal work that Natalie Gamble Associates has done for alternative families over many years, on same sex parenting, international surrogacy and fertility law. It was great to meet so many parents-to-be with questions about their situations, and to catch up with other leaders in the field, including Stonewall, the London Women’s Clinic, PrideAngel, New Family Social, the Donor Conception Network, and the HFEA.
There was also a lot of interest in our new non profit making sister agency Brilliant Beginnings, with a buzz around the hall and discussion in the seminars about the new option for UK intended parents and the changes Brilliant Beginnings is fighting for. The seminars (on surrogacy, adoption, donor conception and fertility treatment) were also a great source of information for parents planning families, with various NGA legal cases explained.
There was a really great energy – as always – about alternative families of all shapes and sizes. Every year the APS makes us reflect on how far we have come since we started working in this field, and how positive the landscape now is for everyone who wants to create a family. Roll on the APS 2014…
You can see more photos on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nataliegambleassociates
There is more information about the law for gay dads, lesbian mums and single mums and single dads on our website.
Tags: alternative families, Alternative Parenting Show, gay dads, international surrogacy, lesbian mums, lesbian parenting
Posted in family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, lesbian parenting, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting | Comments Off
Thursday, September 12th, 2013
We were thrilled to host a reception at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday evening to celebrate the change to UK law giving parents through surrogacy rights to maternity leave and pay.
NGA co-hosted the reception with John Healey MP, and it was attended by the Minister for Equality Jo Swinson, key UK professionals and influencers, and the parents who have worked with us for so long in different ways to make this change happen. It was wonderful to see so many children and parents, and a testament to how important this change is for real families.
Natalie, John and the Minister spoke about the landmark Children and Families Bill, which from 2015 will give parents through surrogacy the same rights to time off work to care for their newborn children as other UK 
parents. It represents a legal recognition, for the first time, that intended parents are responsible for their children from birth. We know well that new parents through surrogacy can be in a vulnerable position, whether because they have not been able to have their children in the way they had hoped, or because they are same sex parents anxious about whether their family will be accepted. That vulnerability is made worse by the lack of parental recognition UK law applies when their children are born. The change giving maternity rights is therefore a huge step forward, and not just for its practical effect, but for the message it sends.
But there is more to do, and we want to see full legal recognition of surrogacy families, beyond just the right to time off work when their child is born. Brilliant Beginnings’ surrogacy campaigning was launched publicly at the event, with Natalie advocating the need for further change and explaining what Brilliant Beginnings will be doing to make that happen. You can read more about our call for change on the Brilliant Beginnings blog.
Tags: Children and Families Bill, commercial surrogacy, fertility law, gay men conception, House of Commons, Jo Swinson, John Healey, maternity, maternity leave, maternity pay, Minister of Equality, same sex parenting law, surrogacy agreements, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy maternity
Posted in family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Thursday, August 29th, 2013
This is a précis of a longer piece Helen and Natalie have written for Bionews, which you can read in full here.
We at Natalie Gamble Associates have been pressing for a better framework for UK surrogacy for some time. We live in a globalised world in which commercial surrogacy is a reality. If parents cannot build their family in the UK, they will, and do, look abroad to countries (like India, the Ukraine and the USA) which provide commercial surrogacy and egg donation services. There are some exceptional surrogacy support organisations in the UK which operate through the efforts of committed volunteers, such as Surrogacy UK. But UK law restricts proper resourcing for agencies, limits advertising (which in a global market means that foreign agencies overshadow UK providers), prohibits enforceable agreements and defers any legal process until after the child is born.
We are launching a new non-profit making UK surrogacy and egg donation agency, Brilliant Beginnings, which will help create UK families through surrogacy and egg donation, and will reinvest resources into campaigns to promote change and raise awareness.
We have now worked with over 400 families created through donor conception and surrogacy in 30 different countries and we know that parents (and surrogates/egg donors) are often overwhelmed with information and do not know where to start or who to trust. Our role at Brilliant Beginnings is to help them build families not just legally, ethically and responsibly, but also with the right information from the start and the practical back up. Surrogacy is a sensitive exercise in human collaboration and those involved need advice, information and support before they go into a surrogacy arrangement.
Brilliant Beginnings will offer ‘first port of call’ advice to intended parents on all the global options, recommending safe existing providers in the UK and abroad, and providing honest information about the risks, costs and implications of international surrogacy. It will also offer professional matching of parents and egg donors/ surrogates in the UK, with practical and emotional support for parents, donors and surrogates throughout, and management of US surrogacy arrangements to help parents work with reputable agencies and professionals and manage all the UK requirements.
We want to raise awareness among women who may be willing to help create families through surrogacy and egg donation, and make the process easier for them, giving their life-changing gift the recognition it deserves.
And we want to improve law and practice. There have been some positive steps forward in recent years which we have been proud to be involved in – such as the introduction of maternity leave for parents through surrogacy and the review of the HFEA guidance on surrogacy. But there is more to do. We want to see intended parents recognised as legal parents from birth where the surrogate mother consents. We want to see more honesty about the UK’s approach to payments for surrogacy, given that the reality is that the UK does allow commercial surrogacy. We want to see an end to discrimination against single intended parents. And we want to make a practical difference to the experience of children born into these arrangements on the ground.
Please support us by getting in touch or helping to spread the word. You can also follow Brilliant Beginnings on Twitter or stay up to date by reading the Brilliant Beginnings blog.
Tags: Brilliant Beginnings, British surrogacy, egg donation, gay dads, gay men surrogacy, surrogacy agency, UK, UK surrogacy, UK surrogacy support, US surrogacy
Posted in family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 20th, 2013
The High Court’s main surrogacy judge, Mrs Justice Theis, has made her decisions in three new international surrogacy cases public, something she only does if she is considering a new issue (to give guidance) or if she wants to draw attention to something which is in the public interest.
The three new decisions all concern foreign commercial surrogacy cases and continue the long trend of the UK court authorising foreign surrogacy arrangements retrospectively. There is no cause for intended parents to be alarmed.
The first two cases – Re PM (2013) and Re C (2013), both US surrogacy cases – deal with the question of payments. The High Court already has a consistent history of ‘authorising’ payments for foreign surrogacy in order to make the child legally a member of his or her UK family, since the very first case (involving a Ukrainian commercial surrogacy arrangement) in which this was done in 2008. However, until now the focus has been on the payments going to the surrogate mother. Theis J has now made it clear that the court also needs to consider what payments have been made to the third party intermediaries who brokered the arrangement (in these two cases, US surrogacy agencies). If these payments include an element of profit for the agency, they will also need the court’s authorisation before a parental order can be made. In practice, this will not affect the likelihood of UK parents being successful in their application (since the welfare of their child will always take priority) but it means that the court will need even more detailed information about the breakdown of payments made for foreign surrogacy before it can reach a final decision.
The third case (AB v DE (2013), also confusingly reported as Re C (2013), in which we represented the parents) is the first Russian surrogacy case to be considered by the UK court. Mrs Justice Theis has published her decision to set out the law and how things are working on the ground in Russia. She also considered some tricky factual issues specific to the particular case. Any parents considering surrogacy in Russia may find the case useful, and lawyers representing them in the UK or in Russia may want to pay heed.
There is more information about international surrogacy on our website.
Tags: international surrogacy, Mrs Justice Theis, payments for surrogacy, Russia surrogacy, Russia surrogacy law, surrogacy agency payments
Posted in family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble Associates news | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013
Following our blog earlier in the year where we reported on the progress of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill we are delighted that the Bill has now received royal assent. After much debate and somewhat of a furore, this means that same sex marriage is now law, even though the first UK same sex marriages won’t take place until Spring 2014 once all the procedures and paperwork have been put in place.
Perhaps unsurprisingly there is some confusion around what the changes in the law actually mean. The key points to note are as follows:
1. It will be legal for couples of the same sex to marry in England in Wales.
2. Same sex couples can have a civil or religious wedding, but can only have a religious wedding if the relevant religious group decides to ‘opt in’ (which every religious group except the Church of England can do).
3. Civil partnership will remain an option for same sex, but not heterosexual, couples. (The legal differences between marriage and civil partnership are minimal in practice).
4. Same sex couples already in a civil partnership can convert their civil partnership into a marriage if it was registered in England and Wales. This will not apply to couples who registered a civil partnership in Northern Ireland, Scotland or abroad (who will not be able to marry unless they dissolve their civil partnership first).
5. For those splitting up, adultery is not a ground for dissolving a civil partnership and is only a ground for dissolving a same sex marriage if the adultery takes place with a member of the opposite sex (although in practice unreasonable behaviour usually gives grounds for dissolving a relationship where there has been infidelity anyway).
6. There is no international harmonisation of how or if a same sex marriage will be recognised in other countries. However, it is likely that a same sex marriage will be recognised in countries where same sex marriage is legal (such as France which has recently undergone similar changes).
The change in the law is certainly welcomed by us at NGA but the rules are undoubtedly complex. There has already been controversy over the decision to allow religious groups to opt in but this doesn’t apply to the Church of England. It seems an awkward concept that same sex couples are to be able to enter into a civil partnership but for there to be no option for heterosexual couples to do likewise.
There will be complex questions from couples in England and Wales who have married or registered a civil partnership abroad as to how their relationship will be recognised in England and Wales. Similarly, relocating couples will need to know whether their marriage will be recognised abroad. This will impact on issues such as tax planning or the breakdown of the relationship.
Much like with our campaigning work for a global harmonisation of surrogacy laws we feel that a more universal approach to same sex marriage is needed, but this is herculean task at a global level. In the meantime, UK same sex marriage is a huge step in the right direction.
Here at NGA we specialise in helping alternative families and have a strong background in cases involving the breakdown of relationships. We help with civil partnership dissolution, divorce and disputes relating to children and financial matters. We also help with pre registration and pre nuptial agreements to give clarity and prevent disputes in the future. If you would like to discuss your circumstances with us please contact Richard Perrins for more information.
Family Disputes Pre Nuptial Agreements Divorce and Civil Partnership Dissolution Financial matters
Tags: civil partnership dissolution, donor conception law, Equal marriage, gay divorce, gay marriage, marriage, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates, pre nuptial agreements, Richard Perrins, same sex divorce
Posted in civil partnership, Co-parenting, Dissolution, Divorce, Equal marriage, family building, fertility law, Gay marriage, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates news, Parenting Law, Richard Perrins, same sex parenting | Comments Off
We recently wrote for our blog about our evidence to the Hague Conference about whether international surrogacy should be regulated globally. The Hague has now asked us to help them make a final appeal for information, targeting health professionals and surrogacy agencies across the world. Here is their message:
