Non-birth mothers: children conceived after 6 April 2009
In most cases, the non-birth mother is treated as your child's second legal parent and can be named on the birth certificate. However, the rules are different for civil partners and non-civil partners.
Civil partners
If you are civil partners at the time that you conceive, the non-birth mother is your child's legal parent if you conceive artificially (including IUI or IVF at a licensed clinic and artificial insemination at home), unless it is shown that she did not consent.
If you conceive through a licensed clinic, you don't need to take any particular steps to ensure that this applies. If you conceive through home insemination, it is prudent to draw up legal paperwork to confirm the circumstances of conception (the law covers you only if you conceive artificially), and we can help you with this.
A civil partner who is a legal parent also automatically has parental responsibility for your child.
Non-civil partners
If you are not civil partners when you conceive, the non-birth mother is treated as a legal parent only if you conceive at a UK licensed clinic and both sign the relevant parenthood election forms. These forms are critically important. Make sure that you sign them before you conceive, and keep a copy to show to the registrar when you register your child's birth.
If the non-birth mother is a parent, she has equivalent status to an unmarried father. Although she is a legal parent, she has parental responsibility only if she is named on the birth certificate, or if she acquires parental responsibility later by agreement or court order.
If you are not civil partners and you conceive at home, the non-birth mother has no automatic recognition as a legal parent and cannot be named on the birth certificate. If you want to acquire parental status, you need to apply for parental responsibility and/or adoption after your child is born (the process is the same as for lesbian parents of children conceived before 6 April 2009).
