Fertility Treatment

We offer specialist advice on the legal issues that may arise when you or family member has been through or is undergoing fertility treatment.

We can help you with:

Issues with legal parentage and parental responsibility following
fertility treatment
Declaration of parentage applications
Advice regarding the use of embryos, eggs and sperm following separation
Concerns with the storage of your eggs, sperm or embryos at a UK clinic
Posthumous conception legal advice

If you would like to find out more about how we can help, please call us or send us an email.

FAQs

Who will be my child's legal parents after fertility treatment?

The woman who gives birth will always be the child’s legal mother.

The identity of the second legal parent depends on your marital status and the circumstances of conception. If you are married or in a civil partnership at the time of conception, then your spouse will be the father or second legal parent.

The situation is more complicated if you are unmarried, and depends on where conception take place (at home or at a licenced fertility clinic), and what forms have been signed prior to conception.

What is a Declaration of Parentage?

A Declaration of Parentage is an order made by a judge which confirms that a non-birth parent is a legal parent. This might be necessary where an unmarried couple have conceived with a sperm donor at a UK fertility clinic and there were mistakes in the forms which they signed before their treatment. Mistakes in the paperwork may mean that the non-birth parent’s legal parental status is at risk and a Declaration of Parentage is necessary.

If your fertility clinic contacts you to tell you that there is a problem with your paperwork, get in touch with our fertility solicitors and we can talk you through your options.