Donor Conception and Co-parenting

We regularly advise parents, co-parents and donors on this complex area and our clients include heterosexual couples, single men and women and gay and lesbian couples. Whatever your individual situation, we can advise you on how the law applies and help you take steps to secure legal protection for your family. The team can also provide expert representation if a dispute arises.

Examples of the work we do include

• Assisting lesbian non-birth mothers with acquiring parental status (either routinely or after separation)
• Preparing known donor agreements (including in international situations)
• Preparing co-parenting agreements and advising on acquiring appropriate parental status for more than two parents
• Representing parents resisting claims for involvement from known donors and representing donors being pursued for financial support
• Providing representation in disputes between co-parents
• Helping women who want to ensure that their husband/male partner is not the father and helping home inseminating married couples to establish that the husband is the legal father
• Preparing specialist wills to fill legal gaps where parents do not otherwise have rights of legal guardianship or children do not automatically have rights of inheritance
• Advising on the rights that your child has to identify his or her donor and genetic siblings
• Assisting with issues and disputes regarding the use of donor eggs, sperm and embryos in storage

The team has provided Co-ParentMatch.com with legal facts on UK fertility law explaining the legal position if you are thinking about becoming a sperm donor, using a sperm donor or you are entering into a co-parenting arrangement. Co-ParentMatch.com is a social networking site for people who wish to meet either a co-parent, sperm donor or sperm recipient.

Further information

• Co-Parenting
• Lesbian Couples: Parenting
• Sperm Donors
• Storage of eggs, sperm and embryos
• Consent to treatment