11 January 2026
The recent transgender parenting case of FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam), in which Louisa Ghevaert Associates acted for the Applicant, highlights the complex legal issues and difficulties that can be encountered by transgender individuals building families and obtaining parental status, birth registration, parental responsibility, care and upbringing of children under English law. The complicated legal landscape can produce challenging outcomes for transgender individuals, that do not reflect their acquired gender nor their child and family’s lived reality. In some cases, as this case further demonstrates, it can leave transgender individuals without automatic legal status and rights for their child altogether under English law and no automatic right to be registered as a parent on their child’s British birth certificate.
Transgender parenthood under English law
FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam) tested the law in England and Wales for the first time on the legal status of a transgender married man with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) whose wife conceived by privately arranged artificial insemination with donor sperm, meaning he was neither a gestational nor a biological parent. It ruled that he was neither legal father nor second legal parent of the child at birth under English law and he had no automatic entitlement to be registered as such on his child’s British birth certificate. Instead, his only route to legal parenthood was by obtaining a post birth step-parent adoption order.
In determining the parental status of the transgender married man in FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam), the English Court considered in detail section 9 (legal effect of a GRC) and section 12 (on parenthood) of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004), assisted reproduction law parenthood provisions set out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (HFE Act 2008), domestic and European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) law. In doing so, it brought into focus that the statutory framework in the GRA 2004, intended to provide legal recognition for transgender people in their acquired gender does not extend to parenthood. It also resulted in the transgender Applicant man in this case falling outside of the HFE Act 2008 parenthood provisions altogether. The court ruled that the Applicant could not be registered as legal father under Section 35 HFE Act 2008 because although he entered his marriage to the mother as a man by virtue of his GRC under Section 9(1) GRA 2004, he was not “a man” for the purposes of parenthood due to statutory operation of Section 12 GRA 2004 which provides that biological sex rather than an acquired gender determines parenthood status. Furthermore, the court determined that he could not be registered as second parent under Section 42 HFE Act 2008 as he was not married as “a woman”.
As such, the legal outcome in FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam) meant that the transgender Applicant man had neither legal parenthood nor parental responsibility for his child automatically at birth under English law. Instead, he was granted a child arrangements order on a ‘live with basis’, legally placing his child in his care and conferring parental responsibility upon him. To secure legal parenthood, he would need to apply for a step-parent adoption order.
This case also brings into focus the fact that the HFE Act 2008 did not make specific provision for transgender parents. Whilst the HFE Act 2008 extended the pool of people who could acquire legal parenthood following assisted conception to include cohabiting heterosexual and same-sex couples and single people and not not just heterosexual married couples, it did not specifically cater for transgender individuals who continue to be subject to statutory operation of section 12 of the GRA 2004 as seen in the Applicant’s case in this judgment. As such, the presiding judge Mrs Justice Lieven stated that “there is, or may be, a lacuna or inconsistency in the statutory scheme” although it “…was appropriate for the Court to defer to the considered judgment of Parliament in the GRA and the HFEA 2008”.
Moving forward, it remains to be seen whether there will be reform of English law as it applies to transgender parenthood and children law. More than 20 years has passed since the GRA 2004 was first introduced and more than 15 years has passed since the parenthood provisions in the HFE Act 2008 came into force. However, the legal status and rights of transgender people remain a matter of considerable public debate as well as an area characterised by challenging issues from a legal, policy and practical perspective as can be seen in and following the Supreme Court ruling For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16.
Find out more about FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam).
Expert Transgender Parenting and Children Law
The complex legal landscape governing transgender parenthood and children law, as demonstrated in the case of FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam) and other transgender cases, make it is very important for transgender individuals to carefully navigate legal parenthood status in building a family along with their respective rights regarding the care and upbringing of their children under English law. In determining a transgender person’s legal status, rights and responsibilities (along with that of their spouse/partner), expert legal advice is advisable and a range of factors should be taken into account (as appropriate) including the:
- Child’s genetic origins.
- Circumstances of conception.
- Child’s mother’s marital status.
- Parent/s biological sex and gender status (cisgender or an acquired gender).
- Legal operation of the GRA 2004.
- Legal parenthood provisions in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (HFE Act 2008) in cases where assisted conception takes place.
The complexity of English law in relation to transgender parenthood and children law can produce challenging outcomes for transgender individuals, that do not reflect their acquired gender nor their child and family’s lived reality. In some cases, it can leave transgender individuals without automatic legal status and rights for their child altogether under English law and no automatic right to be registered as a parent on their child’s British birth certificate. Where appropriate and the relevant legal criteria can be met, a range of alternative legal mechanisms may be necessary to secure and protect the parental status and rights of transgender parents and the legal position of their children to include: Step-Parent Adoption, Step-Parent Parental Responsibility Order, Child Arrangements Order or other orders as required.
Find out more about Transgender and Non Binary Fertility and Family Law.
Need an expert fertility, children or family lawyer? For further information and assistance please contact Louisa Ghevaert by email louisa@louisaghevaertassociates.co.uk or by telephone +44 (0)20 7965 8399.
Images: Louisa Ghevaert, CEO & Founder Louisa Ghevaert Associates
To find out more about Louisa Ghevaert click here.
