Family Law & Fertility Law Blog | Louisa Ghevaert Associates

A Cautionary Tale About Informal Sperm Donation: P v Q & F (Child: Legal Parentage) [2024]

The 2024 cases P v Q and Others [2024] EWFC and of P v Q and F (Child: Legal Parentage) [2024] 85 EWCA Civ 878 highlight a series of complex legal issues related to parenthood, parental responsibility and birth registration for lesbian families conceiving with donor sperm. It involved an intricate legal dispute about the child’s legal parentage and the circumstances of a privately arranged conception; specifically whether it took place by artificial insemination or natural conception, that reached the Court of Appeal. It brings into focus the challenges of donor conception outside of a fertility clinic and ensuing difficulties navigating legal proceedings for a Declaration of Parentage in light of entangled disputes after a relationship breakdown.

Louisa Ghevaert: 25 Years In Law

2025 marks my 25th year in law as a qualified solicitor in England and Wales. As such, it felt important to mark the occasion since life is precious and passes by so quickly. Successful family life is a personal aspiration and central focus for many people. Families are an important pillar of society too. Yet despite this, building and maintaining happy, healthy and well-functioning personal and family lives can be difficult to achieve given the often uncertain and complex world around us. Over the last 25 years, it has therefore been an absolute privilege to draw alongside so many parents, children and families and I remain ever mindful of people’s continuing trust and faith in me to help them navigate life’s sunshine, storms and choppy waters.

Women In Change Awards 2025

Louisa Ghevaert spent a memorable evening at Women In Change Awards 2025 in London on 3 July 2025 celebrating the transformative achievements of women from all walks of life. Women In Change is a community of female change-makers driving positive impact on a one-to-one basis, through organisations and on a global scale. This year's powerful women finalists and leaders demonstrated leadership, positive change and social impact that has helped make the world we all live in a better place. It was astounding to hear their success stories from delivering 11,000 ventilators during the Covid-19 pandemic, to saving 32 billion litres of water and counting, to changing the face of cancer care.

Modern Families Forum 2025

On 19 June 2025, Louisa Ghevaert had the pleasure of attending Resolution's Modern Families Forum 2025 in London. Lord Justice Peter Jackson delivered an illuminating keynote address on legal parentage and the challenges this can present for families when the circumstances of a child’s conception, parentage and parental responsibility fall into dispute. This was followed by a modern family law case update and sessions which grappled with the technicalities of who has or doesn’t have parentage and parental responsibility in law. It served as a reminder that modern family and assisted conception law continues to evolve rapidly and that it can create all sorts of tricky issues when people build or restructure families and parental status and rights are disputed.

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