Category: Legal Parentage - Page 3

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20
Feb
2025

Blog, Declaration of Parentage, Donor conception law, Fertility Law, Legal Parentage, Modern Family Law, Parental Responsibility Law, Parenting Law

Judicial Warning & Naming 0f Serial Sperm Donor ‘Who Fathered 180 Children’

In a recently published family law case In the Matter of D [2023] EWFC 333, His Honour Judge Jonathan Furness KC took the unusual step to publicly name a serial sperm donor and warn the public and vulnerable women seeking to get pregnant of the dangers of unregulated private sperm donation. This followed a highly contested 2-year legal battle, described as a 'nightmare' and 'horror story', between a female same-sex couple and a prolific sperm donor who applied to court to be named on the child's birth certificate, obtain parental responsibility and contact with the child.

11
Feb
2025

Blog, Declaration of Parentage, Legal Parentage, Modern Family Law, Parental Responsibility Law, Parenting Law

Genetic Testing: A Non-Biological Father, Mistaken Birth Registration & Parental Responsibility Void Ab Initio

The recent case of KL v BA [2025] EWHC 102 (Fam) brings into focus the complex legal issues that arose when genetic testing showed that a non-biological father was registered in error on a child's birth certificate. The central issue in the case was whether the effect of a declaration of non-parentage in respect of the non-biological father who had mistakenly been registered as the child's father rendered his acquisition of parental responsibility void ab initio (never having had any legal effect) or whether this could only be removed by court order.

27
Jan
2025

Blog, Genomics, Legal Parentage, Modern Family Law

Genetic Testing, Political Uncertainty & Citizenship: Family Law In Focus

As we start 2025, the evolving realities of direct-to-consumer DNA tests, political uncertainty and demand for foreign citizenship are increasingly calls to action. As people seek to understand and address these challenges it can create complex inter-related personal and legal questions. Such questions are increasingly drawing together and necessitating solutions that require specialist family law expertise. Successfully navigating a path through these choppy waters can require expert management and bespoke family law strategies to address the implications of genetic testing, legal and biological parentage, an application for a Declaration of Parentage and rectification of a birth certificate.

19
Aug
2024

Blog, Declaration of Parentage, Legal Parentage, Louisa Ghevaert, Modern Family Law, News

Rise in DNA tests being used to claim citizenship of other countries

Louisa Ghevaert was pleased to feature in an article in The Guardian on 18 August 2024 about the legalities associated with DNA testing and applications to rectify an inaccurate or incomplete birth certificate. The article discusses how increasing numbers of people are taking DNA tests to explore their ancestral heritage, uncover unknown aspects of their personal identity or trace parents, siblings and new relatives. Added to this, people are now using DNA tests to apply for citizenship in another country.

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