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Legal parenthood

A child can only ever have two legal parents under English law (although additional adults can acquire legal status or rights for a child, e.g. parental responsibility or a child arrangements order).
Legal parenthood for a child denotes:

  • Inheritance rights – giving your child an automatic right of inheritance from you

Media & Commentary

Apple podcast with Speak From The Body with Avni Touch entitled “Fertility law for modern families with Louisa Ghevaert” (26 February 2020).

“Legal parentage disputes: modern families and the law”, Louisa Ghevaert Associates blog (18 November 2020).

“The global legal identity gap”, Louisa Ghevaert Associates blog (21 August 2020).

Anything but child’s play: surrogacy and thorny issues of identity, parenthood and status in modern families (Family Law, 29 August 2018)

Birth certificates: a new era? (BioNews, April 2010)

How can we help?

We can provide expert, supportive and accessible legal assistance to include:

  • Advice on acquisition of legal parenthood for a child in the UK, which is especially important if you are undergoing assisted conception and you have complex personal circumstances or want to conceive with a known donor
  • Advice on acquisition of legal parenthood for a child in the UK, which is especially important if you are undergoing assisted conception and you have complex personal circumstances or want to conceive with a known donor
  • Advice and preparation of a donor agreement (to clarify the legal position of you and your known donor)
  • Advice and preparation of a co-parenting agreement (to clarify the legal position of you and your co-parent/s)
  • Advice and representation for you in a parental order application following surrogacy (to confer legal parenthood on intended parents and extinguish the legal status of surrogate parents)
  • Advice and representation for  you in a private adoption application (e.g. if you are a step-parent or a non birth lesbian mother)
  • Advice and representation for you if there is a dispute surrounding the legal parentage or parental responsibility of your child
  • Resolving a dispute about legal parentage following a direct-to-consumer DNA test (e.g. to remove or add a parent’s name to a birth certificate)
  • Resolving a dispute about legal parentage following a foreign adoption
  • Resolving problems with completion of patient HFEA consent forms at UK fertility clinics (e.g. missing or errors), calling into question the legal parentage of a non-birth parent for their child.

If you require legal assistance or wish to discuss your situation contact us

 +44 (0) 20 7965 8399

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