All of the routes to parenthood mentioned are legal in the UK. However, it is important to note the following for specific options:

Surrogacy

Whilst surrogacy is legal in the UK, commercial surrogacy is not legal. This is where the intended parents pay the surrogate for having the baby for them, i.e. more than her expenses, so that the arrangement becomes a commercial one.

Surrogacy agreements are highly recommended, but they are not legally binding. However, if one of our expert surrogacy lawyers at Stowe Family Law assists you in documenting your shared intentions, plans and needs, they are more likely to be held up by a court in the event that anything goes wrong in your surrogacy arrangement.

Assisted Reproduction

There are various factors to consider as there are different options for assisted reproduction. The relevant legislation is:

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008

It is also essential that you use a regulated fertility clinic. They are regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

Whilst neither surrogacy agreements nor co parenting agreements are legally binding, each can be extremely useful and may assist if there are any disagreements or mishaps in the respective journeys.

A surrogacy agreement is a record drawn up between the surrogate and the intended parents to highlight their plans, intentions and commitments throughout pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and birth.

It is important to note that these agreements do not negate the need for a parental order to make the intended parents the legal parents.

A co parenting agreement details the expectations, plans for conception, pregnancy and birth, as well as various educational, social, religious and cultural environments for raising the child. These are not enforceable, but are a good way of documenting very early on the intentions of the parties involved.

A parental order is an order granted by the court that transfers legal parenthood. The law in the UK is that the woman who gives birth to a child is automatically the legal parent, and her spouse (if she is married) becomes the second legal parent.

If you use a surrogate, or choose to adopt, you will need a parental order to become the legal parents of your child, even if you are genetically related to the baby.

Yes, in the majority of cases, if you meet the eligibility criteria.

Transgender people may well be able to donate their gametes. However, if they have already started hormone replacement therapy (HRT), this may affect the quality of the gametes, so they may not pass the eligibility criteria for donation clinics.