If you have had a child via assisted reproduction, it may still be necessary to take legal steps to ensure that your rights are protected. You may need to apply for a parental order for a surrogate child, or to secure the rights of your child to come and live in the UK. You may also need advice about your child’s relationship to your spouse or partner, or if some dispute or complication has arisen during the reproduction process.
Whatever issue you are facing, prompt and comprehensive advice will help your situation. Assisted reproduction can lead to a range of complex issues, spanning fertility law and more traditional family law subjects. Whether your issue is with a donor, a clinic, or somebody else, we can help.
As a top family law firm, incorporating world-leading expertise in fertility and family law, Vardags can help you steer you through any legal issues arising in assisted reproduction.
We have helped a range of couples and individuals in all manner of circumstances, providing advice and representation following the birth of a child. We are known for our ground-breaking approach to the law, and are not afraid to push the law forward. We will help you in whatever assisted reproduction related dispute you find yourself in, helping you to secure the best future for yourself and your family.
Under UK Surrogacy law, legal parenthood and parental responsibility for a surrogate born child initially fall on to the surrogate and her spouse. As an intended parent, you must therefore apply for a parental order to reassign this legal status from the surrogate and her spouse to yourself and to extinguish all of the legal status of the surrogate and spouse. This is the bespoke legal solution for surrogacy in the UK.
Surrogacy raises complex questions about British nationality and immigration law. UK immigration law applies to those who are resident in the UK, regardless of whether they are British citizens, EEA nationals or permanently resident in the UK. There are various ways a surrogate born child can obtain British nationality and a British passport to include: by birth, by descent, registration as a British citizen, upon the grant of a parental order in certain circumstances.
There are no international agreements governing surrogacy arrangements. This creates international conflicts of law and a legal patchwork effect around the world which can be compounded when intended parents and families formed through surrogacy have an international lifestyle or multi-jurisdictional aspects to their personal and/or professional situations.
English law applies its own law on surrogacy and does not automatically recognize foreign parentage orders or foreign birth certificates naming intended parents as the parents of their surrogate born children. This can make a surrogate born child ‘stateless and parentless’ without recognised legal parents and status in a country.
We offer a free consultation to qualifying individuals. Please call our confidential enquiry line on 020 7404 9390. Lines are staffed 24 hours.
When you contact us a member of our client relations team will take the full details of your situation, assess whether we can assist you, and if so, determine the best team for your case.
Vardags is one of the UK’s leading divorce law firms. We specialise in complex, high net worth and international cases. The Legal 500 has said of Vardags: “The team is noted for its sheer intellect”
Vardags is among the leading family law firms in the UK. Our solicitors specialise in complex cases for high net worth individuals, including international child relocation, child abduction, and prenuptial agreements. The Legal 500 has said that "clients feel in totally safe hands" with Vardags' Children & Family lawyers.
Our reputation and privacy team, headed by top media lawyer Alex McCready, works in and out of the public eye on cases involving defamation, privacy and reputation management. We provide expert advice and representation across the full range of reputation and privacy related matters, including crisis management, emergency injunctions and actions against online and new media.
Vardags is a leading UK law firm with expertise in complex disputes relating to a range of corporate law matters. Our team has a wealth of expertise to help clients with their legal needs.
Vardags is a successful and rapidly-growing law firm with an outstanding reputation for winning cases.
Vardags is a top law firm with a trailblazing fertility and surrogacy department. We have had success with some of the most groundbreaking cases of the last decade in the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court, with rulings that have changed the law. Vardags remains at the cutting edge of fertility law, pushing for further improvement of the outdated legislation in place in Britain.
Vardags’ civil litigation team is renowned for its nous and its consistent ability to deliver results.
Vardags is a leading UK law firm, offering substantial expertise in company and commercial legal issues. Our company and commercial team is headed by leading experts, with decades of experience in their respective fields
Vardags is a top professional negligence law firm with expertise in complex and substantial claims. You may have seen our name in the press as our clients are often very high profile. Equally we settle many claims entirely out of the public eye. Our team is led by top professional negligence lawyer, Frank Ryan, who has over 30 years of experience across a range of professional negligence cases.
Vardags' wills and trusts team has the specific expertise to cater to the wills and trusts needs of high-net-worth and high-profile individuals. Richard Todd QC, Leading Counsel for Yasmin Prest said of Vardags: “a note to acknowledge your firm’s pivotal role in achieving such an outstanding result in the recent Supreme Court case of Petrodel v Prest”.
Vardags is a leading family law firm with specialist expertise in assisting clients who are experiencing domestic abuse. We appreciate that those in abusive relationships may face difficulties contacting us. We can provide additional discretion, such as arranging alternative meeting places and talking via our WhatsApp service.
Vardags Limited is a limited company trading as Vardags, Company No 7199468, registered in England and Wales, having its registered office at 10 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7NG. Vardags is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Number 535955). Its VAT number is 99 001 7230.
Vardags uses the term ‘Partner’ as a professional title only, to describe a Senior Solicitor, Employee or Consultant with relevant experience, expertise and qualifications (whether legally qualified or otherwise) to merit the title. Our Partners are not partners in the legal sense. They are not liable for the debts, liabilities or obligations of Vardags Limited. Similarly, the term ’Director’ is a professional title only, to describe a non-legally qualified employee or consultant of Vardags with relevant experience, expertise and qualifications to merit the title. It does not necessarily imply that the relevant individual is a director of Vardags Limited.
A list of the directors of Vardags Limited and a list of the names of those using the title of ’Director’ and ’Partner’ together with their official status is available for inspection at Vardags’ registered office.