Lorraine Harvey
Partner, Family Law
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English
For initial legal advice call our Fertility Law Solicitors and we will help you.
Our specialist Fertility Law team are here to give you the most advanced advice around building your family, whatever method you chose to do that.
Whether you’re looking to go down the surrogacy route, having a child using donation, adopting a child here or abroad or co-parenting, we can help you to understand all of the legal issues involved and help you to start to build your family.
Get in touch with one of our leading Fertility Law team for specialist help and advice and choose from various options for your appointment, including telephone or video calls.
We're rated‘Excellent’Choosing someone to carry your child is a big decision to make. If you’re considering either host or traditional surrogacy, it’s important to understand your legal rights and to put in place the right agreements to make sure the process goes smoothly.
There can be added complications if you are using a surrogate outside of the UK, including immigration issues which, if you address them beforehand, should not cause you any issues but need careful planning to minimise the risks of problems arising.
Having the right legal advice from a specialist surrogacy Lawyer, who can help you navigate the process from start to finish, can help make the process as smooth as possible.
If you’ve decided to have a child with someone who you’re not in a relationship with, this is called co-parenting or platonic parenting. Going into this arrangement with some ground rules and some clear ideas on how you will both raise your child can help you both to avoid disagreements and disputes in the future.
Our specialist Fertility Law team have helped co-parents find a way to work together to raise their child. You’ll also need to be clear about both of your parental rights and how you will financially care for your child. A co-parenting agreement is a great way to get everything down in writing to minimise the chances of you disagreeing later on, by having everything mapped out and agreed already. If you get into a disagreement you can’t resolve, we can advise you on your options and help find a solution.
Having a child using either donor sperm or eggs can create some challenges legally. It’s important that you and the donor are clear about your legal rights and that you discuss all issues openly at the outset so you can reach an agreement about how to move forward.
Legal parenthood is always at the front of people’s mind when donor conception is discussed as a maximum of only 2 people can be legal parents. Legal parenthood can only be transferred to someone else either through surrogacy or adoption, so being clear about the structure of your family and who has legal rights is important before you go down this route.
Getting the right help and advice from the start will help you to understand all of the issues, get legal advice on how to address these issues and work through a donor agreement with your donor
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Adoption can be a long, and often complex process but building your family this way can be so rewarding. Whether you’re going through the adoption process here in the UK or choosing international adoption, our specialist Fertility and Children Law Team can help you.
Bringing a child in from another country to the UK can give some challenges from an immigration point of view as well as from a Family Law perspective. Even if you’ve completed all the paperwork properly in the country you adopt in, there are usually still legal processes that need to happen here in England and Wales.
We can make sure that you are completely clear about what needs to happen before you bring your child home with you so that the process goes smoothly for you all.
Making sure that you get the right, specialist legal advice from the outset will help you to understand the process and it be prepared for it.
A Family Law Solicitor deals with legal matters that involve you and your family, such as your spouse, your partner, your children and the family home.
In 2021, there were 113,505 divorces in the UK, which is 9.6% higher than the previous year. According to the Office for National Statistics, this rise could have been down to the disruption in family courts activities during the pandemic, but there is still an obvious rise year on year. That rise covers an average of 42% of marriages getting a divorce, so knowing where you stand legally is important.
There are several reasons as to why you may be looking to change your child’s name. Whether you’re getting divorced from their other parent or re-married and you want to change your child’s name to reflect this, there are certainly options for you.
Fill in the form below to get in touch with one of our dedicated team members, or call our team today on: 0808 239 3465
