The High Court in London has granted parental orders to a couple who applied over ten years after the time period in which to do so had expired.
Three children were born in 2002 and 2004 following surrogacy arrangements in the US, but an application for a parental order was not made until March 2016. An application for a parental order must be made within six months following the child's birth, although in exceptional cases this can be extended by the court.
Granting the parental orders, Mrs Justice Theis said that the couple had 'no idea' a parental order was required to become legal parents and that the pre-birth orders obtained in the US were not sufficient to confer legal parenthood in the UK.
Making it clear that each case should be considered on its own facts, Mrs Justice Theis said the 'public policy consideration of adhering to the six month time period ... and the need not to discourage commissioning parents in surrogacy arrangements from making applications for parental orders promptly' must be weighed against the welfare of the children.
'This was not a case where there has been any wilful delay in making the application and, having considered the public policy considerations, the balance came down firmly in favour of the court making parental orders,' she said.
Mrs Justice Theis also noted that the couple wanted the ruling to be made public 'as they want to ensure that other people in the same position as them are encouraged to make applications to secure their legal relationship with children born through surrogacy arrangements'.
'By not doing so risks complications later on, for example if there is a need to demonstrate they are the legal parent of a child, or a need to show they have parental responsibility for the child concerned,' she said.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.