Porter Dodson’s pioneering Fertility and Parenting Team has been shortlisted for the Law Society’s 2012 Excellence Award in Innovation

September 11, 2012 By Louisa Ghevaert

We’re delighted to announce that Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team, headed by leading fertility and parenting law specialist Louisa Ghevaert, has been shortlisted for the Law Society’s 2012 Excellence in Innovation Category.

 The Law Society’s annual prestigious awards ceremony recognizes exceptional solicitors, individuals and teams across the entire legal sector.  Winners will be announced at a black tie event on 18 October 2012 at Old Billingsgate, London.

Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team is a world class specialist fertility and parenting law service with a global client base.  It delivers inspirational and groundbreaking legal solutions for fertility patients and families and supports the vital work of fertility clinicians and professionals. Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team protects and educates people as they build families in new ways in the UK and abroad, in the face of restrictive laws and frequent international conflicts of law and strives to improve law and policy in the UK to help the millions of people who battle infertility annually.

Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team has developed a pioneering, free, specialist multi-media fertility and parenting law website www.porterdodsonfertility.com which contains continuously evolving legal information, video, social media, articles and a topical blog aimed at educating and helping fertility patients, clinicians and families across the world. We provide bespoke legal advice and representation for those undergoing international and UK surrogacy, donor conception, parenting and children arrangements including known donation and co-parenting, fertility treatment and children, parenting and family disputes. The practice has also developed an extensive media profile, spearheaded by Louisa Ghevaert, and engages with law and policy makers to improve awareness and develop laws governing assisted reproduction, children and parenting in the UK and abroad. 

Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team’s innovative legal work has won international media recognition on television, radio and in the press including Ukrainian television (Inter-TV), a TV documentary commissioned by the Chinese Government to be aired next month in China looking at IVF and fertility treatment in the West, BBC South Today TV, BBC Radio Somerset, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The French Tribune, The Portsmouth News and The British Medical Journal - click here for more information.

Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team has over the last 12 months represented Portsmouth couples Donna and Dean Marshall, winning a rare legal battle against Portsmouth City PCT for IVF funding on the NHS in December 2011 and Andrea and Aaron Heywood in their high profile legal battle for IVF treatment on the NHS in June 2012. The team’s head, Louisa Ghevaert, was a speaker and panel moderator at the American Bar Association’s conference in Las Vegas in October 2011 lecturing the world’s leading specialist assisted reproduction lawyers on surrogacy, fertility treatment, IVF, and donor conception law. The team also provided expert legal comment to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics on the ethical aspects of information disclosure in cases of donor conception in May 2012 to help the development of law and policy in this area.

To continue Porter Dodson Fertility and Parenting Team’s groundbreaking and cutting-edge work, the team works tirelessly to help people all over the world create and protect their families.  As interest in surrogacy and assisted reproduction continues to grow, Louisa will in particular be lecturing later this year on international surrogacy law at The Fertility Show at Olympia, London and on fertility treatment and parenthood at Insights 2012 conference for fertility and healthcare professionals.  

If you would like our help please call +44 (0)207 222 1244 or email fertilityandparenting@porterdodson.co.uk.

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Same-sex marriage, family life and Barack Obama: Louisa Ghevaert’s editorial article in Pink Parenting Magazine

June 22, 2012 By Louisa Ghevaert

The latest edition of Pink Parenting Magazine features an editorial article by Louisa Ghevaert about the issue of same-sex marriage and recent presidential endorsement by Barack Obama entitled “US of Gay”.  Click here to read the full article.

On 9 May 2012 Barack Obama became the first US president to endorse gay marriage.  This was heralded as an historic political and cultural moment in the US that would have been unthinkable even ten years ago.  It propels the last civil rights battle in America further into the spotlight and raises questions about the motivations and significance of Obama’s change of opinion.

Assisted reproduction reproduction, surrogacy, co-parenting and known donation offer a wealth of choice for prospective gay parents.  However, there is often a distinct lack of joined up legal thinking which can leave gay parents without legal status for their children and a lack of legal protection for their family. This can create complex legal problems and create hard fought legal battles when parenting disputes arise and things go wrong. The law does not yet treat gay parents and families formed through assisted reproduction equally and this creates a need for gay parents to take extra care to ensure they tackle the relevant legal issues and access expert legal help to maximise legal protection for their family.

If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail or you would like more information about the legal issues associated with same-sex families, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, co-parenting, known donation or a parenting dispute please email louisa.ghevaert@porterdodson.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 2221244.

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Known donor disputes

May 30, 2012 By Louisa Ghevaert

Despite the best of intentions, problems and disputes can arise between parents and a known donor.  As increasing numbers of people embrace known donor arrangements as their family building option of choice, inevitably a proportion of these families will experience conflict and relationship breakdown at some point.  The English court has recently dealt with a handful of cases involving difficult and emotionally charged disputes between parents and known donors and there are a number of lessons to be learned from these.

The English family court  has acknowledged that families created with the help of a known donor are still ‘new territory’ and that conventional family and parenting models do not apply. The English family court has highlighted the importance for all the parties to discuss and agree arrangements for the child at the outset and manage everyone’s expectations.  That said, it is difficult to plan for every eventuality and a number of unforeseen events and issues can (and often do) arise which then need to be handled with great care.

In practical terms, it is therefore important to:

  • Agree everyone’s identity and role at the outset (i.e who will be the parents and what the status and role of the known donor will be)
  • How much involvement and contact the known donor (and his family) will have with the child
  • Put in place a well crafted known donor agreement which clarifies the legal issues and records agreed arrangements for the child
  • Regularly review arrangements for the child

Although the court does not have to uphold the terms of a known donor agreement and will always look to secure the child’s best interests, it can be  important evidence if  a legal dispute arises and it can play a key part in determining the outcome of the case.  Building a family with a known donor is a big step and it creates a unique family identity.  It often raises complex legal issues and it is vital to tackle these with care from the start to ensure maximum protection for your family.

If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail or you would like more information about known donation click here or email louisa.ghevaert@porterdodson.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 222 1244.

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Parenting disputes in uncertain economic times

May 4, 2012 By Louisa Ghevaert

Relationship breakdown is tough and even more so in uncertain economic times.  The breakdown of a relationship creates a range of issues and difficulties for parents and children that can be hard to tackle and resolve.

Uncertain economic times make it harder for parents to craft financial settlements as there is less available capital and income to share, jobs are under threat and living costs continue to rise. The family finances, which previously ran one household, now have to be stretched to run two households and this can place families under considerable pressure at an already difficult time and this can often create a significant drop in overall standards of living.

Parents’ financial worries can also impact on arrangements for the care and upbringing of their children. It can make it harder for parents to communicate and adjust to life as separated parents and make it difficult for them to agree residence, contact and other parenting arrangements for their children.  For example overnight staying contact can become contentious if the separated parent’s new accommodation is at distance from the family home or is small and less child friendly due to financial constraints. These financial worries are often compounded by other concerns and pressures, which can make it difficult for parents to effectively parent their children and this can cause parenting disputes to arise.

Parenting disputes can become entrenched and difficult to resolve, as they are often emotionally charged and hard fought.  Wider issues and concerns can also become entangled in the dispute, which can make it even harder to reach an agreement.  For example, a deep seated lack of trust between parents, strong and unresolved feelings of anger, grief and shock and concerns over the introduction of a new partner.

Recent statistics show that increasing numbers of UK families (whether together or separated) are facing serious issues of conflict, which can (and do) bring famililes to tipping point. A significant proportion of these experience financial and emotional conflict, through job threats and loss, falling earnings, rising fuel and food costs, expensive childcare and the high cost of accommodation. It is therefore unsurprising that increasing numbers of relationships between parents are breaking down and parenting disputes arise.

Click on the following links if you would like more information about the legal issues surrounding a parenting dispute or financial provision for a child.  If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail or you need further help please email fertilityandparenting@porterdodson.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 222 1244.

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Same-sex parenting: dispute with biological father

April 27, 2012 By Louisa Ghevaert

The Court of Appeal has recently determined a case involving a difficult parenting dispute between a successful and professional lesbian couple and a biological father for a child (A v B and C 2012).  The case raises important issues relating to the English Family Court’s approach to children born into alternative families and the relationship of such children with their fathers.

Long term lesbian partners conceived a child with a longstanding male friend in December 2008.  The biological father was formerly in a marriage of convenience with the mother although they subsequently divorced. It was intended that the lesbian couple would be the child’s parents and that the biological father would be acknowledged as such and would play a secondary role.  The parties initially thought they had agreed their respective status and roles. However, following conception, the parties failed to agree on future contact arrangements.  The biological father’s wish for weekly overnight staying contact and an annual holiday with the child was not agreed. In November 2010, the biological father issued court proceedings for a contact order and the lesbian couple responded with an application for a joint residence order and a specific issue order to determine the parameters of the exercise of the biological father’s parental responsibility for the child. Court hearings took place during late 2010 and 2011 and resulted in a joint residence order in favour of the lesbian couple (to confer parental responsibility upon the lesbian non birth mother) and a limited 5 hour contact order for the biological father every fortnight.  The biological father appealed.

The Court of Appeal ruled that these complex alternative family cases are fact specific and as such generalised guidance is not possible.  The child’s welfare is the paramount consideration and in considering the child’s welfare it is important to identify the source of the child’s nurture, stability and security. The court ruled that it would be wrong in this case to develop the biological father’s relationship with the child to that of a divorced parent, since this would confuse and disrupt the relationship between the two mothers who provided the nuture, stability and security for the child. It would be wrong to approve a regime whereby there would be a concept of three parents and two homes as this was not indicated by the circumstances of the case.

The Court of Appeal acknowledged that these cases are “still new territory” where conventional family models do not work and the courts are still struggling to evolve a principled approach. The parties’ pre-conception intentions were relevant factors but they were not determinative.  The case demontsrates how plans change over time and how important it is for the parties to discuss and agree arrangements for the child in as much detail as they can at the outset and develop language that befits everyone’s expectations.

If you are considering a known donor or a co-parenting arrangement, it is critical that you tackle the legal issues from the outset to ensure maximum success in your family building plans and to avoid the potential for dispute.  A well drafted known donor or co-parenting agreement will help you crystalize the relevant legal and practical issues and construct a legal framework for everyone’s future role and status and provide much needed protection for your family.  If you would like to discuss your personal situation in more detail or you would like more information about same-sex parenting, known donation and co-parenting arrangements  click here or email fertilityandparenting@porterdodson.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 222 1244.

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