72-year old Scottish man named parent of US surrogate born son

A 72-year old man has been named the legal parent of a three-year old boy who was born to a surrogate in the USA in 2020. 

The boy had been living with the man since 2021, after he was first able to collect him following COVID-19-related travel restrictions. The man's wife experienced a severe stroke before the birth of the child, and has since died.

Sheriff Wendy Sheehan delivered her verdict at Edinburgh Sheriff Court following a petition for a parental order from the man. She said: 'His gestational carrier has had no contact with him since birth. He is now aged three years and ten months.

'The lack of a parental order would result in a failure to recognise his genetic relationship with the first petitioner and would deny him the social and emotional benefits of recognition of his relationship with his parents with a legality that matched his day to day reality.'

Find out more in Scottish Legal News.