PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsGay man who donated sperm to lesbian ex-wife seeks parental access

BioNews

Gay man who donated sperm to lesbian ex-wife seeks parental access

Published 30 January 2013 posted in News and appears in BioNews 644

Author

Dr Linda Wijlaars

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).

The Court of Appeal in the UK is hearing a case in which a gay man is fighting for greater parental access to his two-year old son he fathered with his lesbian ex-wife...

The Court of Appeal in the UK is hearing a case in which a gay man is fighting for greater parental access to his two-year old son he fathered with his lesbian ex-wife.

The mother says she made a pact with the father during a restaurant meeting before the boy was conceived. In the deal she and her partner would fill the role of primary parents and he would not seek to exercise his parental rights.

The court heard that the father and biological mother used to be in a marriage of convenience and are now divorced. The man currently has five hours visiting contact with his son every two weeks. In order for him to have his son stay overnight, and to able to take him on a holiday, the father wants this visiting contact to be gradually extended.

The mother and her partner say they feel 'bitter and betrayed' after the father made his demands. Mr Charles Howard, QC, representing the couple, said they acknowledge that they are an alternative family to an extent but still 'hold very traditional views of family life and would not have chosen to bring a child into anything other than an intact, two-parent, family'.

Howard added that his clients believe it is in their son's best interest to have one home, rather than two.

Mr Alex Verdan, QC, acting for the father, said that the man had 'described vividly to the court the pleasure and joy that he feels in interacting with his son when they see each other'. He added: 'The father wants to play a full part in his development. He has a strong desire to develop a father-son relationship with the boy'.

Under UK law, donors who donate their sperm through a licensed fertility clinic are not considered as legal parents of the children they help conceive. A donor who donates sperm outside the context of a licensed clinic (for example, to a friend or a donor found through a website online) does not acquire this automatic protection and may be treated as the legal father of the child.

In a same-sex relationship the woman who gives birth to the child will have legal parenthood status. Her partner's status will depend on a number of factors such as whether they are in a civil partnership and whether they conceive through a licensed clinic.

There are similarities to a custody case from 2010 (reported in BioNews 584), where a gay man was awarded joint residency for two children conceived through IVF. As in this case, the lesbian couple wanted to fill the role of primary parents to their children. However, the father had had parental responsibility from the outset for both children, which gave him legal ground to seek further access. The lesbian couple appealed this decision.

The three judges have reserved their decision until an unspecified later date.

Related Articles

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
10 November 2014 • 2 minutes read

Known-donation contact case: Children's lives 'irredeemably marred' by dispute, says judge

by Chee Hoe Low

A six-year legal battle for contact over two girls conceived via known-donor fertilisation has had a 'destructive effect' on the girls' childhood, a High Court judge has warned in his third substantive judgment in the case....

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
31 March 2014 • 2 minutes read

Judge urges birth and genetic mothers to settle their custody battle

by Ari Haque

The UK's Court of Appeal has urged two women who were in a same sex relationship to reach an agreement over the custody of their five-year-old twins...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
24 June 2013 • 3 minutes read

Australian known sperm donor granted parenthood

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

An Australian man has been granted shared parental responsibility by a federal judge over a child born through IVF using sperm he had donated to his former partner....

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
Comment
27 February 2013 • 4 minutes read

Birth mother v non-birth mother

by Sarah Wood-Heath

There have been a number of high profile cases of late involving disputes within alternative family structures. Primarily these concern fathers or known donors seeking more of a relationship with their child than they originally wished for. However, another interesting and sadly increasing area we are witnessing is the breakdown of relationships in two mother lesbian parent families...

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
News
27 February 2013 • 3 minutes read

Split spare sperm samples, court tells separated lesbian couple

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

Thirteen vials of sperm are to be divided between two women after their relationship ended, a Canadian court has ruled. It ruled the sperm should be treated as property and divided between the former couple as other joint assets were upon separation....

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
News
23 January 2013 • 2 minutes read

Lesbian woman in US who donated eggs to ex-partner granted parental rights over child

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

A Florida court has granted equal parental rights to two lesbian women who created a child using the eggs from one of the women, while the other carried the baby to term. It ruled that egg donors may acquire parental rights to children resulting from their gametes under the Florida and US Constitution....

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
12 November 2010 • 2 minutes read

Gay man and lesbian couple in custody battle

by Nishat Hyder

A gay man and a lesbian couple have been embroiled in a complex and unprecedented legal battle in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales over access to their two children conceived through artificial insemination....

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Court denies sperm donor paternal rights in favour of lesbian parents

by MacKenna Roberts

Last Wednesday the Dublin High Court, Ireland denied a sperm donor guardianship and court-ordered access rights to his biological child, born to a lesbian couple. The homosexual 41-year-old friend of the lesbian couple, referred to as 'A', signed a written agreement to donate sperm and not...

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Sperm donor seeks custody of his biological son

by Danielle Hamm

A sperm donor from the Republic of Ireland is fighting for joint custody of his biological son, following the break-down of his relationship with the lesbian couple he donated his sperm to. On 19 July he won a Supreme Court battle, preventing the couple from taking the...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Concern over Welsh IVF shake-up

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.

Find out how you can advertise here
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Lower hormone doses may improve IVF egg quality

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Boosting muscle cell production of gene therapy proteins

1 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

First UK medical guidelines issued for trans fertility preservation

1 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Male age has more impact on IVF birth rate than previously thought

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Call to end ban on HIV-positive partner gamete 'donation'

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Melanoma invades new tissues using nerve cell gene

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Exceeding alcohol limits could damage DNA and accelerate ageing

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Blood cell gene mutations affect mitochondria, increasing cardiovascular disease risk

15 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Jumping gene helps immune system fight viruses

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856