What are my legal rights if married or civil partnered?
If you are both legal parents (either by law or through adoption), your donor or co-parent will not be your child’s legal father. This applies also to lesbian couples in civil partnerships conceiving through a clinic or at home (providing a legal donor agreement is in place). However, although the law is still emerging, it is possible that there may be some scope for a natural father who has no legal parental status to apply to court for rights in relation to your child, particularly if he has had involvement in your child’s upbringing as a co-parent. There may also be scope for you to pursue him financially if he has in practice maintained your child.
