What a parental order actually costs
The court fee is £270 — far less than most people expect. The total depends almost entirely on one decision, plus a set of small costs nobody warns you about until the invoice arrives.
Read →Parental order eligibility: the eight conditions, checked
Section 54 sets eight conditions for a parental order, and most of them are hard gates rather than matters of discretion. Here is each one in plain English, what it actually means, and the three that carry real risk.
Read →Do you need a solicitor for a parental order?
Almost everything written on this was written by solicitors. Here is the honest version: most straightforward applications can be made without one, a minority genuinely cannot, and this is how to tell which you are.
Read →Parliament debated parental orders. Nothing is changing.
113,000 signatures got surrogacy law into Westminster Hall on 7 September 2026. The Government's answer was no legislation now. What was actually asked, what was decided, and what it means if you are applying for a parental order.
Read →TEST: What happens when the embryo isn't genetically yours
A UK couple learned their surrogate-born twins weren't genetically theirs. What that meant for citizenship and a parental order — and what to ask a clinic.
Read →Wrong donors, the genetic link, and your parental order
At least 30 children, most of them British, may have been conceived with the wrong donors in northern Cyprus. What that failure would mean for a parental order.
Read →Law Commission reform: what it could mean for parental orders
A new legal framework has been proposed to modernise surrogacy law. Here's what it could change for intended parents — and what hasn't changed yet.
Read →The six-month deadline: why timing matters more than ever
You have six months from your child's birth to file a parental order application. Here's how the clock works and how to stay ahead of it.
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