Fertility, Surrogacy & Adoption

Adoption can be used as a method of growing your family, or for securing the legal parenthood status required for children born as a result of surrogacy or co-parenting arrangements in certain situations.

We have experience with international adoption, domestic adoption, step-parent adoption and adoption following surrogacy or donor conception. We can use this experience to help you to ensure you have the legal protection that your family needs to move forward throughout life together.

Co-Parenting Arrangements are put in place where more than two people intend to live as parents for a child. We have acted for many family units who choose to become parents together and who regulate their arrangements through the use of a Co-Parenting Agreement.

We can use this experience to help you navigate your chosen path to parenthood by involving everyone in the process. We even have accredited mediators who can help to make arrangements and discuss parenting plans to ensure that everyone involved feels supported and that their rights are protected.

On rare occasions, disputes can arise, such as known donor disputes or disagreements relating to the care of a child. We are leading experts in such disputes, dealing with litigated cases in the Sheriff Court and the Court of Session.

We also have accredited mediators and arbitrators as part of our in-house team, for those who wish to resolve a dispute out with the court process.

Our specially trained employment lawyers are here to provide any advice that you need about employment or self-employment along your journey to parenthood, including:

• Access to employer policies
• Flexible working requests
• Remedies in the event of a dispute
• Your pay
• Your rights to leave

We have experience in advising both individuals and employers about fertility rights and campaigning for fertility-friendly policies in the workplace. We also offer training to your organisation on how to implement family-friendly policies.

For over 40 years, medical advancements in fertility treatments have helped countless people to become parents. We provide advice to individuals, clinicians, corporations and public bodies on all aspects of Fertility Law & Donor Conception, including experience in advising on matters relating to:

• Advising healthcare providers, charities and businesses servicing the TTC community on their rights and obligations.
• Campaigning for fair access to fertility treatment.
• Parenthood through Assisted Conception, including IVF treatment.
• Pre-implantation genetic testing.
• Seeking fertility treatment abroad.
• Using donor sperm or eggs.

We are market-leading experts when it comes to Surrogacy Law, having helped many families through their surrogacy journey, both in Scotland and abroad, over the years.

What sets us apart is our commitment to keeping the legal costs involved in surrogacy affordable and accessible to everyone, so that you can be safe in the knowledge that you have a legal team by your side regardless of your circumstances.

Our team of surrogacy lawyers have experience of all kinds of surrogacy arrangements, and will help to make you feel secure and supported throughout the entire journey.

We also provide a Surrogacy Consultancy Service to legal firms without such specialist knowledge. This has allowed us to help even more people be certain about their path to parenthood.

We ensure that both you and your family are cared for throughout your journey. We can advise on the terms of fertility-specific Wills and Powers of Attorney, to make sure that you are protected should the worst happen.

We are market leaders in Scotland, having been at the forefront of changes in Surrogacy law across the UK and having acted for countless families since the launch of our Modern Families Practice.

We don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk and regularly give back to the community through our pro-bono fertility advice service and provision of regular training and information sharing with other sectors and legal practitioners.

We believe that working with a fertility lawyer should take the legal stress off you and let you focus on the most important thing, becoming a parent. Our client testimonials speak for themselves, and we are delighted to play even a small part in welcoming your children to the world.

At BTO we truly celebrate and champion modern families, and firmly believe that everyone should be able to create the family they desire. We support and fight for all families, no matter their make-up.