D & Anor v K (Illegal Chinese Commercial Surrogacy)

Court

In Family Court

Practice Areas

International Children Law

Andrew Powell KC, instructed by Natalie Sutherland of The International Family Law Group LLP, represented the applicants in D & Anor v K (Illegal Chinese Commercial Surrogacy) [2026] EWFC 279 before the Honourable Mr Justice MacDonald.

The case concerned an application for a parental order where the applicants engaged in an illegal commercial surrogacy arrangement in China, which the court found risked the exploitation of the surrogate.

Whilst the court deprecated the course taken by the applicants, it was satisfied that the case could not be said to be the clearest case of abuse of public policy and went on to make a parental order.

MacDonald J concluded the judgment, observing [§64]

“Would-be parents who are contemplating entering into a commercial foreign surrogacy arrangement should be in no doubt that court will not make a parental order simply because the court is presented with an apparent fait accompli based on the fact that the subject child is already in the care of the intended parents”