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Under French law, surrogacy is still prohibited, but there’s some big news surrounding the topic. On October 2, 2024, the French Supreme Court made changes to ensure officially recognized parentage for children born from surrogacy in other countries. In other words, if French parents work with a surrogate abroad, the resulting child can be officially and properly recognized as the child of those parents.

That’s a significant change since French law previously wouldn’t recognize the intended parentage of children born from surrogacy. Before this ruling, parentage would include the person who physically gave birth, and that complicated the issue for anyone who wanted to work with a surrogate in another country and then bring the baby home to France.

It’s very important that the foreign order and surrogacy information is clear on the identities of everyone involved in the process. Conditions of consent have to be met and spelled out, as well, particularly in the case of the surrogate. If the agreement between all parties isn’t clear, or the consent of the surrogate isn’t clear, the French legal system may still not recognize the intended parentage as being accurate or binding.

However, the combined effect of both of these landmark decisions is extremely important for future intended parents. There won’t be a need for either one or both of the intended parents to adopt the baby, and the parentage will be recognized through the “exequatur” of the foreign order (either pre- or post-birth orders are acceptable). That will lead to a French birth certificate for the child, listing the intended parents and allowing them to start or grow their family.

It can still be very difficult for French citizens to have children via a surrogate due to the laws in the country and the need to find someone abroad. With this new ruling, though, it’s possible in a way that it wasn’t before. This will give French couples and individuals who need help to have children a new opportunity to create families or add to the children they already have and provide hope and support that simply didn’t exist until this change was made.

International clients are integral to The Surrogacy Law Center and we pride ourselves on the level of service we can provide them. Examples of our world-class customer service include:

• Providing translations of standard surrogacy and egg donor contracts in French, Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin
• Employing multilingual staff in French, Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese
• Ensuring high-quality interpreters can assist during telephone reviews of contracts and parental establishment documents when needed
• Assisting with the process of obtaining apostilles of birth certificates and/or parentage orders, as necessary
• Working closely with attorneys retained by clients in their home countries to help ensure a seamless transition home.

Contact us today to get started!