Pride Month Series:Legal Parenthood and Transgender Families in England & Wales; A Case Law Study

Pride Month is a time to celebrate LGBTQIA+ people and to recognise the practical and legal issues that can impact their lives and families in everyday ways.

For many transgender people, who is and can be recognised as a legal parent and how births are registered can be complicated and sometimes confusing, particularly where the law does not always reflect the reality of modern families.

At Fisher Jones Greenwood, we are committed to providing clear, compassionate, and robust advice to help ensure that every family is recognised and protected. We understand that seeking legal advice in this area can feel daunting, and our aim is always to provide a supportive and inclusive environment where clients feel safe, heard, and respected.

A recent High Court judgment FZ v MZ [2025] EWHC 3338 (Fam), illustrates both the protections available and the areas where the law continues to evolve, in relation to recognising transgender parents.

In that case, a transgender man (FZ) with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) was married to his wife. They had two children, both conceived outside of a licensed clinic using sperm from a known donor.

The elder child was conceived before the parents married and was born in 2023. The younger child was conceived during the marriage and was born in 2024, using the same known donor involved in both pregnancies.

An erroneous registration of fatherhood

When registering the birth of their elder child, FZ presented his GRC and informed the Registrar that he was a transgender man. The Register Office recorded the parents as the child’s mother and father.

However, later in the year, the Council notified them that a mistake was made with the registration and FZ should not have been registered as the child’s father.

The law (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (HFEA 2008) meant FZ was not recognised as the elder child’s legal father. There are specific conditions that are necessary if a couple is unmarried at the time a child is conceived, and they wish for the man to acquire legal status as a parent. These “agreed fatherhood” provisions are set out in the HFEA 2008:-

• Conception to have taken place at a licensed clinic;
• Certain forms and agreements required regarding parenthood given to the person responsible at the licensed clinic.

As these conditions were not satisfied, FZ was not recognised as the elder child’s legal father. Rather, the known donor was recognised as the elder child’s legal father, although he was not named on the child’s birth certificate and therefore had not obtained parental responsibility.

Given that the couple were not married at the time of conception, and the relevant forms and permission notices were not completed, the donor was the elder child’s legal father.

By the time the younger child was conceived and born, FZ and his wife were married. As such, FZ sought to rely on a different part of the law to be recognised as a legal father for the younger child, which covers when conception takes place outside of a licensed clinic during a marriage.

The law in England and Wales does not prevent a non-biological father from being registered as a child’s father if he is married to the mother.

FZ asked the Court to find that he could be registered as the younger child’s father in circumstances where his wife was married to him at the time of conception, and he consented to the conception,

However, the Court had to consider the interaction between the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the HFEA 2008.

The Gender Recognition Act states that a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate is “for all purposes” the acquired gender. However, Section 12 provides that this “does not affect the status of the person as the father or mother of a child”.

For a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate, the Court found that where an exception applies, as set out in Section 12 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 in relation to conferring status of parenthood, the person is “still to be treated as having their gender at birth”. For example, the person who gives birth to the child would still legally be treated as the child’s mother, even if they have acquired a Gender Recognition Certificate as a man.

In such circumstances, the Court found that FZ could not be registered as the younger child’s father. FZ could also not be registered as the child’s second parent on the birth certificate, as he was not married to his wife as a woman and therefore another section of the HFEA 2008 did not apply.

The Court recognised that this resulted in a gap in the law and that FZ was put at a disadvantage as a transgender man and could not be named on his younger child’s birth certificate as either a father or the second parent.

Securing alternative parenthood

Following the identification of the error, the elder child’s birth certificate was manually amended to strike off FZ as the father. FZ was concerned that the amendment to the birth certificate would make it known an error had occurred and would risk exposing that he was a transgender man. This highlights an important and sensitive issue: the intersection between legal processes and an individual’s right to privacy and dignity.

FZ was successful in applying to Court for the original birth registration of the elder child, to be quashed, to remove the error from the record. He made further successful application for a step-parent adoption order to adopt his elder child and child arrangements order for the elder child to live with FZ and his wife.

Whilst FZ’s application for a declaration of parentage for the younger was refused, the court made an order with the younger child to also live with FZ and his wife and indicated FZ could pursue a step-parent adoption order as with the elder child, if he wished to do so.

While this outcome provided practical protection for the family, it also reinforces that alternative legal steps are sometimes required to achieve recognition.

Impact for LGBTQIA+ families

This case highlights that, in certain circumstances, the law continues to place significant weight on biological sex, rather than acquired sex or gender, when determining legal parenthood, which can create additional complexity for transgender and gender non-conforming parents.

When considering steps in building a family, early legal advice about the timing of conception and how this can affect legal parenthood along with careful consideration of the practical protections which can be secured are important.

Here to help

At Fisher Jones Greenwood, we are committed to helping LGBTQIA+ families navigate complexities with clarity and sensitivity. We recognise that every family’s journey is different, and we take pride in offering tailored advice reflecting both the legal framework and the lived reality of our clients.

If you are considering starting or growing your family, or if you have questions about legal parenthood, parental responsibility, adoption, birth registration, or children matters, our Family Team is here to help.

We offer an initial fixed-fee consultation and a welcoming, inclusive service to all clients, regardless of background or identity.

For further advice on any aspect of family law or to discuss meeting with a family lawyer, please contact one of our team in our Colchester, Clacton or Chelmsford offices on 0845 543 5700, or via our online enquiry form.