FZ v MZ & FZ v Y Council concerned complex questions of legal parenthood, birth registration and the rights of a transgender man (FZ) who held a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
The background was:
1. FZ is a transgender man who obtained a GRC in 2021.
2. FZ married MZ in 2022.
3. FZ and MZ had two children together, both through artificial insemination using a known donor, but not through a licensed UK fertility clinic.
4. The first child, DZ, was conceived before the marriage.
5. The second child, AZ, was conceived after the marriage.
FZ and MZ registered DZ’s birth at the registry office, relying on FZ’s GRC to register him as the father. However, this was legally incorrect as DZ’s conception occurred outside of a licensed fertility clinic, and MZ and FZ were not married at the time.
The original birth certificate was quashed and FZ was granted a step-parent adoption order, establishing him as DZ’s legal parent. The matter of AZ, however, was more complex, principally due to how the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) 2008 and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004) interact.
Article coninues at https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/legal-updates/modern-parents-who-fall-between-the-legal-gaps/5125741.article