Donor Conception

[BadgerBadgerMushroom]

Asking for a friend who seems to have got herself into a massive pickle.
Her and her wife had a baby in 2019 via a donor they met online. They did not use a sperm clinic and it was natural insemination (she slept with the donor) They were under the impression that if they got married before the baby ARRIVED then her partner could go on the birth certificate. They have since split and my friends ex has said she has no responsibility because she found out if you use natural insemination then the donor is the legal father and they had to be married before the baby was CONCEIVED and use artificial insemination. Her ex is saying they've commited fraud and she is going to report her. The donor says he doesn't want anything to do with the baby. Any ideas? Particularly legal people. It's very very confusing

There is plenty of information available about this - I'm surprised they didn't look into this more from the outset For examples:

''It is also worth noting that if the child is conceived through sexual intercourse with the sperm donor (rather than artificial insemination), the donor will always be the legal father regardless of whether the mother is married or in a civil partnership.''

From

www.crispandco.com/site/library/legalnews/do-sperm-donors-have-parental-responsibility-in-the-uk

She isn't someone who necessarily thinks before she does things. My question would be...who is the legal parent?

As far as I can tell - your friend, who gave birth to the child, is the legal parent but at present that's it. Neither her ex nor the biological father are legal parents - nor are they likely to be as far as I can see. If he wanted to - the father (who technically is not a 'donor' - in this case he's just the biological father) could apply for this but he clearly isn't interested.

Parental responsibility is different to being a legal parent - but it doesn't sound like that applies either. This is not really my area - I've just had some dealings with this via a related issue.