Non-parentage order refused despite absence of forms

In L v B [2017] SC EDIN 79 (12 September 2017), the pursuer sought a declarator of non-parentage on the basis of non-compliance with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. The parties had attended at the Nuffield Clinic as a couple and embarked on treatment.

The pursuer sought to argue that there was no committed relationship, despite substantial evidence to the contrary. Her evidence in relation to the process followed by the Nuffield in treating them as a couple was “vague”, when the evidence pointed towards the parties jointly attending for treatment.

Finding the treatment was embarked upon and carried through jointly by the parties, Sheriff Sheehan concluded it was “the intention of both parties that they would be the parents of any child born through treatment”. Both parties completed and signed forms WP and PP – the mandated forms required by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (though lost by the Nuffield) – and accordingly declarator was refused.