STATUS OF CHILDREN ACT 1974 - SECT 39 Presumption as to status of child if female partner is deceased—surrogacy arrangements
STATUS OF CHILDREN ACT 1974 - SECT 39
Presumption as to status of child if female partner is deceased—surrogacy arrangements(1) This section applies if—
S. 39(1)(a) amended by No. 39/2021 s. 55(a).
(a) a person commissions a surrogacy arrangement in accordance with the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 ; and
(b) the surrogate mother undergoes a procedure as a result of which she becomes pregnant; and
(c) either of the following applies—
(i) the ovum used in the procedure—
S. 39(1) (c)(i)(A) amended by No. 39/2021 s. 55(b).
(A) was produced by the person's partner before her death; or
S. 39(1) (c)(i)(B) amended by No. 39/2021 s. 55(b).
(B) was collected from the person's partner after her death; or
S. 39(1)(c)(ii) amended by No. 39/2021 s. 55(b).
(ii) the embryo used in the procedure was created before the person's partner died using an ovum produced by her.
S. 39(2) amended by No. 39/2021 s. 55(a).
(2) If the surrogate mother becomes pregnant, the person may apply to the court under section 20 for a substitute parentage order to be made in respect of the child and in favour of the person and the deceased.
(3) In addition to the matters set out in section 22, the court must also be satisfied as to the matters set out in Part 5 of the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 .
(4) If a substitute parentage order is made, the deceased is taken to be a parent of any child born as a result of the pregnancy for the sole purpose of enabling the particulars of the deceased to be entered as the particulars of the child's parent in the Register of births kept under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 .
S. 39A inserted by No. 39/2021 s. 56.