VANCOUVER — A B.C. judge has granted a same-sex couple in Quebec an order declaring that they are the parents of a child born to a surrogate mom in B.C.
The male couple, identified in a ruling only by the initials D.D. and M.L., went to court seeking the order because there was some legal uncertainty as to their parental status in the province of Quebec.
The couple, who had been in a marriage-like relationship since October 2000, decided they wanted to have children and in June 2011 eggs were retrieved from D.D.’s sister M.E. at a fertility clinic in Connecticut and fertilized using M.L.’s sperm.
The embryos were preserved and in January 2015, D.D., 38, and M.L., 40, entered into a surrogacy agreement with a woman in B.C. identified only as E.M.
In March last year, one of the embryos was transferred to E.M.’s uterus at a fertility clinic in Victoria and she became pregnant. On Nov. 12 last year, E.M. gave birth to a boy identified only as E, in Duncan.
The couple provided the necessary statutory declarations to the B.C. Vital Statistics Agency to have E’s birth registered in B.C. and the registration refers to them as the boy’s parents.
But they obtained a legal opinion from a Quebec lawyer that it was necessary to get a B.C. court to confirm their parentage so that it would also be recognized in Quebec, where they live.
In agreeing to the order, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick noted that the couple had complied with the legal requirements and had obtained the written consent of the surrogate mom before and after the birth.
“In this case, I accept that there is some uncertainty in relation to D.D. and M.L.’s parentage of E, arising from Quebec law, and the requirement of a court order to have D.D. and M.L.’s parentage recognized in that province.
“It appears that if the petitioners were residing in British Columbia, no such declaration would be necessary.”
The judge said the order would allow the petitioners to “function more fully” as a legal family unit.
She added that she was satisfied of a need to keep court documents filed in the case confidential and ordered that the court file be sealed.
