Duncan Ranton & Jane Keir assess the value of pre-conception agreements
In March, the Court of Appeal gave judgment in the case of A v B and C [2012] EWCA Civ 285, [2012] All ER (D) 119 (Mar). The child at the centre of the litigation was a boy, M, aged two. He was conceived via artificial insemination and his family comprised a gay father and two lesbian mothers. M lived with his mothers, but his parents were unable to agree on the relationship he should have with his father. The father sought what many might describe as the paradigm separated-parent contact model: visiting contact increasing in duration and frequency to staying contact and shared holidays. The mothers opposed staying contact, and wanted any time by M with the father primarily to be in their company. They wanted their child to be brought up in what they described as a 'two parent lesbian nuclear family'.
Pre-conception agreement
The mothersí stance relied heavily on what they believed was the agreement between the adults prior to Mís conception about future roles
