Carina Yap
Carina is an Associate Lawyer with Phang Legal. Carina looks after intended parents and surrogate mothers (and their partners) assisting them with preparing surrogacy arrangements, providing independent legal advice as required by legislation and applying for the parentage order through the Supreme Court after the child has been born. Aside from surrogacy, Carina also helps […]
Ern Phang
Ern is the Director and Principal Lawyer with Phang Legal. Ern has been in the legal industry since 1996 and has provided surrogacy legal services to intended parents and surrogate parents even before surrogacy was recognised by legislation in New South Wales. The world has changed since then and so has the law. Ern continues […]
Recent Articles
Getting Started With Your Parentage Order
The purpose of an application for parentage order is to seek court orders to transfer parentage of the child from the surrogate (and surrogate’s partner) to the intended parents. Intended parents need to file their application for parentage order at court within the first month and the sixth month after your child is born. While […]
Parties to a Surrogacy Arrangement
Who are the Affected Parties to a Surrogacy Arrangement There are a few steps that you need to take before commencing surrogacy, one of which is determining the relevant persons to your surrogacy arrangement. The Surrogacy Act 2010, which is the governing legislation in the state of New South Wales, defines these persons as an […]
Do I need one person or two?
Surrogacy and Egg Donation Considering that surrogacy laws in NSW have only been in place since 2006, it’s not surprising that there’s still much more to be discovered and uncovered. There has not been sufficient time to develop volumes of case law and precedents to guide us through every aspect of surrogacy. One of these […]
The General Unenforceability of Surrogacy Arrangements
Are Surrogacy Arrangements Necessary? The first legal aspect in any surrogacy process is the surrogacy arrangement. The surrogacy arrangement basically documents the understanding between the parties – that the Surrogate agrees to try to become pregnant and the child born from that pregnancy is then transferred to the Intended Parents. We’ve previously touched on the requirements […]
Altruistic Surrogacy – A Labour of Love
The meaning of Altruistic Surrogacy “Altruistic”, stemming from the noun “altruism” is defined as “unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of other”. The definition of the term “altruism” or its adjective form “altruistic” is important in the context of surrogacy in Australia because it is the bedrock upon which our surrogacy laws are […]
Introducing Surrogacy Forums
Why Surrogacy Forums? In our endeavour to provide guidance, advice and representation to couples considering or currently going through surrogacy, we’ve come to realise that we’re often asked for our opinion on the same issues time and time again. When many of those issues can be handled relatively simple, we’ve created a ‘frequently asked question’ […]
The State of the States
Navigating the Various Surrogacy Laws in Australia One of the fundamental aspects of surrogacy in Australia is that the arrangement between the Intended Parents and their Surrogate (the Birth Mother and if she has one, the Birth Mother’s Partner) must be altruistic, meaning that the Surrogate cannot receive any commercial benefit out of this arrangement. […]
Registering a Birth through Surrogacy
The Effects of Parentage Orders on Birth Certificates Every time a child is born, his or her birth needs to be registered. This is no different when it comes to a birth by a surrogate. Generally, the legal presumption about parentage is that a child born to a woman is considered to be the child […]
Who writes your Surrogacy Arrangement?
Written Surrogacy Arrangements As a couple looking at having a child through surrogacy, after you have identified your surrogate, the next step is to enter into a surrogacy arrangement. Importantly, you must enter into this arrangement BEFORE your surrogate becomes pregnant (ie, a pre-conception surrogacy arrangement). A pre-conception surrogacy arrangement is necessary if you eventually want to […]
Why are you still considering international surrogacy?
What’s happened to international surrogacy over the last 6-12 months? There’s been on-again off-again media attention on international surrogacy, especially involving Australians in India and Thailand and an outcry by various interest groups locally on the number of couples heading overseas to conceive. But what does it all mean for intended and hopefully parents in […]
IVF success rates in the spotlight
IVF success rates have been in the spotlight lately, with a new report alleging that there is a huge gap between high performing clinics and low performing clinics. According to the report, in 2012, 62,000 IVF cycles were performed on 33,000 women, which resulted in 12,000 live births. The report also says that in 2012, the […]
Further Issues with International Surrogacy
The world continues to get smaller, and as it does, a lot of things once thought impossible becomes possible. Unfortunately, sometimes this creates undesirable results. We’ve written on several occasions now on recent issues and developments in international surrogacy – and unfortunately not many of those developments have been helpful to couples wishing to grow their family. […]