A Court of Cassation ruling finds that recognition abroad of the parentage of children born through surrogacy is valid in France and in the best interests of the children. Homoparental associations pop the champagne.
“It’s a victory!”, congratulates Me Caroline Mecary. Her clients: two fathers who have just won a legal battle that lasted more than ten years. The Court of Cassation has indeed just recognized, this Friday July 3, that the two dads are indeed the parents of Gaspard, Tristan and Adèle, conceived through a surrogacy arrangement in Canada. It wasn’t guaranteed since the French top administrative court at the time was treading a fine line: enforcing the ban on surrogacy in France while granting a status to the children born from it.
If establishing parentage for the biological father is straightforward, it is far more complicated for the other. Two avenues exist in French law: the father who has no biological link can adopt his child, or he can have his parentage recognized in the country where the surrogacy took place and then assert that judgment in France. A procedure called exequatur.
It is this second option that was challenged in the case of our French fathers living in Canada, a country that recognizes their parental link to their three children. They wanted France to do the same in turn, but their démarche had been contested after a favorable appellate decision rendered in June 2024. The Attorney General, Rémy Heitz, who brought the appeal against the couple, argued that this possibility creates a “pull factor” that “could undermine the French prohibition of surrogacy”. “It’s humiliating to ask them to adopt their own children!”, protested Me Mecary.
Satisfaction of the proponents of surrogacy
Aware of the sensitive nature of their decision, the judges explained that the “recognition must be effective and sufficiently rapid. Or, the refusal of exequatur due to the ban on surrogacy in France would render the establishment of the parentage in our country very uncertain”, they detail in a press release.
But the green light is not automatic. The Court of Cassation requires that exequatur be granted only with “a certain number of guarantees”. “The exequatur procedure involves an effective judicial review that allows verifying that we are not in a case of child trafficking”, explains the Court.
The associations favorable to surrogacy are satisfied with this victory. Alexandre Urwicz, of the Association of Homoparental Families (ADFH), hails “good news that upholds the best interests of the child”. Nicolas Faget, of the Association of (future) gay and lesbian parents (APGL), believes that this decision will “prevent dangerous situations for children and families”. The well-being of children takes precedence over any other consideration.
