GPA, surrogacy, French law, transcription, exequatur, filiation, Civil Code, foreign judgment, parental rights
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Abstract
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Abstract
Analysis of the transcription of a foreign birth certificate and exequatur of a foreign judgment in France for a child born via GPA.
Extract
[...] Furthermore, the surrogacy was practiced with a third-party donor, so neither member of the couple is biologically Camille's father. Thus, the transcription of Camille's birth certificate on the French civil records cannot be done. On the exequatur of the California judgment The judgments rendered by foreign courts are enforceable on French territory in the same way and in the cases provided for by law (article 509 of the CPC). In this case, the California judgment designates François and Guillaume as the parents of the child born from a GPA with a third-party donor. [...]
[...] In France, all civil status acts of French nationals made abroad and drawn up in the forms used in the said country may be transcribed, provided that they are not falsified or irregular (article 47 of the Civil Code). This is the case for the acts of birth made in a foreign country and drawn up in the forms used in that country (Cass. civ. 1er December 2008, n°07-20.293), and this even in the presence of a GPA contract, provided that one of the parents is biologically the parent of the child (Cass. [...]
[...] In principle, it is not possible to proceed with the exequatur of a decision relating to the establishment of a child's filiation, if it is not stated that one of the parents is a biological parent of the child (Cass. ass. plén October 2018, n°12-30.138). However, French international public policy cannot stand in the way of the exequatur of a decision establishing the filiation of a child born abroad following a GPA process solely on the grounds that the parent concerned does not have a biological filiation link with the child (Cass. Civ. 1er November 2024). Thus, François and Guillaume can request the exequatur of the Californian judgment in France in order to establish their filiation link with Camille. [...]
[...] Gestation for others - Transcription of the birth certificate and exequatur Guillaume and François, a couple since 2018, resorted to a third-party donor surrogacy in California to have a child. When Camille was born to the gestational carrier named Mathilde, a California judge declared Guillaume and François to be the parents of Camille born from a third-party donor surrogacy, specifying in the judgment that they had joint custody and all parental rights and responsibilities. The question is whether Camille can obtain the transcription of her birth certificate in France or the exequatur of the California judgment As a preliminary matter, the GPA is a contract by which a woman agrees to carry a child for the benefit of another and to renounce, to the benefit of another, to establish with the child a legal link of filiation. [...]
