As reality TV star Kim Kardashian reveals she’s having a third child through a surrogate, a Hampshire lawyer has issued a warning that anyone considering this route in England or Wales should ensure they are the legal parents. Under the law in England and Wales, the person that carries the child is the legal mother, regardless of whether there is a biological link or not.

“If the surrogate is married or in a civil partnership then her husband/partner is the second legal parent. Therefore, steps need to be taken to ensure the intended parents are the legal parents,” said Kimberley Davies, a senior lawyer at Trethowans in Southampton who specialises in family, fertility and surrogacy law.

“That is where I come in to help my clients secure parental status. The preference is a parental order as that makes the intended parents the legal parents and extinguishes the status of the surrogate, and her partner if she has one.”

Media reports say that Kim Kardashian and husband Kanye West are paying around $110,000 to their surrogate for her assistance.

However Kimberley Davies says that in the UK, commercial surrogacy is a criminal offence.

She explained: “In this country a surrogate can only receive her “reasonable expenses” and so people usually only offer to be a surrogate for altruistic reasons, rather than financial gain. Unsurprisingly this reduces the number of available surrogates in the UK, compared with countries where commercial surrogacy is legal.

“In my experience, in the UK surrogates are usually close friends or family members of the intended parents. Naturally, surrogacy is a massive thing for someone to undertake and so few people undertake it for a stranger.

“It is for that reason that UK couples look to foreign jurisdictions for surrogacy. In places such as California, India, Russia and the Ukraine commercial surrogacy is legal and so there are substantially more women prepared to be surrogates.

“It is sensible to get advice on what is involved in the application for a parental order in advance. The application must be made within six months of the child’s birth and it requires a great deal of evidence. It is therefore advisable to get organised and prepared in advance of the birth as once baby is here people tend to be a little busy!”

Kimberley Davies had a final word on advice for taking the surrogacy route: “It is extremely important to carry out thorough research. Make sure you are happy with your clinic and surrogate. Take legal advice at an early opportunity. It makes it a lot less stressful if you are armed with information and organised before baby arrives.”