France’s Highest Court Opens the Door to Surrogacy Parentage Recognition

On Friday the 3rd of July, while I was still digesting the outcome of the US Supreme Court’s recent decisions, I received a message from my colleague Caroline Mécary about two decisions that France’s highest court had just handed down for her clients. The court, known as the Cour de Cassation (CdC), had considered whether parentage orders from a foreign country could be recognized in France against a challenge brought by the government. The decisions were important victories for the recognition of families built through gestational surrogacy.

A History of Resistance: The Mennesson Case

France, like many countries in Europe, bans the practice of surrogacy. People who live in France and who want to have children through surrogacy must work with a surrogate who lives in a country where surrogacy is possible. When the new parents return to France with their child, having their parentage recognized by the French authorities has been a challenge.

Most famously was the case of the Mennesson family. Mr. and Mrs. Mennesson had twins through surrogacy in the USA. Back in France, their decades-long legal journey to gain full parentage recognition wound through the highest court of France and even to the European Court of Human Rights. Every step along the way, the CdC was hostile to the recognition of their parentage that had been established in the USA by court order.

The reasoning of the CdC for refusing to recognize the American parentage order was that it was based on the fact that there was a gestational surrogacy contract between the Mennessons and their surrogate. Since surrogacy contracts are banned in France, the CdC declared that the American parentage order violated public policy and could not be recognized under French law.

2024: The First Sign of Change

In 2024, the court’s first civil chamber (which handles matters of family law), announced that foreign parentage orders could no longer be refused recognition in France based solely on the fact that the child was born through surrogacy. The 2024 decisions described a specific legal test that must be met for these parentage orders to be valid in France. The wall that the Mennessons spent decades pushing against finally had a window.

July 3, 2026: The Window Becomes a Door

The full CdC, in its July 3rd decisions, has changed that window into a door. The CdC struck a delicate balance between France’s absolute prohibition on surrogacy, and a line of decisions - particularly from the European Court of Human Rights - focusing on the best interests of the child and the right of the child to have secure parentage. The CdC decisions spell out a structured set of safeguards built on long-standing rules for recognizing foreign judgments generally and the 2024 test for the recognition of foreign parentage orders specifically. The government’s arguments against recognition were definitively shut down.

With these decisions, recognition within France of parentage of children born through surrogacy outside of France is now officially possible. Recognition of parentage is by no means guaranteed, as there are specific conditions that must be met for the foreign parentage order to be recognized in France. Most importantly, the CdC made it clear that denial of parentage recognition cannot be based on the circumstances of the child’s conception and birth alone.

If you’re an intended parent navigating surrogacy across borders, Circle has supported families from 70 countries through the process. If you’re ready to take the next step, fill out Circle’s intended parent inquiry form.

About the Author

Bruce Hale, Esq. is an assisted reproductive technology attorney and co-author of Assisted Reproductive Technology: A Lawyer’s Guide to Emerging Law and Science (ABA Publishing). He serves on the Council of the ABA Section of Family Law and became a parent himself through gestational surrogacy.