SETO & POON

The Family Court of Australia considered the legal parentage and living arrangements of twin children born in 2020 pursuant to a surrogacy agreement. The applicants, Mr Seto and Ms Yue, sought declarations regarding parentage and orders for the children to live with them. The respondents were the biological mother, Ms Poon, and her husband, Mr Zhu. The court also addressed issues of legal professional privilege and potential referrals to law enforcement and regulatory bodies.

The primary legal issues before the court were to determine the legal parentage of the twin children under the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), specifically whether Mr Seto was the legal father, and to make orders regarding the children's residence and parental responsibility. Additionally, the court was required to consider whether legal professional privilege had been waived in relation to advice provided by a solicitor to the respondents, and whether to refer matters concerning the conduct of the solicitor and the respondents to the Commissioner of Police for New South Wales and the Legal Services Commissioner for New South Wales.

The court declared Mr Seto to be the legal father of the children pursuant to s 69VA of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth), acknowledging the surrogacy arrangement and the biological parentage. The court applied principles established in cases such as *Masson v Parsons* concerning legal parentage in surrogacy matters. Regarding residence and parental responsibility, the court made orders for the applicants to have equal shared parental responsibility and for the children to live with them. No orders were made for the children to spend time with the respondents. The court also found that legal professional privilege had been waived, as the solicitor's advice was given with the dominant purpose of maximising payment from the applicants to the respondents.

Consequently, the court made orders for the children to be registered with the names "W" and "Z", with Mr Seto and Ms Poon recorded as their parents. Injunctions were granted to prevent the removal of the children from Australia, and the Australian Federal Police were requested to place the children's names on the Family Law Watchlist. The court also made orders referring the proceedings to the Commissioner of Police for New South Wales and the Legal Services Commissioner for New South Wales concerning the conduct of the solicitor and the respondents.