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→Assisted reproduction agreements
Under section 24 of the ''Family Law Act'', the donor of eggs or sperm is ''not'' the parent of a child conceived by artificial reproduction merely because of the donation, and may not be declared to be a parent of a child. This section is very important. It means that a person can donate eggs or sperm without worrying that they will be a legal parent of any resulting child, and potentially be liable to support that child at some point in the future.
A donor ''can'' be a parent, on the other hand, if the intended parents and the donor sign a written assisted reproduction agreement before the child is conceived that says that the donor will be a parent. Donors who are parents under an assisted reproduction agreement are parents for all purposes under the ''Family Law Act''; they are presumed to be the guardians of a child and may be required to pay child support for the benefit of the their child.
===Surrogate mothers===
A surrogate mother is qualifies as a birth mother who is , and as such surrogate mothers are presumed to be the parent parents of a child their children under sections 26 and 27 of the ''Family Law Act''. However, a surrogate mother will ''not '' be a parent if the intended parents and the surrogate mother sign a written assisted reproduction agreement before the child is conceived that says that the surrogate mother will not be a parent.
Without an assisted reproduction agreement, the child's parents will be presumed to be the surrogate mother and the child's biological father, and the surrogate mother will be a parent for all purposes under the ''Family Law Act''including the parts of the act that talk about child support.
===Spouses of surrogate mothers=== A person who is the spouse of a surrogate mother ''can'' be a parent of the surrogate mother's child if the surrogate mother, her spouse, and a donor of eggs or sperm sign a written assisted reproduction agreement before the child is conceived that says that the spouse of the surrogate mother will be a parent. ==Assisted reproduction after death=== When people try to have a child through in vitro fertilization, the laboratory will commonly store a lot more sperm, eggs and sometimes zygotes than are needed right away.
====What happens if the donor dies?====
People who aim to have children by assisted reproduction ― including through ''in vitro'' fertilization when no one other than the intended parents are involved ― often freeze eggs, sperm, and embryos for future use. This is especially common where multiple attempts may be necessary to have a successful pregnancy. It sometimes happens that one of the people who provide the genetic <span class="noglossary">material</span> dies before a child is conceived.