Surrogacy Act 2010

This section applies if—

under a will made after the commencement of this section, the testator makes a disposition of property to a person who is described—

as being a child of the testator or of another person; and

as having had his or her parentage transferred to another person or persons as a result of a parentage order; and

the personal representative of the testator is unable to find out the name and address of the child.

The personal representative must give the public trustee a copy of the will and a notice stating that the personal representative is unable to find out the name and address of the child.

On receipt of the copy and notice, the public trustee must take steps to find out the name and address of the child and, if the child has died, the date of the death by asking for information from the registrar of the court and the registrar under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2023.

Despite any other Act or law, if the registrar of the court receives a request from the public trustee under subsection (3), the registrar must provide the public trustee with the name and address of the child, on the making of the parentage order, held in the court’s records.

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2023, sections 110 and 111 does not apply to a request for information made under subsection (3) to the registrar under that Act.

If, after taking the steps mentioned in subsection (3)—

the public trustee finds out the name, address or date of death of the child, the public trustee must give a notice to the personal representative stating—

that the name or address has been found out; or

that it has been found out that the child has died; and

to the extent the public trustee is unable to find out the name and address of the child or whether the child has died, the public trustee must give a notice to the personal representative stating what details the public trustee has been unable to find out.