Lesbian Family, Megan and Candice Berrett, does Epic Gender Reveal for Second Baby

Thank you to Megan and Candice Berret for sharing your story in such a wonderful way.

Megan and Candice Berrett reveal the gender of their new baby with Beyonce’s ‘Who Run the World.’

Thank you to Megan and Candice Berrett for sharing your story in such a wonderful way.

Please watch to the end and I guarantee that you’ll be dancing and smiling along with the GIRLS!  This creative gender reveal shows exactly why our children grow up as happy and loved as children from non-gay families.

If you have a creative gender reveal video you’d like to share, send it to Anthony@timeforfamilies.com or visit my contact me page and I’ll post it on my site.   Good luck Megan and Candice Berrett with you new…???

 

 

 

 

in Family Stories / Parenting / Personal Stories / Videos  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Why More Gay Couples Are Embracing Surrogacy

When we moved house nearly four years ago, we soon met the other gay couple in the street – they had brought up two boys in a ‘merged home’ – ex-wife, husband-turned gay and gay partner all under the same roof. For a long time earlier straight relationships had been the commonest means by which gay men found themselves fathers.

From the 1990s, hundreds of hopeful gay men agreed to “donor dad” or co-parent arrangements with single women and lesbian couples here in Australia. Sadly, many of those men found themselves cut out of the lives of the children they had fathered. Many were left yearning for kids of their own.

One of the biggest barriers to accepting my own sexuality as a 23-year-old back in 1990 was the certainty than I’d forfeit the chance to be a dad. A decade later, surrogacy started to be talked about – though it was always associated with celebrities, or uber-expensive US options.

gay surrogacy

In recent years, I’ve met hundreds of gay guys who have either raised the funds to create a family overseas or found a surrogate here. It turns out there are so many ways to engage in surrogacy.

Take Michael and Jarred. Six years ago, this Brisbane couple found a local surrogate Rachel Kunde who was willing to use her own eggs and womb – what’s called traditional surrogacy – to help them create twin boys Huxley & Elijah, who are now four years old. For Rachel, providing her eggs as well as her tummy comes naturally – she’s since carried for other couples too.

A year after our own girls were born via surrogacy in India I met with the then Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to convince him that his plan to ban gay men from accessing surrogacy in Queensland was a stupid one. Luckily, he listened.

by Sam Everigham – news.com.au, May 11, 2016

Click here to read the entire article.

in In the News / International / Surrogacy  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Estate Planning Trust – Does my family need one?

I get this question a lot, “Do I need an Estate planning trust?” The answer differs for every personal and family situation, but there are some critical reasons why an Estate Planning trust may be right for you.

Before understanding when an Estate Planning Trust is appropriate for you, it is important to understand exactly what they are. There are two types of Estate Planning Trusts, revocable and irrevocable, and two ways to create them, either in a Will, a testamentary trust, or as a standalone document.

Revocable Trusts – A revocable trust is executed during the lifetime of the Grantor, the person creating the trust, and is called an intervivos trust.  The Grantor often has controlling power over the assets in the trust during his or her lifetime.  Revocable trusts are tied to the social security number of the Grantor and provide the Grantor with specific control over the assets contained within the trust, including terminating the trust and transferring any trust assets back to the Grantor.  The most common reasons for revocable trusts are to bypass the probate process for passing assets upon the death of the Grantor and to provide for the management of assets that the Grantor may believe that they cannot manage due to illness.estate planning , estate planning trust, glbt estate planning, lgbt estate planning, gay family law, wills, trusts

Irrevocable Trusts – An irrevocable trust may be created either during the life of the Grantor, an intervivos trust, or in the Grantor’s Last Will and Testament, a testamentary trust.  In the case of the latter, the trust becomes irrevocable upon the death of the Grantor.  The key difference between a revocable trust and an irrevocable trust is that the Grantor completely surrenders control over any assets contained in an irrevocable trust.  Irrevocable trusts also require separate tax ID numbers, and have separate tax filing requirements.  Reasons for creating an irrevocable trust include minimizing estate tax charges on assets passing to non-spousal beneficiaries, such as homes (Qualified Personal Residence Trusts – QPRTs) and life insurance proceeds (Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts – ILITs).  The values of assets which pass through irrevocable trusts are not taxable in the Grantor’s estate; however, there may be a gift tax event which occurs at the time of the initial transfer of an asset into an irrevocable trust.

Other Reasons for an Estate Planning Trust – For Grantors who own real property in a state other than the state of their domicile, a proceeding called an “ancillary probate” is required.  This means that if a person lives in New York and owns real property in Florida, two probate proceedings must be brought: one in New York to pass their New York property and one in Florida to pass the Florida real property.  In order to avoid this unnecessary and expensive double probate process, the title to real property in Florida may be transferred into a New York revocable trust.  This transfer then negates the need for the Florida probate proceeding.  It is critical; however, to actually transfer the title of the Florida property into the New York trust and have that newly transferred title recorded in the appropriate Florida County Clerk’s office.  Simply creating the trust is not enough.

Children’s Trusts – The primary reason why people include an Estate Planning Trust in their Wills, a testamentary trust, is to provide for young children in case something were to happen to both parents before he children reach an age where they can responsibly manage their money.  Children’s trusts allow parents to name a trustee, or money manager, for the assets which will eventually pass to their children, to provide for unexpected circumstances such as drug or alcohol abuse of a child and to stretch out distributions of principal and interest over a controlled period of time.  It is important to note that a Children’s trust cannot name a guardian for the person of the child, only for the property of the child.  This personal guardianship designation can only be made in a Last Will and Testament.

If I have an Estate Planning trust, do I still need a Will? – In a word, yes!  The Estate Planning Trust should be an addition to a person’s estate plan, not a substitution for it.  To see a list of estate planning basics which all individuals and couples, with or without children, should have, visit TimeForFamilies.com.

When you are considering an Estate Planning Trust, please consider me a resource. For more information the basics for estate planning for gay couples, contact Anthony M. Brown at Time for Families and speak to a specialist family lawyer to secure your and your family’s future.

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in Estate Planning / Featured Articles / Legal / Parenting  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

As a Gay Woman, I Thought I’d Never Have Kids – but I Was Wrong

We had some challenges, but we got a happy ending.  A lesbian mom journeys toward family.

I’d always wanted a baby or two (or more). For me, a lesbian mom, it just wasn’t a question of if I get pregnant but when. In my daydreams, I’d see myself picking my son and daughter up from the school bus to walk our treelined block until we reached our Colonial-style home. I’d open the gate of the white picket fence, they’d rush in, drop their backpacks and the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies would greet them as they entered.

All of that.

But I’m gay.parent adoption

When I came out at the age of 16, those fantasies weren’t so realistic anymore. I just didn’t think getting pregnant could happen for me. The desire was still in my heart, but I was unsure if it would — or could — become a reality. I was missing one super obvious and important ingredient in the baby-making process: sperm.

I met my would-be wife when I was 26. On our first date, I told her of my lifelong dream to get pregnant and have kids. She told me she vaguely thought about adopting a child — and only one child. When we got married three years later, I told my wife how quickly I wanted us to try to conceive. She needed longer to settle into the idea. For her, things were moving quickly. Not to mention, we would have to finance the pregnancy.

We started to talk about getting sperm from a known donor versus an unknown donor.

For us, the best option was to go with the recommendation of our friends — fellow lesbians who were either trying to conceive, or who had just finished or had started but had never had a successful pregnancy. They recommended reputable sperm banks long before my wife and I actually ever walked into our reproductive endocrinology clinic. Luckily, our newfound clinic recommended the same sperm bank as our friends, and we eased into the process of searching for a donor. When we were seriously looking, we created a user profile. Doing so, I felt, made the process real to me.

Even so, we still contemplated going with a known donor. We thought, Hey, wouldn’t it be great if our kid could have access to the knowledge of his/her biological make-up? But our doctors reminded us of all of the legal issues which could ensue if our friend (potential known sperm donor) decided he wanted rights to his child. We didn’t want to go to court nor did we want to subject our own mental health or the livelihood of our family to the ramifications of such a decision.

Our decision to go with a donor who chose to be anonymous was our ultimate decision. This meant that any child we conceived in the in vitro process would never get to know his or her biological father. If we went with a known sperm donor from the cryobank, that child would have the legal right to meet him once they reach the age of 18. With my wife being Sri Lankan and I African-American, we knew we wanted a Sri Lankan donor since I’d be the one to carry our child.

Once we decided on the cryobank, we had access to so much information about the sperm donor. We knew his ethnicity, height, weight, and even his astrological sign — all of this information is available before making the expensive purchase of sperm.

Cosmopolitan – By , Apr 29, 2016

Click here to read the entire article.

in Anonymous/Known Donation / Known Donor / Parenting / Recently Added  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Rob and Chris: 2 Travel Dads, Two Travel Kids

“We had kids to spend time with them,” says Rob Taylor. “To show them the world, teach them and see how they respond to things — it’s really fascinating to see how their little brains work.” – Travel Dads

Calling the forests of Suquamish, Washington, home, Rob and his husband Chris run the popular 2TravelDads blog, and are hailed by The Huffington Post as one of the “world’s top male travel bloggers.” Tales of adventure with sons “Panda”, 4½-years-old, and 14-month-old “Koala” (codenamed for privacy) to Mexico, Napa, and even across Puget Sound to Seattle, Rob and Chris not only paint vivid pictures of destinations perfect for kids, but sprinkle in a few kernels of wisdom on how to travel with charges so young.2nd parent adoption, second parent adoption, second parent adoptions, second parent adoption new york

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Together for 11 years and consummate travelers before fatherhood, Rob and Chris were determined to give their kids the travel bug. Conventional wisdom dictates once children are in the picture, the freewheeling lifestyle of footloose parents must radically change to something more rooted and sedentary. Not so, says Rob.

“There’s no reason to change how we live and travel,” he adds. “You just keep on going and keep on having fun so they keep on having fun. With our oldest, we took him on his first flight when he was around 5 months old, and he has the cutest little passport picture. With our youngest, he was 2 months old when he went on his first flight.”

Parents may balk at the idea of globetrotting with young children, but Rob extols the virtue of getting kids in the air, on the road, or over the waves as soon and as often as possible. The logic is straightforward: the sooner the child learns how to travel, the sooner travel becomes that much easier. Judicious use of iPads, Yahtzee and the Endless Series family of educational games also makes for an easier commute, and with his kids, Rob has traveled only between Canada, the United States, and Mexico so far. With regards to air travel, Panda and Koala are never in a plane for more than six hours. Another tip: always use your own car seat even if airlines or ships offer one; you know the settings and your children are used to it.

Click here to read the entire story.

via gayswithkids.com – April 21, 2016

in Family Stories / Parenting / Personal Stories  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Kids of Gay Dads Are Just Fine, Study Finds

We’ve heard it before, but another study couldn’t hurt, right? New research from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that children of gay dads are just as well adjusted as their peers born to straight parents.

In preliminary findings published Saturday, pediatrician Ellen C. Perrin of Tufts Medical Center and her research team compiled survey responses from 732 gay fathers in 47 U.S. states about their children. Of these dads, 88 percent said it was “not true” that their child is unhappy or depressed, whereas in a federal survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of parents in the U.S., 87 percent said the same of their children. Similarly, while 75 percent of the parents in the federal survey said that their child “does not worry a lot,” 72 percent of the gay dads said the same. All in all, the numbers nearly line up.

gay dads, gay fathers, gay parenting

And in some cases, these dads are raising happy kids against the odds: Perrin’s research found that 33 percent of the dads reported encountering “barriers to sharing custody of their children.” Another 41 percent ran into pushback trying to adopt a child, and 18 percent encountered it while using surrogacy to have a baby.

The survey results also help break down trends in how gay dads have kids. While the largest percentage of gay dads have children through adoption or foster care, 36 percent say their children were born while one of the dads was in a straight relationship. Another 14 percent became parents through surrogacy.

The research, to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting this week, adds to the small but growing body of research about gay parents and their kids. Recent studies have shown that children of lesbians have higher rates of self-esteem and lower rates of conduct problems than their straight-parented peers. And earlier this year, researchers released an enormous literature review of 19,000 studies about gay parenting published since 1977, finding—you guessed it—that children of gay parents are no worse off than any other kids.

Click here to read the entire article.

Newsweek.com, by Zoe Schlanger – 4.30.2016

in Parenting / Recently Added / Science  by Anthony Brown 0 comments