Surrogacy Law

If you are planning to become a parent with the help of a Surrogate, Reproductive Law Center can help you. Our practice is focused on providing legal services for assisted reproductive law and family formation (parental rights law).

Our expert team of attorneys can provide you with highly skilled, confidential legal services that will formalize your parental rights and maintain your privacy. We will be there to support and advise you through the entire legal process. Our decades of experience and proven track record of success in all aspects of surrogacy law will provide you with the legal protections essential to bringing a new child into your family.

We also provide legal services and advice when a Egg or Embryo Donor is needed in addition to a surrogate; for more information on this, please see our page on egg and embryo donation law. For our clients who reside outside the United States, we are committed to supporting you in the additional legal steps to complete the Surrogacy and Egg or Embryo Donor processes.

Reproductive Law Center can help you by:

Drafting or providing legal review of surrogacy agreements
Drafting release letters required by physicians and agencies assisting in surrogacy
Coordinating with your surrogacy agency throughout the process
Providing Fund Management services for your surrogacy
Where state law permits, file court proceedings to establish your parental rights and have your names placed on the original birth certificate when your child is born. In states where this cannot be done, we can help you by bringing post-birth court proceedings to establish your rights to your baby
Providing proper legal notice to the hospital and surrogate, ensuring that the birth certificate is completed according to court order
Acting as a liaison between state and county vital records offices to streamline the birth registry process
Assisting international clients through coordination with an attorney in their country of origin
Providing all other related legal services and legal representation that may be needed to help you establish parental rights to your baby

Confidentiality

All communications between Reproductive Law Center and our clients are secret and confidential by the law of attorney-client privilege, which is valid throughout the United States. To represent you, we must first have a written attorney-client agreement; then we can exchange confidential information freely.

Flat-rate Service Package & Free Initial Consultation

We accept referrals from assisted parents, from egg donor, embryo donor, and surrogacy agencies, from physicians, psychologists, and attorneys, and from other interested persons. Our law offices are fully equipped with highly trained paralegal and administrative staff to assist in serving our clients. We offer single-price, all-inclusive service packages or reasonable hourly fees. Your initial consultation is free.

Surrogacy Agreement FAQ'S

Q: What is the purpose of a Surrogacy Agreement?

Surrogacy agreements are the first stage in a two-step process. The purpose of the surrogacy agreement is to allow each party to state their intentions, and their responsibilities to one another. The agreement will clearly state that the surrogate does not intend on parenting any resulting child(ren) and does not wish to have physical or legal custody of any resulting child(ren). The surrogacy agreement will also define the rights and responsibilities of the intended parents.

Q: Do all states have similar laws regarding surrogacy?

Each state has different laws regarding surrogacy. It is important for you to be aware of not only the laws regarding surrogacy, but also about the laws regarding how to establish yourselves as the legal parents in the state where your child will be born. Reproductive Law Center has experienced attorneys throughout the United States to advise you on these laws.

Q: I do not live in the Los Angeles area. Will I need to travel to your office?

Because all of our work is completed via email, fax, phone and U.S. mail, you never need to come to our office, although you are very welcome to visit us any time.

Q: Explain how a surrogacy agreement is prepared.

Preparing and finalizing your surrogacy agreement has various steps. The following briefly describes the process from start to finish:

We will first send you a written retainer agreement to review. It will explain the services we will provide and the cost. Sign and date it, and mail it back to our office with your payment. We recommend that you also fax a copy of the signed agreement to us to speed the process along.
Once we have your signed retainer agreement, we will start work on your contract.

We will prepare the first draft of your surrogacy agreement and send you a copy for your review. Read it carefully and email us with your questions, comments or suggested revisions. Our office will contact you to schedule a phone consultation to review the contract and your questions with one of our attorneys. To avoid delay, it is a good idea for you to plan to review the agreement and contact us within two days after you receive it.
Next, we will send the draft of the surrogacy agreement to the surrogate’s attorney for review. If the surrogate requests any changes, we will review them and send you a redlined version, showing the requested changes. We will advise you accordingly and will then proceed towards finalizing the surrogacy contract.
Once the surrogacy contract is finalized, print out and sign the signature page, and fax it to our office. The surrogate will do the same.
You’ll receive two originals from our office containing your surrogate’s initials and signatures. You will need to also initial the bottom of each page of both agreements, and sign both agreements, keeping one copy for yourself and mailing the other back to us in the envelope that we will enclose. We will send that original copy to your surrogate for her records. Our office will keep a scanned copy of the signed original agreement in your legal file.

If you will be using an egg donor as well as a surrogate, please see our Egg Donation FAQs page for a step-by-step explanation of how egg donor agreements are prepared.

Q:Approximately how long will it take to finalize this agreement?

The finalization and execution of your surrogacy agreement can take anywhere from one to four weeks, depending on how quickly the drafts of the agreement are reviewed and approved. Generally, we are able to produce a draft of your surrogacy agreement within two business days of receiving the signed retainer agreement and the necessary information regarding your match with your surrogate. We must then account for the time needed for you to review the agreement, as well as the time needed for the surrogate to review the agreement with her attorney. On average, agreements are generally signed within two to three weeks.

Q: Must our Surrogacy Agreement be signed before our surrogate undergoes medical screening?

Most IVF Physician’s offices require a surrogacy agreement to be in place before your surrogate commences injectable medications for a cycle but not before undergoing medical screening. It is always best to have a surrogacy agreement in place as soon as possible.

Q: Approximately how much will the drafting of the agreement(s) cost?

We offer single-price, all inclusive service packages, as well as reasonable hourly rates. Please call our office for further pricing information.

Q: Must an attorney represent my surrogate?

Whether an attorney is required to represent your surrogate will depend on the state and county where your surrogate resides. We do advise that it is in both your and your surrogate’s best interest to have an attorney knowledgeable about surrogacy law explain the contract to her.

Q: Will our names go on the birth certificate when the child is born.

The second stage of the surrogacy process requires a court proceeding, during which any rights of the surrogate (and her husband, if she is married) are terminated and your parental rights are established. Once this step is complete, your names will go on the birth certificate of the child. In some states this process will occur pre-birth while in others it happens post-birth (usually within just a few weeks of the birth).

Q: Can the surrogate assert her parental rights at some point in the future?

The purpose of the surrogacy agreement is to allow each party to state their intentions and to clearly state that the surrogate does not intend to have parental rights to the child and does not wish to have physical or legal custody of the child. It will also express your intent to have full parental rights to the child. It is important to know and understand the laws of the state where your surrogate resides and the child will be born. In most states the surrogate would not be able to assert parental rights, but this is not true for all states. Our office has a nationwide network of attorneys to advise our clients on these issues.

Q: What is the difference between Gestational Surrogacy and Traditional Surrogacy?

In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate is not biologically related to any resulting child(ren). This type of surrogacy requires the use of either the intended mother’s eggs or a third party egg donor (either anonymous or known), and the procedure to establish the pregnancy is called “in vitro fertilization.”

In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate’s own eggs are used to conceive the child, so she is biologically related to the resulting child(ren). The procedure used to establish the pregnancy is generally referred to as “artificial insemination.”

Our office can advise you on the legal ramifications of each process.

Family-Building Support Organizations

Surrogacy & Parental Rights FAQs

Q: Explain the parental rights confirmation process.

The parental rights confirmation process will establish your rights as the legal parents and terminate the rights of your surrogate (and her husband, if she is married). The process generally begins once you are safely into the second trimester. After you formally retain our firm for this step in the process, we will draft and file pleadings for your case in the appropriate state court, and schedule a court hearing if required. The judges who review these types of cases are familiar with the subject matter and are generally on a first name basis with our attorneys. Generally only one of our attorneys is required to appear for the hearing and in most cases the parties will not be required to appear. Barring any extraordinary circumstances, a judgment is generally issued the same day as the hearing and certified copies of the judgment are generally available to you shortly thereafter.

Q: What happens if I elect not to go through the parental rights confirmation process?

Should you elect to bypass the parental rights confirmation process, then your surrogate (and her husband, if she is married) would be presumed to be the parents of the child as her and her husband’s rights are not terminated, as they normally would be by the judgment that is issued. The state would not allow your names to be placed on the birth certificate and your parental rights would not be secured or established if you do not complete this process.

Q: Is a parental rights confirmation the same as an adoption?

While there are some similarities, the parental rights confirmation process is not an adoption. It generally does not require a home study or background check (which is required in an adoption) and is completed in a fraction of the time.

Q: Must we appear in court?

In most cases, the parties are not required to make an appearance in court. An attorney from our office will appear on your behalf and answer any questions from the court.

Q:Must an attorney represent my surrogate?

While most judges feel more comfortable issuing judgments in cases where all parties are represented by counsel, they may grant a judgment where the surrogate is not represented, but this is not recommended.

Q: Will our names go directly on the birth certificate?

In most states, the original birth certificate will reflect both parents’ names. Other states may allow the names of one parents to appear on the birth certificate; an amended birth certificate to allow both parents at a later date may also be possible. Please check with our office to discuss your specific situation. Reproductive Law Center has attorneys available nationwide to advise our clients.

Q: If we obtain a pre-birth judgment of our parental rights in a particular state, must our surrogate deliver our child within the same state?

The child must be born in the state in which the judgment was issued in order for the judgment to be recognized by that state’s government agencies, hospitals, etc.

Q: What happens if the surrogate delivers our child while traveling in another state?

If a child is born in another state, then confirming your parental rights falls under the jurisdiction of the courts of that state. Because each state operates quite differently, we suggest that you contact us immediately if you believe there is a possibility that a delivery in another state may occur.

Q: How long does the parental establishment process take?

The parental establishment process can take anywhere from about two to three months depending on the state and county where your surrogate resides.

Q: Approximately how much will the parental establishment process cost?

While costs do vary from state to state, on average, the finalization process ranges between $3,000-5,000.