We help make surrogacy a viable option.
Guidance through every step.
Everyone deserves a chance to form a family. We represent intended parents and surrogates in the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland.
The options for family formation have expanded due to developments in assisted reproductive technologies. Intended parents can achieve parenthood through egg donation, sperm donation, and embryo transfers to traditional surrogates or gestational carriers. However, the laws governing surrogacy are unsettled and vary significantly from one state to the next.
If you are considering expanding your family through surrogacy or helping someone else achieve parenthood in the District of Columbia or Maryland, let us guide you through the complex legal issues involved in your decision. The District of Columbia’s Collaborative Reproduction Act set forth here establishes requirements for any individual considering entering into a collaborative production with a traditional surrogate or gestational carrier. Under Maryland law, Intended Parents may enter into Gestational Carrier arrangements and altruistic traditional surrogacy arrangements; however, Intended Parents will need to complete an adoption of any resulting child born from an altruistic traditional surrogacy. In Maryland, prevailing Attorney General guidance indicates that it is considered baby-selling to enter into a traditional surrogacy arrangement where the surrogate is compensated.
Intended Parents
Let us help you manage expectations and protect your parental rights by:
Drawing on our legal experience to advise you of best practices in assisted reproduction and finding suitable agencies
Explaining steps in the process to achieve a surrogate pregnancy (including multi-step medical screening requirements of the surrogate, mock cycle tests, preparation for and transfer of the embryo(s), pregnancy confirmation, periodic monitoring, and delivery)
Explaining the steps/options available to LGBTQ+ individuals to achieve parenthood to the extent they are different (typically using donor sperm or donor ovum, and obtaining a second-parent adoption)
Identifying appropriate resources, such as escrow agencies, surrogacy insurance providers, and mental health professionals
Conducting a legal review of your surrogacy agency contract
Preparing a clear, comprehensive surrogacy agreement for you and your partner before any medical screening of the surrogate is complete
Negotiating terms with your surrogate and her partner, including compensation terms, liability for medical complications, including lost wages, life, and health insurance requirements and payment responsibility, payment of certain expenses (maternity, housekeeping, nutrition supplements, transportation, medical expenses, etc.)
Clearly identifying hospital delivery choice and post-birth contact with your surrogate
Preparing required “clearance” letters to your physician
Protecting your parental rights to your child before your child’s birth in a Pre-Birth Parentage Order so that your baby can go home with you after birth
Coordinating with your surrogacy agency and escrow agency as needed
Aiding you in obtaining appropriate Vital Records from the delivery hospital and your state’s Vital Records office
Surrogate Mothers
Let us provide you important counsel as you consider surrogacy options. From drafting comprehensive surrogacy agreements to ensuring parental rights through Pre-Birth Parentage Judgments, we support our clients every step of the way by:
Reviewing and advising you of the implications of each term of your surrogacy agreement
Drawing on our experience to advise you of best practices
Advocating for you by including important terms in your surrogacy agreement relating to expense reimbursement, compensation, coverage of medical expenses, insurance premium and co-pays payments, and mental health support, decision-making, lifestyle choices, and more
Protecting you by obligating intended parents for all legal responsibility for any resulting child
Clearly identifying your and your partner’s rights and responsibilities and the intended parent’s rights and responsibilities
Advising you regarding Pre-Birth Orders to establish parentage of any resulting child
Donors
You have the best intentions and deserve excellent representation. We will:
Draft and provide a legal review of a donor agreement with you
Explain the donation process (which varies dramatically between sperm donation, egg donation, and embryo donation. Egg and sperm donation both involve medical screenings; however, egg donors undergo further evaluation, have daily injections timed to the donor’s menstruation cycle, and more)
Manage expectations by clearly memorializing the Donor and Intended Parent’s roles, rights, and responsibilities; access to your medical health information; ownership, use, and responsibility for donated gametes or embryos; and expectations regarding information sharing and confidentiality
Discuss compensation for the donation as appropriate (it is illegal in most states to sell ovum) and assign responsibility for all costs involved with your donation, including health insurance, mental health counseling, compensation for pain to compensation for legal services and transportation
Advise you regarding anonymity, donor registries, and open donations
Protect you by requiring the intended parent(s) to assume full legal responsibility for any resulting child
Coming from abroad?
We serve clients working with IVF clinics and physicians in the District of Columbia and Maryland by:
Advising our clients, through the use of professional interpreters as needed, of the laws that could be implicated in your matter
Coordinating with your attorney in your home country
Obtaining certified translations and apostilled legal documents
Connecting you with outside resources as needed
What does a contract with a Surrogate or Gestational Carrier include?
Surrogacy contracts address critical legal issues and manage expectations, including:
Rights and responsibilities of the Intended Parents, gestational carrier, and her partner, if any parties
Confidentiality and information sharing
Consent to medical and psychological assessment of the Gestational Carrier
Views on selective reduction, abortion, and medical complications
The amount and purpose of life insurance coverage to be obtained by the Gestational Carrier
Reimbursable fees and costs
Implications of exceptional circumstances
Management of escrowed funds
Circumstances in which the contract may be terminated
The number of embryo transfers or artificial insemination attempts
Storing, donating, or disposing of frozen embryos
The disposition of unused embryos upon the termination of the agreement, divorce, or death
How do you become legal parents to a child conceived by a gestational carrier?
Pre-birth Orders and Post-birth Orders
We can assist couples utilizing a gestational carrier in obtaining a pre-birth or post-birth order declaring that the intended parents are the child’s legal parents, and instructing the hospital or state department of vital records to issue a birth certificate reflecting the same. Absent a pre-birth order declaring parentage, the intended parents may not have decision-making rights concerning the child in the event of an emergency.
Embryo Donations and Adoption
In many instances, individuals that have undergone IVF will have unused embryos that will be cryopreserved for future use or because the Intended Parents do not wish to destroy them. These embryos may be donated to (or less frequently, adopted by) an Intended Parent. Although state laws vary, the consensus among courts is that embryos generally fall into an “interim” classification due to their potential to develop into human life. Therefore, those that maintain surplus cryopreserved embryos should address the access, control, and disposition of those embryos in an agreement and a Last Will and Testament to set forth clear instructions in the event of a disability, separation, divorce, or death, including during IVF treatment.