The Legal Process for the Gestational Carrier
Once the Gestational Carrier has completed and passed the three levels of screening, the Gestational Surrogacy Agreement can be prepared. The Gestational Surrogacy Agreement is drafted with the compensation structure (see Carrier Compensation Schedule)already agreed upon and the Intended Parents’ counsel and the Gestational Carrier’s counsel will review the agreement with their clients and negotiate it.
The Gestational Carrier will be represented by her own counsel unless she waives it and the counsel will be paid for by the Intended Parents.
- Once all parties are in agreement, the document is signed and sent to the clinic.
- Once the clinic has the Agreement, the parties can proceed to the actual in vitro cycle and embryo transfer.
- Once the gestational carrier becomes pregnant, the clinic will keep the gestational carrier as a patient for usually 10-12 weeks into the pregnancy.
- After this, the carrier is discharged to her regular Obstetrician of her choice. At this point, the pregnancy proceeds as a typical pregnancy with the gestational carrier seeing the Obstetrician for the duration of the pregnancy.
Once there is a pregnancy, the carrier and her husband will be asked to sign affidavits or attend one short hearing wherein the judge will adjudicate the parentage of the Intended Parents. The judge will sign a pre-birth order confirming the Intended Parents as the legal parents of the child at this hearing (or by affidavit and motion so a hearing is not necessary) so that their parentage is already establish prior to the birth of the child.
