The legal process
Two attorneys, one agreement, and parentage that is settled before your baby arrives.
Angel Heart Surrogacy is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. What we do is make sure the legal work happens in the right order, with the right people, and that nothing medical begins until it is complete.
Principles
How we approach the legal work.
Independent counsel for each side
You and your surrogate are each represented by your own attorney, licensed in the relevant state and experienced in assisted reproduction. You pay for both. Neither attorney works for Angel Heart Surrogacy.
You choose your attorney
We will introduce you to several experienced attorneys, but the choice is yours, as your surrogate's choice is hers. We accept no referral fees from law firms.
Nothing medical before it's signed
No medication begins until the gestational carrier agreement is fully signed, escrow is funded, and each attorney has issued a legal clearance letter to your clinic.
The agreement
What a gestational carrier agreement covers.
Usually 40 to 70 pages. It takes two to six weeks to negotiate, depending on the attorneys and the state.
- Each party's intentions, and your status as the intended legal parents
- Compensation, allowances, reimbursements and the escrow arrangement
- The number of embryos to be transferred and the number of transfer attempts
- Medical decision-making, including testing, and the surrogate's right to make decisions about her own body
- Health, life and disability insurance
- Communication, attendance at appointments, and the birth
- What happens in unexpected circumstances, including a guardian for your child
- Confidentiality, and contact after the birth
Parentage
Becoming the legal parents.
01
Second or third trimester
Your attorney files for a parentage order
In many states, a court can issue a pre-birth order declaring you the legal parents from the moment of birth, so the hospital records you on the birth certificate.02
At the hospital
The hospital is prepared
Your attorney sends the order to the hospital in advance. We confirm the hospital's social work and records teams have it before your due date.03
Where pre-birth orders are unavailable
Post-birth steps
Some states only allow parentage to be established after birth, or require additional steps such as a second-parent or step-parent adoption. Your attorney will explain what applies to you, and we plan the birth state with this in mind.
