GSHC Surrogacy School is in session! Read our in-house guide on the ins-and-outs of the journey.
GSHC Surrogacy School is in session! Read our in-house guide on the ins-and-outs of the journey.
Attorney Greg Masler of Masler Law answers common questions about the surrogacy process in the state of California.
Gregory S. Masler, Esq. founded the Law Offices of Gregory S. Masler in 2003. Greg received his law degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School (Lansing, MI) and has practiced law for over two decades. Greg has represented over 3,000 clients in assisted reproductive law matters, including Intended Parents, Surrogates, Egg Donors, and Embryo Donors. Masler Surrogacy Law clients have been successfully matched in over 4,000 Surrogacy and Egg Donation Agreements.
Greg’s specialized legal services include drafting and negotiating arrangements between parties, to Egg Donation Agreements, Surrogacy Agreements and Pre-Birth Order Judgments to establish parental rights in the State of California. Greg is a member of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys (AAARTA) and the seedsethics.org (SEEDS). Greg and his staff enjoy assisting clients through the different legal processes and are dedicated to ensuring that each client receives individual attention and complete legal representation.
A surrogacy attorney’s role in the process involved drafting and reviewing the surrogacy agreement between intended parents and surrogates. The attorney is also responsible for preparing and reviewing documents filed with the court after a confirmation of pregnancy to establish the intended parents’ parentage over the child. Greg and his legal team will:
California is a great state for gestational surrogacy. The state has a combination of well-established laws and statutes to protect surrogacy as well as an excellent selection of IVF and fertility resources, clinics, and agencies. The laws vary by state and Greg recommends consulting an attorney licensed in another state if you plan to participate in a surrogacy arrangement outside. of California.
A surrogacy contract is critical because it documents the relationship, rights, and responsibilities of all parties engaged in the surrogacy arrangement. The contract will also document:
The surrogacy contract will specifically include a confidentiality provision that lays out clearly that the surrogates and the intended parents should not be sharing the identity of any of the parties without their prior approval. The contract also stipulates that any communication between the parties after the birth of the child is strictly voluntary and cannot be forced on the surrogate or the intended parents.
If a surrogate gets married during the course of the surrogacy arrangement after signing the contract, the surrogate must inform her attorney and the surrogacy attorney immediately. The surrogacy attorney will add the spouse to the Gestational Surrogacy Agreement (GSA) because there are issues related to privacy, confidentiality, and parentage that pertain to the spouse. The spouse is also a vital part of the Pre-Birth Order (PBO) process to define that the surrogate and her spouse are not the legal parents of the child.
A good contract will address how all issues and complications will be addressed and when. If the surrogate has any questions about compensation in the event of diagnostic testing, for example, she should consult her attorney and her agency.
All surrogates undergo thorough state and federal background checks, drug/alcohol/nicotine screening, a psychological evaluation, and a medical examination.
No. The surrogate cannot legally keep the baby, and probably doesn’t want to! All of our surrogates have undergone psychological screening to make sure they are ready to complete the process and will not suffer any emotional distress by doing so. Legally, the surrogate relinquishes any right to the child before the baby is born.
Once the surrogacy contract has been signed by all parties, the intended parents’ attorney will issue a legal clearance letter to the IVF clinic notifying them that a contract is in place between the intended parents and the surrogate. At that point, the IVF clinic will proceed with scheduling the surrogate for her embryo transfer date.
The intended parents’ names will appear on the birth certificate. This point is addressed in the contract prior to embryo transfer. Once pregnancy is confirmed (approximately around 25 weeks of pregnancy), the intended parents’ attorney will prepare documents for the Pre-Birth Order (PBO). The surrogate and her attorney will be involved to sign the contract and finalize the parentage judgment.
The intended parents are responsible for all medical fees during the surrogacy journey. In California, the Gestational Surrogacy Agreement (GSA) will outline the responsibilities of the intended parents to pay medical fees.
Gestational surrogates with GSHC Surrogacy & Egg Donation also require a health insurance policy in place for the journey. Intended parents are responsible for paying the premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs on the policy for the length of the journey and up to two months after delivery of the child.
It’s very important to have a good agency involved in the surrogacy arrangement. It’s critical to keep the channels of communication open between all parties. Having an agency be able to discuss with both parties and handle any issues that may come up during the surrogacy arrangement is absolutely critical.
To learn more about the parentage process in the state of California, please contact Greg Masler and his team via their website maslersurrogacylaw.com.
