What is a Reproductive Lawyer? What Does a Fertility Attorney Do?

Reputable surrogacy agencies can really make it easier to navigate the surrogacy and donation process. They know the red flags to look for when choosing a good surrogate or donor, can help with the legal and medical processes by recommending attorneys and physicians, and they can facilitate communication between parties. Keep in mind you will need to sign a contract with the agency and should have an experienced reproductive attorney review the contract before you sign.

Texas surrogacy laws do allow single parents to utilize the protection of the surrogacy statute. However, if a couple wants to use a surrogate, in order to be afforded the protection of the Texas law, the couple must be married.

With traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is genetically related to the child. Traditional surrogacy is actually not protected under the Texas Family Code, so there are legal risks. Gestational surrogacy is where a woman carries a child on behalf of the intended parent or parents but has no genetic link whatsoever to the child. Gestational surrogacy is protected under Chapter 160 of the Texas Family Code: The Uniform Parentage Act.

While traditional surrogacy agreements are not enforceable under Texas law, you can have a reproductive lawyer draft a contract for traditional surrogacy. Because the surrogate is the genetic parent, our firm usually treats traditional surrogacy cases similar to adoptions. The parties sign a contract where the surrogate agrees that she will relinquish her rights to the child, which can’t be done until 48 hours after the birth. The risk here is that the surrogate could decide not to relinquish her rights, so the intended parents may end up co-parenting and paying child support in Texas to the surrogate—just like a traditional child custody scenario.

Gestational surrogacy agreements are lengthy and detailed, so we won’t cover everything here. However, some common provisions included in Texas gestational surrogacy agreements include:
· How medical expenses would be paid.
· That all parties agree to an open exchange of health information.
· That 14 days must pass from the date the last person signs the agreement before any embryos can be transferred to the carrier.
· That the carrier relinquishes any rights she would have had to the child by virtue of giving birth.
· The amount of money that will be paid to the carrier for pre-birth child support.

Texas law does allow any party to the agreement to back out at any point in time, as long as the carrier is not pregnant. In addition, the intended parent cannot hold the carrier financially responsible for any money they paid to the carrier up to that point. Most contracts also state that the contract is valid for one year or a certain number of transfer attempts (usually three) but the law does allow anybody to move to cancel before one transfer occurs (or two, or three) as long as the carrier is not pregnant.

Yes. Texas surrogacy laws only state that a couple must be married. It does not specify a man and a woman must be married. We’ve helped many same-sex couples become parents via surrogacy.

An embryo donor cannot get paid for the donation of the embryos; however, egg donors can be and often are compensated for the donation. Texas law allows for the donation of eggs, sperm and embryos for assisted reproduction. The definition of a donor in Texas requires that the genetic material be provided to a licensed physician who will utilize the material for assisted reproduction. Home insemination does NOT meet the requirement of a donor under Texas reproductive law.