Surrogacy Agreement — Establishing Legal Parentage Before Birth

My wife and I are working with a gestational surrogate in California. We have an agency handling the medical side, but we need to understand the legal process for establishing parentage.

Questions: (1) When do we need the legal agreement done? (2) How do we get our names on the birth certificate? (3) Does the surrogate have any parental rights?

California is one of the most surrogacy-friendly states. Here's the process:

1. Surrogacy agreement: Must be signed by all parties before embryo transfer. Both you and the surrogate need independent attorneys.
2. Pre-birth parentage order: Filed around month 4-5 of pregnancy. The court declares you the legal parents.
3. Birth certificate: With the court order, the hospital lists you directly. No adoption needed.

In CA, gestational surrogates have no parental rights once the agreement is properly executed (CA Family Code Section 7962).

We went through this in 2024. Legal fees were about $8K-$12K for both attorneys. The pre-birth order was straightforward in LA County — took about 3 weeks after filing.

Do we need to worry about this being challenged later? What if the surrogate changes her mind?

In California, once the surrogacy agreement is properly executed and the pre-birth order is issued, the surrogate cannot claim parental rights. This is different from traditional surrogacy (using the surrogate's own eggs), which is legally riskier.

This varies hugely by state. We looked into surrogacy in Michigan first — it's technically a felony there. We ended up going through California for the legal certainty.

Update: Hired a surrogacy attorney in LA. Agreement being drafted now. Pre-birth order is routine in CA. Total legal budget is $10K for both attorneys.