Surrogate Mothers Online Q & A: I am undergoing a partial hysterectomy in January. My sister is going to be our gestational host. Since my eggs and my husband's sperm will be used, from a legal standpoint, what should we prepare ourselves for? Also, once the procedure has begun will my sister need to take off from work a few days and commit to bedrest? - <A HREF="mailto:chocobuni@earthlink.net">30 and Mom-ready</A>

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Surrogate Mothers Online Q & A

Q & A: Legal/Contract Issues - Surrogacy

Topics may include contracts, legal fees, establishing parental rights, etc.

24. I am undergoing a partial hysterectomy in January. My sister is going to be our gestational host. Since my eggs and my husband's sperm will be used, from a legal standpoint, what should we prepare ourselves for? Also, once the procedure has begun will my sister need to take off from work a few days and commit to bedrest? - 30 and Mom-ready - Top

From a legal standpoint, you and your husband should have a lawyer draw up a contract -- even though it is your sister carrying. You sister should also have a separate lawyer so that there isn't any appearance of conflict of interest when you go for your parentage declaration. The surrogate's attorney's fees are to review the contract as an advocate for the surrogate and are usually $500 or less. In our case, our contract was about $2,500.

Once our surrogate was in her 3rd trimester, we petitioned the court to have us declared as the legal parents on the birth certificate (ours was a donor egg/intended father's sperm gestational surrogacy so we had some extra steps involved to get the judge to recognize me as the "mother" of the donated eggs). We were lucky and didn't even have to make a court appearance for the petition to go thru. We did have to hold the hospital's hand to make sure they understood that we were the parents of these children and as such, had all rights and responsibilities to them, but they were very cooperative and willing to help as much as possible.

As for the transfer, your sister will be required to go thru the same amount of bedrest you did during your transfers -- whatever your doctor requires. She will also go thru the hormone shots/pills/patches to prepare her uterus to receive the embryos prior to embryo transfer. For an overview of the gestational surrogacy process, please see the article in the SMO Articles section.

Best wishes,

Linda P
Proud mommy to the Colorado Miracle Twins born 11/25/98 - Updated: January 31, 2000
Topics may include contracts, legal fees, establishing parental rights, etc.

24. I am undergoing a partial hysterectomy in January. My sister is going to be our gestational host. Since my eggs and my husband's sperm will be used, from a legal standpoint, what should we prepare ourselves for? Also, once the procedure has begun will my sister need to take off from work a few days and commit to bedrest? - 30 and Mom-ready - Top: From a legal standpoint, you and your husband should have a lawyer draw up a contract -- even though it is your sister carrying. You sister should also have a separate lawyer so that there isn't any appearance of conflict of interest when you go for your parentage declaration. The surrogate's attorney's fees are to review the contract as an advocate for the surrogate and are usually $500 or less. In our case, our contract was about $2,500.

Once our surrogate was in her 3rd trimester, we petitioned the court to have us declared as the legal parents on the birth certificate (ours was a donor egg/intended father's sperm gestational surrogacy so we had some extra steps involved to get the judge to recognize me as the "mother" of the donated eggs). We were lucky and didn't even have to make a court appearance for the petition to go thru. We did have to hold the hospital's hand to make sure they understood that we were the parents of these children and as such, had all rights and responsibilities to them, but they were very cooperative and willing to help as much as possible.

As for the transfer, your sister will be required to go thru the same amount of bedrest you did during your transfers -- whatever your doctor requires. She will also go thru the hormone shots/pills/patches to prepare her uterus to receive the embryos prior to embryo transfer. For an overview of the gestational surrogacy process, please see the article in the SMO Articles section.

Best wishes,

Linda P
Proud mommy to the Colorado Miracle Twins born 11/25/98 - Updated: January 31, 2000

Unless stated otherwise, all responses in the SMO Q&A are courtesy of one or more of the following hosts:

Sherry - Experienced gestational surrogate currently working on her 2nd surrogacy arrangement

Linda - New Mommy to twins born via gestational surrogacy and egg donation

Jennifer S. - Experienced AI surrogate

Lynn - New Mommy to a daughter born via traditional surrogacy

Tracie - 5 time egg donor (triplets, 2 sets of twins and 2 singletons) and 3 time surrogate (2-AI, 1-IVF).

Lisa - Experienced egg donor and previous gestational surrogate currently working on her 2nd surrogacy arrangement (Lisa was our former ED host, prior to July 1999.)
Disclaimer: Responses from SMO Q&A Hosts do not necessarily represent the opinions and ideas of SMO. Neither the Q&A hosts nor SMO guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the responses given here. As such, neither SMO nor the Q&A hosts are responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. Neither SMO nor the Q&A hosts shall be liable or responsible to any person or entity for any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly by the information or ideas contained, suggested, or referenced in these responses.

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