Westchester County Fertility Lawyer

The medical and emotional aspects of your fertility journey can feel all consuming, but ignoring the legal consequences can cause delays and unwanted consequences regarding the disposition of your genetic material and legal parentage of your child.  Let our Westchester County, NY fertility lawyer guide you through the legal considerations on your path to parenthood so you can focus on yourself and your growing family.

Assisted reproduction requires coordination among multiple parties, including at a minimum your fertility clinic, your IVF physician, and you as the hopeful parent.  If you are becoming a parent through a third party reproductive arrangement, you can add an egg donor, sperm donor, embryo donor, or gestational surrogate to the mix.  While the medical aspects of each phase in your fertility journey receive the most attention, there are also significant legal considerations with lasting consequences.  For example:

• Whose genetics will be provided for creation of your embryos?
• Who owns the embryos you are creating?
• Who has a right to make decisions about the future disposition of your embryos?
• What if you and your partner disagree regarding the use or disposition of your embryos?
• Which jurisdiction(s) are relevant to your third party reproductive arrangement?
• Who are the intended parents?  Are they the same as the genetic contributors?
• How will you ensure you as the intended parents are recognized as the legal parents of your child?

The experienced team at Oleaga Law LLC is here to support you in growing your family with experience and personalized guidance so you can make informed decisions that impact your fertility options and your legal parentage.  Call today to schedule a confidential consultation.

Fertility Lawyer, Westchester County, NY

Building your family through assisted reproduction, including IVF, egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy, involve complex legal agreements, adherence to legislative and regulatory frameworks, and careful planning to address legal parentage and potential choice of law issues.  The legalities surrounding parentage, assisted reproductive technology, and the legal status of embryos are evolving and nuanced.  It’s important to involve qualified legal counsel during your family building through assisted reproduction to best protect yourself, your genetic material, and your family.

When working with egg donors, sperm donors, or embryo donors you must enter into legal agreements addressing their relinquishment of all legal rights to the donated gametes and donated embryos, and relinquishment of all rights they may possess to any child resulting from the donated gametes or embryos.  These agreements should also address how you as the intended parents will secure your legal parentage to your child, along with other details surrounding the donation itself.  When working with a gestational surrogate your legal agreement must address all legal requirements in the relevant jurisdiction(s) in addition to serving as a roadmap for the entirety of your surrogacy journey from before the embryo transfer to your surrogate through the birth of your baby and obtaining your child’s birth certificate.  Gestational surrogacy agreements are intricate, comprehensive legal contracts customized to you and the specifics of your arrangement and family structure.  For more on gestational surrogacy journeys in New York, see Surrogacy in New York and the Child Parent Security Act.  We represent intended parents, gamete donors, IVF patients, and surrogates with the empathy, respect, and discretion you deserve.

As your Westchester County fertility lawyer, I understand how personal family building is.  The decisions you are making are deeply personal, and involve medical, emotional, and legal considerations.  Your medical records, and discussions with your fertility doctor and fertility lawyer should remain private and confidential.  Oleaga Law LLC is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and safeguards to protect your privacy and your reproductive rights..

Our role as your representation goes far beyond drafting legal contracts, reviewing IVF clinic forms, and filing paperwork.  We protect your family from being vulnerable to future parentage disputes or litigation concerning the ownership of your embryos or genetic material. We take the time to explain every document you are considering signing: what it means, what you are agreeing to, and how it may affect your family and your future fertility options. We also carefully examine requests from other parties involved in your assisted reproductive arrangement, and alert you to anything that could signal fertility fraud or legal risk.

Most importantly, we listen. We understand your concerns, the weight of your decisions, and your desire to have a child.  We answer your questions honestly, and provide steady guidance and support throughout your fertility journey and family building.

Why Our Experience Makes the Difference in Fertility Legal Matters

We believe every family deserves recognition, celebration, and legal protection.  We believe every hopeful parent deserves compassionate guidance, understanding, and professional support in family formation and reproductive rights.  As your Westchester County fertility lawyer, we safeguard your legal interests to your cryopreserved genetic material and donated genetic material, embryos in joint ownership and dispositional control, rights at your fertility clinic, parentage rights, and more.  We have assisted hundreds of parents on their path to parenthood through assisted reproduction, and are well prepared to anticipate and avoid unwanted surprises on your fertility journey.

• Our firm has been highlighted by national publications including U.S. News & World Report, Good Housekeeping, Out Magazine, SHAPE, and Above the Law.
• We maintain a 5-star rating on Google from the many families we’ve guided in building their families
• Firm founder Janene Oleaga was named one of Maine’s 40 Under 40 for her leadership in reproductive rights and family formation
• Ms. Oleaga has played a role in landmark legal matters, including a groundbreaking New York Supreme Court ruling recognizing three parents
• Our firm has helped expand insurance coverage for fertility treatment through legislative advocacy

We’re the legal team you need to represent you on your fertility journey. Call Oleaga Law LLC today for a personalized consultation.