A fertility lawyer is a legal professional who specializes in reproductive law, assisting individuals and couples with the legal aspects of building families through assisted reproductive technologies including IVF.
Common Areas of Fertility Law:
- Surrogacy Agreements
- Drafting and reviewing contracts between intended parents and gestational carriers or gestational surrogates.
- Drafting and reviewing contracts between intended parents and traditional surrogates.
- Ensuring compliance with state and international laws.
- Ensuring all requirements (legal and ethical) are met.
- Egg, Sperm, and Embryo Donation
- Creating and negotiating donor agreements.
- Clarifying rights and responsibilities of donors and recipients.
- Establishing who is and who is not a legal parent.
- Parentage Orders / Establishing Legal Parenthood
- Ensuring intended parents are legally recognized as the parents of the resulting child, especially in cases involving surrogacy or donor conception.
- Filing pre-birth or post-birth orders, depending on jurisdiction.
- Completing confirmatory adoptions or second parent/step parent adoptions as may be advisable.
- Embryo Disposition and IVF Issues
- Addressing legal questions around the use, storage, and destruction of frozen embryos, especially in scenarios involving divorce or death.
- Ensuring embryos are stored in a preferred jurisdiction or location.
- LGBTQ+ Family Building Support
- Navigating gamete donation, conception, and legal parentage in for LGBTQ individuals.
- International Fertility Law
- Assisting with cross-border surrogacy and donor arrangements.
- Navigating immigration and citizenship issues for children born abroad via surrogacy.
- Insurance Coverage
- Purchasing necessary or advisable insurance.
- Handling insurance appeals.
- Legislative and Patient Advocacy
- Advocating on your behalf to change law and policy.
When to Hire a Fertility Lawyer:
- You’re entering into a surrogacy or donor agreement.
- You’re creating embryos with a partner or spouse.
- You need to secure legal parentage.
- You’re navigating ART across state or international borders.
- You’re LGBTQ+ and need tailored legal protection for your family.
- You need assistance navigating insurance matters.
- You need assistance reviewing forms with your IVF Clinic.
