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The Surrogacy Dream Team

During every surrogacy journey, it’s safe to sat that every Intended Parent and Surrogate wants the same thing: a smooth positive experience. That may not be a guarantee, but the best way to make sure this goal is met, is to assemble the right team. So who all do you need on your team to set yourself up for success?

  • A Fertility Law Attorney:

You need someone who knows surrogacy laws in the state you are transferring your embryo, and the state in which your baby will be born (if it’s not the same state as they are being transferred). You will need a lawyer for you and a separate one for your Gestational Carrier. If you trust your lawyer the legal process will go smoothly and seamlessly. Your lawyer should also be able to refer you to someone else if they cannot represent you for any reason (for example, your baby is born in a state in which they do not practice).

  • Psychologist

You will need a psychologist to screen your surrogate. This person is also a great resource to refer to if you (or your surrogate) need emotional support during the process. Find someone you are comfortable talking to  and value their professional recommendations. 

  • Doctors

You will need a variety of doctor’s on your team. First and foremost is the Reproductive Endocrinologist who will oversee your embryo transfer and any procedures done at your fertility clinic. The second doctor you need on your team is your surrogate’s obgyn. While the Obgyn may not be your doctor, they are caring for your baby (and your baby’s carrier). It’s important to accept that you may not have a say on who your surrogate sees, and if your surrogate trusts their doctor, you must trust your surrogate. 

  • Financial Case Managers

We really mean the case managers of your Escrow account. The purpose of an escrow is to have a third party manage your money during the process so there are no complications and everything is managed legally and what was agreed upon. It is your case manager’s job is to watch over your money and release funds based on your legal contract, or anything you agreed to pay for. 

  • Agency

Your agency is essentially your team leader. They will assist you with building the right team for you and help you work through each area of the process. 

  • Social Worker

At Southern Surrogacy, we assign you a social worker who will be your eyes and ears during the process. They will check on you for every big moment, and periodically throughout the process. If you have any questions or concerns, your case manager is the person to discuss them with. If they don’t have an answer, they know exactly who to recommend you to. Having a good relationship with your social worker will make you feel comfortable during your process!

As with anything, every journey is different. This is a general list of professionals that you should have on your team before you start your journey. The good news is that you won’t have to find all of these professionals on your own. Once you start building your team, the other positions will fall into place. There are a lot of professionals in this industry that are happy to assist, recommend, and be part of your dream come true. If you aren’t sure where to start, please reach out to us.

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Custody Of Embryos In Event Of Divorce

For many couples, the only way to build their family is through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) including in vitro fertilization (IVF). With IVF, eggs are retrieved from a woman’s body and fertilized with sperm in the laboratory, creating embryos that are grown for several days outside the body. At that point, many embryos are cryopreserved prior to transfer to a woman’s uterus. What becomes of such embryos if they remain in storage at the time of progenitors’ divorce?

Reproductive clinics usually require couples to sign documents detailing disposition of their embryos in the event of their deaths and in the event of non-payment of storage fees. Clinics may also require agreement between the couple detailing what should happen if the couple divorces or one spouse is incapacitated while embryos are frozen. Options include procreation by one or both spouses, donation to medical research, or thaw and degeneration of the embryos. In California, New Jersey and Massachusetts it is required by statute that the fertility center mandate their patients to agree on disposition in a variety of circumstances, including divorce (See for example, California: Health and Safety Code 125315).

There have been several reported cases on the issue of what happens to embryos in controversy in divorce proceedings. In general, courts have followed specific agreements made by the progenitors prior to dissolution of marriage, including awarding embryos to the spouse designated by previous mutual agreement. However, if divorce was not contemplated in any consent form or agreement, courts have been hesitant to allow procreation by a former spouse against the other former spouse’s wishes (See Davis v. Davis (Tenn. 1992) 842 S.W.2d 588 and Kass v. Kass (N.Y. 1998) 696 N.E.2d 174). In fact, there is only one reported instance of a court allowing a former spouse to procreate using the genetic material of their former spouse over his objection. In it, the court used a balancing approach to award embryos to the wife when facts showed she was a cancer survivor who had no other means of procreation with her own genetic material (Reber v. Reiss (Pa. Super. Ct. 2012) 42 A.3d 1131). The parties in Reber v. Reiss had not agreed to any particular disposition in the event of death or divorce and their clinic had not required them to do so.

North Carolina does not have statutory guidance or reported cases on the issue of embryo disposition during equitable distribution. Therefore, attorneys should counsel their clients to enter into direct agreement with each other during marriage to clearly state their intent for disposition of embryos in the event of divorce, death or incapacity. Fertility clinics should also require consent forms be signed detailing embryo disposition in a variety of circumstances. And, to avoid confusion over intent, patients need to be sure that if they do sign a separate direct agreement with each other, that it is consistent with the consent forms on file with their medical provider.

Originally posted at ncbarblog.com.

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Southern Surrogacy Directors’ Retreat

Lynn Holland Goldman at our snowbound retreat.
Lynn Holland Goldman at our snowbound retreat.

Southern Surrogacy’s four directors, Ruth F. Claiborne, Amy Wallas Fox, Lila Newberry Bradley and Lynn Holland Goldman gathered together in Highlands, North Carolina for a 2 day retreat this week. We were nearly snowed in! In addition to making significant progress on business matters, we took a hike, cooked a mean surf and turf dinner and enjoyed beautiful scenery.

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Update from the Executive Director

Finally – a real blog post! Since Southern Surrogacy, LLC was formed we have had some exciting changes. The most significant is that we now have an office in Charlotte, North Carolina in addition to our offices in Atlanta and Savannah. We are working with local fertility centers here in North Carolina to be sure that local prospective intended parents and gestational carriers know that we are here. We continue to work with families who are looking for gestational carriers and women interested in serving as gestational carriers in the entire southeast region including Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. If you have interest in our program please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

 

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