Using a surrogate may be the best way to welcome a child into your family. While navigating the process can be exciting, it can also be stressful. After all, you’ve probably never been through a surrogacy pregnancy before, and you might be worried about all the nuanced issues that could come up, such as who will pay for medical care; what kind of relationship, if any, the child will have with their biological mother; and who will direct pre-natal care. These are all legitimate questions that should be addressed well beforehand. This is where a surrogacy contract can come into play.
A well thought out surrogacy contract can address anticipated issues, giving all parties peace of mind and clear expectations. This allows you and the biological mother to then focus on what matters most: the health can well-being of the child. That said, surrogacy contracts can be complicated, which creates room for mistakes to be made. So, let’s look at some of those mistakes so that you know what you need to watch out for as you move forward with the process.
Beware of these surrogacy contract mistakes
There are several errors that can be made when negotiating and executing a surrogacy contract. Here are some that you should be aware of moving forward:
- Relying on unclear terms: Regardless of the specific terms you put in your surrogacy agreement, they need to be clear to the point that there is no room for interpretation. This will ensure that everyone fully understands their obligations and what to expect from the agreement. This will prevent disputes from arising that could prove problematic to your relationship with the surrogate and that could be costly to hash out.
- Glossing over compensation: The surrogate will expect to get paid for carrying and birthing the child. You don’t want this aspect of your agreement to be fuzzy, otherwise there may be disappointed and litigation once everything is said and done. Make sure the agreement reflects a payment amount that everyone is comfortable with before moving forward.
- Neglecting to clarify who will make medical decisions: There are several medical decisions that may have to be made during a pregnancy. You don’t want to get into a disagreement with the surrogate over what those decisions should look like, which is why you should be sure to address this issue in a mutually acceptable way through your surrogacy agreement.
- Failing to address parentage: Once the child is born, legal parentage needs to be established in a legally binding way. You should specify in your surrogacy agreement how that’ll be accomplished so that there isn’t any confusion when you get to that point. This will also help address the role that the surrogate will play in the child’s life moving forward, if any.
- Neglecting to specify how disputes will be resolved: Although it’s hoped that your surrogacy agreement will help you avoid all conflict, there’s still a chance that something unexpected will come up, such as a surrogate refusing to abide by agreed to medical decisions or payments not being made in full. Your agreement should specify how these disputes will be resolved so that you have a clear process in place should you need to rely upon it.
Be careful in negotiating and finalizing your surrogacy agreement
There’s a lot of detail that goes into an effective surrogacy agreement. You really can’t afford to skimp on its development, otherwise there’s a fair chance that you’ll wind up in a difficult position at some point throughout the process. So, if you have questions about the best way to develop your surrogacy agreement, then consider discussing the matter with your surrogacy law attorney.