Assisted Reproductive Technology: Your Legal Rights and Options

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has helped thousands of families grow. With advances in ART, options like surrogacy, sperm or egg donation, and embryo transfer are more accessible. But these methods bring complex legal challenges. Ensuring that parental rights are secured is essential. An experienced legal team like Cofsky & Zeidman can guide you through each step.

What Is Assisted Reproductive Technology?

Assisted reproductive technology involves medical techniques to help with conception. The primary forms of ART include:

  1. Surrogacy: A woman (the surrogate) carries a pregnancy for another family.
  2. Sperm or Egg Donation: A donor provides sperm or eggs for fertilization.
  3. Embryo Transfer: An embryo is created outside the womb, then transferred to the intended mother or surrogate.

Each option has unique benefits and legal requirements. Understanding these early on helps families plan effectively.

Surrogacy and the Legal Landscape

Surrogacy arrangements come in two main forms: gestational and traditional.

  • Gestational Surrogacy: The surrogate carries an embryo created from the intended parents’ or donors’ genetic material. She has no genetic link to the child.
  • Traditional Surrogacy: The surrogate uses her egg, making her genetically related to the child.

Laws around surrogacy differ by state. Some states allow surrogacy freely, while others have restrictions. This is why having legal representation is crucial. A seasoned attorney ensures all agreements meet state regulations and protect both parties.

Why You Need a Surrogacy Agreement

A surrogacy agreement is vital in protecting everyone’s rights. It outlines roles, responsibilities, and expected outcomes, covering issues like medical expenses, surrogate compensation, and parental rights. Without a solid agreement, disputes can arise, potentially causing heartbreak and confusion. Cofsky & Zeidman helps draft, review, and enforce surrogacy agreements, so everyone involved feels secure.

Understanding Sperm and Egg Donation

Sperm and egg donation can offer a path to parenthood when natural conception isn’t an option. However, it’s essential to understand the legal rights and obligations associated with donation.

Key Points in Sperm and Egg Donation

In most cases, donors have no parental rights after the donation. However, legal agreements protect this by clearly outlining the donor’s role. These agreements cover:

  • Donor anonymity and confidentiality
  • Rights to information about the child or family
  • Future contact agreements

Creating a secure donor agreement avoids potential disputes. Cofsky & Zeidman guides families through this process, ensuring legal protection for all involved.

Embryo Transfers: Rights and Responsibilities

Embryo transfers offer another option for family formation. Here, legal protection is essential. Transfers may involve using embryos created by the intended parents, donors, or a combination. In some cases, leftover embryos from other couples are available for adoption.

Protecting Your Rights in Embryo Transfers

For embryo transfers, you need clear agreements outlining parental rights. These agreements address questions such as:

  • Who has decision-making power over unused embryos?
  • What happens to embryos in case of divorce or death?
  • Will donors or other parties have rights to contact or visit?

The answers to these questions can impact your family’s future. Cofsky & Zeidman assists with creating legally sound agreements that address these details.

State Laws and ART Agreements

State laws on ART vary widely. Some states require that certain agreements be established before conception. Others place specific limits on compensation, especially in surrogacy cases. Navigating these legal landscapes is challenging. Working with an attorney ensures compliance with your state’s laws and protects you from future complications.

Protecting Your Parental Rights

For families using ART, securing parental rights is essential. Courts may not automatically recognize intended parents, even with a legal agreement. For example, birth certificates often list the surrogate as the legal mother. Securing legal parenthood typically involves additional steps, like:

  • Pre-Birth Orders: Some states allow pre-birth orders that establish intended parents’ rights.
  • Post-Birth Adoption: If a pre-birth order isn’t possible, a post-birth adoption may be needed.

An experienced attorney will understand these processes and work to establish your parental rights. Cofsky & Zeidman has years of experience in ART law and family formation. We ensure you gain legal parenthood without delay or confusion.

How Cofsky & Zeidman Can Help

Navigating ART requires understanding legal, medical, and financial aspects. Cofsky & Zeidman brings over 25 years of experience in family formation law. We support clients with surrogacy agreements, donor contracts, and other ART-related legal needs.

Our team has helped guide over 1,500 families through the adoption and ART process. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky, a leader in the field, has extensive experience in complex family formation cases. With our support, you can make informed choices and establish a strong legal foundation for your family.

Planning Your Family’s Future with ART

Starting a family through ART is rewarding but comes with many decisions. Ensuring these decisions are backed by solid legal agreements can offer peace of mind. With legal guidance, you can focus on the joy of family formation, knowing your rights are protected.

If you’re considering ART, contact Cofsky & Zeidman today. We’ll walk you through the process and ensure your family’s future is secure.

Some Information On Surrogacy Contracts

Some Information on Surrogacy Contracts

Surrogacy contracts, which are also known as gestational carrier agreements, are documents that define the rights and responsibilities of surrogate mothers and intended parents. These contracts are used for all gestational surrogacies in New Jersey, and fertility clinics will not perform surrogacy procedures unless a legally binding agreement is in place.

The New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act

New Jersey lawmakers passed the Gestational Carrier Agreement Act in 2018. Prior to this law’s passage, paid surrogacy arrangements were illegal in the Garden State. The law created strict requirements that all parties to a gestational surrogacy must meet. These requirements include:

  • The surrogate mother and intended parents must be represented by attorneys familiar with this area of the law.
  • The surrogate mother must be at least 21 years of age.
  • The surrogate mother must have given birth to at least one child before entering into the agreement.
  • The surrogate mother must undergo a thorough medical and psychological evaluation.
  • The intended parents must undergo a thorough psychological evaluation.
  • The agreement must state that the intended parents will accept custody of the child.
  • The agreement must state that the surrogate mother will allow the intended parents to accept custody of the child.

The intended parents who sign surrogacy agreements in New Jersey are usually married couples, but they do not have to be. The Gestational Carrier Agreement Act allows individuals and unmarried couples to enter into agreements with surrogate mothers, and same-sex couples have the same rights as opposite-sex couples.

Gestational and Traditional Surrogacy

The Gestational Carrier Agreement Act, which was revised in 2023, applies when the surrogate mother is compensated and undergoes in vitro fertilization procedures to become pregnant. The law does not apply when the surrogate mother’s own eggs are fertilized. Traditional surrogacies are legal in New Jersey, but the surrogate mother can only be compensated for her food, shelter and medical and counseling costs. The vast majority of surrogacies in New Jersey are gestational surrogacies.

The Importance of Qualified Legal Representation

New Jersey law requires surrogate mothers and intended parents to each be represented by a New Jersey adoption attorney when they enter into surrogacy contracts, but this would be advisable even if it were not a legal requirement. Qualified legal representation ensures that the agreement will be fair and legally enforceable and protect the rights of all parties involved. The entire process is far less stressful for intended parents and surrogate mothers when the negotiations are handled by lawyers. The provisions of a surrogacy contact should cover matters including:

  • The surrogate mother’s compensation and how that compensation will be modified if more than one egg is fertilized
  • The surrogate mother’s responsibility to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the pregnancy
  • Whether or not the intended parents will attend prenatal appointments and be present at the birth
  • The conditions that would necessitate the termination of the pregnancy

The Surrogacy Contract Procedure

Drafting a surrogacy contract should be a collaborative process. The initial draft of the contract is usually written by the attorney representing the intended parents and sent to the surrogate mother’s lawyer. The surrogate mother and her attorney will then discuss the terms of the agreement. If the surrogate mother is not happy with the agreement and proposes changes, her attorney and the intended parents’ attorney will negotiate until an agreement is reached that satisfies all parties.

Legal Advice and Representation for Intended Parents and Surrogates

If you are a New Jersey resident and plan to enter into a gestational surrogacy arrangement, you will need to abide by the provisions of the Gestational Carrier Agreement Act. This means that you will require the services of an experienced New Jersey adoption attorney. The law firm of Cofsky & Zeidman has over 25 years of experience in this area, and we are ready to answer any questions you have. You can call our Haddonfield office at (856) 429-5005, or you can use our online form to schedule a consultation.

Telling Your Children That They Were Born Through Assisted Reproduction

Having the Talk About Assisted Reproduction

According to some New Jersey adoption attorneys, more than 2% of infants born in the state are conceived through assisted reproductive technology. Those in the ART field expect that number to continue rising as the technologies improve and society becomes more comfortable with the approach overall. Furthermore, we are now gaining research that shows how ART affects the children later in life.

What Is Assisted Reproduction?

Assisted reproduction is a broad term, and the definition varies based on who is using it and where. Generally, it refers to any conception achieved through medical assistance involving the ovary. That includes combining ovaries and sperm in a laboratory and then returning them to a woman’s body. In some cases, the ovary is returned to the woman who provided it. In others, it is donated to another woman who will serve as the mother or surrogate mother.

In the U.S., gestational surrogacy is most common. This is where the surrogate mother has no genetic connection to the child she is carrying. Partial surrogacy is an option as well and much more common in the United Kingdom, for instance. It is also more prevalent overseas for surrogates to become part of the family. Commercial surrogates are more pervasive in the U.S. However, some families want the relationship and seek it out, and it is becoming more common here according to some experts.

Parents Worry Over Telling Children

When it comes to adoption, our society has many decades of experience and a wealth of data to fall back on. We generally know what to expect from child outcomes and the paths necessary to achieve positive ones. This is not yet the case with ART. It is only recently that we have access to studies involving many children who were achieved through ART and have now progressed into adulthood.

One of the chief concerns that parents and others have had is when should you tell a child that they were conceived through ART? Not only when should you tell them, but how much should you disclose?

Telling Children Early Helps

A 2023 study published in the journal Developmental Psychology followed 65 children. Of that group, 22 were born via surrogacy, 26 by sperm donation and 17 through egg donation. Researchers met with the children at age 1, 2, 3, 7, 10 and 14. What they found at age 3 did not come as a surprise. This is the point when children become curious about babies. They want to understand why they are here.

The data also showed that children who were told before age 7 reported better relationships with their mothers throughout their lives. When asked when they learned about the assisted reproduction, the children in this group responded that they always knew. This means that they grew up with the information and never had to experience the shock or surprise that could undermine trust.

Children who were born through surrogacy and made aware of it did tend to experience relationship issues around age 7. At this point, their mental advancement was allowing them to grapple with the concept of surrogacy. But when the researchers returned at age 10, those issues had disappeared in all cases.

Children Want to Be Wanted

One of the things the researchers found was that the assisted reproduction became even more of a positive as the children aged. The children knew they were wanted. This was important to them above all else, and they talked to the researchers about it a great deal.

Legal Representation for Assisted Reproduction

The Law Office of Cofsky & Zeidman has more than 25 years of experience helping families. That includes navigating the many wonderful varieties of assisted reproduction that help people realize their dreams of starting a family. We provide initial consultations without charge or obligation. If you’re ready to begin this journey or already underway, have your case reviewed by a seasoned New Jersey adoption attorney. To set up that appointment, call our Haddonfield office at (856) 429-5005 or our Woodbury location at (856) 845-2555, or contact us online.

The Costs of LGBTQ Family Formation

How Much It Costs to Form an LGBTQI+ Family

Over the past decade, a considerable amount of progress has been made when it comes to LGBTQI+ civil rights, which has made it easier for LGBTQI+ people to start families. According to the 2023 LGBTQI+ Economic and Financial (LEAF) survey, around 36% of LGBTQI+ respondents are parents or primary guardians for one or more children. Regardless of how you choose to start a family, there are certain costs you’ll be tasked with paying.

Adoption Costs

If you’re looking to adopt a child into your LGBTQI+ family, the costs vary substantially depending on the adoption method you choose. Every type of adoption comes with different requirements and processes as well. For instance, you could decide to take part in an open or closed adoption.

In a closed adoption, the adoptive and biological parents don’t have much contact or details about one another. Open adoptions are less stringent in this regard. In most cases, the child’s birth parents and adoptive parents will exchange contact information and even maintain relationships over time. These adoptions usually cost anywhere from $8,000-$30,000. The other types of adoptions and their respective price ranges are:

  • Domestic or international adoptions – $25,000-$75,000
  • Independent adoptions – $15,000-$40,000
  • Private or public agency adoptions – $2,000-$50,000
  • Foster to adoption – $1,000-$5,000
  • Second-parent adoption – $2,000-$3,000

The factors that determine how much you pay during this process depend on the type of adoption you believe is best for your LGBTQI+ family. If you have questions about the adoption process, a New Jersey adoption attorney might be able to help.

Surrogacy Costs

If you aren’t interested in adoption, another solution that might interest you involves surrogacy. For instance, gestational surrogacy takes place when a donor’s fertilized egg is implanted through in vitro fertilization (IVF). It’s possible for the egg and sperm to come from a donor or biological parent. Surrogacy is expensive and can cost anywhere from $60,000 to $150,000.

There are many factors that determine what costs you pay. For instance, you could pay anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 as surrogate compensation. If you’re able to find a close friend or family member who will be an egg donor or surrogate without requiring compensation, your costs can be reduced significantly. While surrogates often require compensation of around $50,000, these costs can be higher if the pregnancy involves cesarean delivery or leads to the birth of twins.

During this process, you might also need to pay for the surrogate’s lost wages and living expenses, which could be $25,000 or more. Healthcare costs add up quickly when paying monthly premiums, deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. Out-of-pocket expenses can be high since many insurance providers don’t provide much coverage for fertility treatment. Additional expenses come in the form of background checks and health screenings, which can add a few thousand dollars to your total costs.

In Vitro Fertilization and Artificial Insemination Costs

There are two primary types of assisted reproductive technology, which include in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination. In vitro fertilization has a success rate of around 50% or higher. During this process, eggs are retrieved from a woman’s ovaries, after which they are fertilized in a lab and transferred to a uterus. An IVF cycle takes around three weeks. However, the entire IVF process requires three cycles, which can take up to nine weeks. The costs range from $45,000 to $70,000.

Artificial insemination costs anywhere from $200-$2,000 and involves delivering sperm to a woman’s uterus or cervix. The two types of artificial insemination include intrauterine insemination (IUI) and intracervical insemination (ICI). The ICI process costs less.

Costs of Protecting LGBTQI+ Family

When you’re forming an LGBTQI+ family, you may eventually pay out-of-pocket legal expenses to secure your parentage. Legal fees occur when contracts need to be drafted and reviewed. Keep in mind that legally establishing parentage for you and your partner requires a court judgment, which can cost anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000. While certain states are currently taking steps to make this process simpler and more streamlined, progress still needs to be made to reduce costs. If you’re in the midst of creating an LGBTQI+ family, legal expenses are difficult to avoid altogether.

Starting a family can be costly for LGBTQI+ parents. However, there are numerous options available when building a family, which provides you with a certain amount of control over what the final costs will be. Call our New Jersey adoption attorney today at (856) 429-5005 if you’re getting ready to start the adoption process or go through assisted reproduction.

Surrogacy vs. Adoption

Should Your Family Pick Surrogacy or Adoption?

An estimated 2 to 4% of people in the United States have adopted, but over one-third of the population have at least given the option a thought. Many have also considered surrogacy. Both arrangements come with advantages and obstacles, and one might be the right fit for your family.

Genetic Factors

Surrogacy and adoption involve distinctly different processes. It gives intended parents a significant advantage if they know the steps they’ll have to take and everything that goes into these processes before they jump into one or the other. These are some of the main differences to bear in mind between surrogacy and adoption.

 

With gestational surrogacy, an embryo transfer is used to impregnate the surrogate mother with the genetic materials of the donors or parents. This means that the surrogate mother has no relation to the child even though she carries the baby to term. Rather, the baby is related to the parents or donors.

 

When you adopt, on the other hand, the birth mother is still biologically related to the child, and the adoptive couple is not. This may come with deep emotional implications between the birth parents and your child later on in life. All of this is on top of the potential legal challenges that this process may present as well.

 

Consider the genetic parents, yourselves as the adoptive couple, and the child you adopt as well. Think of how you’re going to handle the situation going forward. As the child grows up, it helps to have a plan in place for all of the difficult conversations so that there are no unpleasant surprises along the way.

 

With surrogacy, it’s often helpful that you are biologically connected from a legal point of view. For one thing, it gives intended parents more say over how the surrogacy process goes.

 

It’s possible for either one or both of the intended parents to be genetically related to their surrogate child. If a biological relation to your child is something that is important to you and your partner, it’s important to discuss the matter openly and be honest about your feelings.

Money Matters

Surrogacy comes with no shortage of fees and expenses. This is to cover the process of transferring the embryo as well as to compensate the surrogate mother and pay the healthcare costs associated with pregnancy and delivery. For all these reasons, surrogacy is by far the more costly option when compared to adoption.

 

Program fees, agency fees, and myriad professional services are inevitable no matter which of these routes you take. It’s going to be an expensive process whether you choose surrogacy or adoption, but the former comes with the most additional expenses.

 

Most of the time, the intended parents pay their surrogate. This is meant to compensate them for the time and effort and everything that they sacrificed throughout their pregnancy and the rest of the process. Payments from the intended parents are for living expenses, which are to cover things like rent, other bills, and groceries.

 

Unfortunately, couples who want to try surrogacy might not have as many opportunities to seek financing because surrogacy lacks a federal tax credit. If you choose to adopt, on the other hand, the adoption federal tax credit is a resource you may have access to. This is something that a New Jersey adoption attorney may be able to help you with.

The Matching Process

The process of matching with your child or surrogate mother is a major part of either process. As such, it can be the source of a significant amount of stress and anxiety.

 

In most adoptions, the intended parents decide on the kind of adoption situation they’re comfortable with. They can choose some things about what they’re looking for in a child, such as race or whether the child has been exposed to any substances. Adoptive parents should also decide if they want an arrangement with contact between the birth parents and child after they’ve been placed with the adoptive parents.

 

With adoption, the birth mother gets the final say as to where the child ends up. For more of a shared, reciprocal matching process, surrogacy might be what you’re looking for. Couples get to look through potential surrogates, and then the surrogates they choose have the opportunity to express mutual interest.

 

Call Cofsy & Zeidman for a New Jersey adoption attorney who can help you decide which of these arrangements is best for you. Contact our offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania at (856) 429-5005.

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