On May 30, 2018, New Jersey passed the New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act, bringing New Jersey into the modern age of surrogacy. As experienced New Jersey surrogacy attorneys, we can guide you through the surrogacy process, including drafting an enforceable contract which ensures that the intended parents will have full parental rights upon the birth of the child. For more information about our services, please call our law firm at 914-779-1050 or you can complete our online form.
5 Things to Know About New Jersey Surrogacy Laws
Only gestational carrier agreements are enforceable under the New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act. This means that the prospective surrogate must not have contributed the egg used to conceive the child she’s gestating. Instead, the embryo must have been conceived either from the intended parents’ sperm and egg or from gametes the intended parents obtained through gamete or embryo donation. When a gestational carrier is genetically related to the child, any surrogacy contract signed by the parties is unenforceable and the carrier will be recognized as the legal mother at the time of the child’s birth. The parental rights of the carrier may, however, be terminated by her voluntarily in an adoption proceeding.
Although a gestational carrier cannot receive compensation for her services, she may be paid for the reasonable expenses she incurs such as: medical, hospital, counseling or other similar expenses; attorney fees and other legal costs; and reasonable living expenses. The law allows a surrogate to receive payment of her living expenses throughout her pregnancy and for a recuperative period after delivery. Your surrogacy attorney will detail the permissible payments in the contract to ensure all expenses are accounted for and that you are in full compliance with New Jersey law.
As long as the intended parents follow the requirements of the New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act, the court will issue a pre-birth order of parentage, regardless of the intended parents’ genetic relationship to the child and regardless of their marital status. The pre-birth order, which ideally should be obtained by the end of the second trimester, will name the intended parents as the legal parents of the child. That order only becomes effective upon the birth of the child. After the birth, the court order will be filed with the appropriate vital records office which will issue the child’s birth certificate, naming the intended parents as the child’s parents.
The gestational carrier agreement must include the following provisions:
The terms set forth in the statute are the minimum requirements for the agreement to be enforceable. A well-drafted gestational carrier agreement should contain many other terms designed to protect the parties and ensure that the parties’ expectations and responsibilities are clear. In short, the surrogacy contract should serve as a roadmap for your New Jersey surrogacy journey.
Surrogacy is legal in New Jersey, but you’ll need an experienced surrogacy professional to guide you through the path ahead. Our surrogacy attorneys at Rumbold & Seidelman are ready to help. Please contact our law firm today for more information about surrogacy laws in New Jersey and how they may affect your surrogacy process.
