Do both attorneys need to be in the state the gestational carrier resides? What if I have an attorney I am working with that is not licensed in that state?

Learn the answer to this week's user-submitted question about surrogacy in this week's installment of Ask a Surrogacy Expert! Have a question about surrogacy that you'd like answered? Submit it at https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/ask

Do intended parents and gestational carriers need attorneys licensed in the same state? In this video, we break down how legal representation works in surrogacy — including when out-of-state attorneys can be involved and why having a lawyer familiar with your GC’s state laws is essential for protecting everyone’s rights and securing valid parentage documents.

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This is Danielle Gage, case manager with Bright Futures Families Surrogacy, with today's Ask question. And the question is do both attorneys need to be in the state that the gestational carrier resides and what if I have an attorney I am working with that is not licensed in that state? That is a great question. Both the gestational carrier and the intended parents will need separate legal representation and it is ideal that both attorneys be in the state that the gestational carrier resides because they are going to understand the pre birth order process of that the state where the baby will be born, which will be the gestational carrier state. While it is best practice to have an attorney licensed in the state where the gestational carrier lives, sometimes intended parents have an assisted reproductive technology attorney that they've already been using and really like and they would like to use them as their attorney for representation in drafting the gestational carrier agreement. And and there are very few cases where it can be done where the gestational carrier attorney is able to collaborate with their current the intended parent's current attorney to make sure that the agreement and future court orders are done correctly and enforceable in the state where the baby will be born. Thank you for your question.