Safeguarding Your Parental Rights and Intentions
As intended parents pursuing ART, you face important legal questions that extend beyond the initial surrogacy or donation agreement. Proactive family planning documents provide crucial answers and legal continuity for your family’s future security.
Addressing Critical Legal Gaps
These essential documents clearly state your wishes regarding health, medical treatment, and guardianship authority for both you and your children in the event of death or incapacity. They answer questions such as:
- Who becomes your child’s legal guardian if you die or become incapacitated before obtaining a court-issued Parentage Order?
- Who can legally make medical decisions for your children if you are unable to?
Leveraging our extensive fertility law knowledge to provide strong, tailored protections that honor your intentions, our multi-jurisdictional family planning documents are designed to protect you during the family-building process, wherever your journey takes you.
Many surrogacy agreements require intended parents to establish these estate planning measures, such as executing a Will before the surrogate’s pregnancy, to strengthen your family’s legal future.
Essential Protective Documents
Guardianship Designation, Power of Attorney, and Surrogate Consent
Your Surrogacy Agreement outlines the arrangement with your surrogate. However, parental rights are typically affirmed through a court judgment that typically becomes effective at birth, leaving a crucial protective gap.
A Surrogate Guardianship Designation, often coupled with a Power of Attorney and Consent form executed by the surrogate, is essential for bridging this gap, and in some states, this is required by law. This document allows you to make medical and other key decisions for your child until the court-issued parentage orders take full effect, protecting your parental authority during the pregnancy.
Formal Guardianship Designation
Many parents contemplate who would care for their children if they died or became incapacitated but often forget to formalize this choice legally. This oversight can leave families vulnerable during an already difficult time.
Nomination of Guardian and Standby Guardian documents formally appoint your chosen alternate guardians for your children, both in utero and after birth, should you become unable to care for them. This proactive planning is indispensable for honoring your wishes and protecting your loved ones, and in some states, this is required by law.
Advance Healthcare Directives and Proxies
While contemplating scenarios where you might be unable to make healthcare decisions can feel overwhelming, addressing them gives invaluable peace of mind.
Advance Healthcare Directives let you designate a trusted person to advocate for your medical wishes if you become incapacitated, ensuring your voice remains central. In ART contexts, these become especially important as they can include choices about pregnancy complications, birth plans, or postpartum care, and in some states, this is required by law.
IFLG’s Family Planning Documents are applicable to all Intended Parents, whether single, married, or in a domestic partnership or civil union.