Why the Gestational Carrier and the Intended Parents Pick Their Own Lawyers
One of the things our team at Texas Surrogacy emphasizes to prospective surrogates and intended parents is that you get to pick your own lawyer when working with us. You are not required to work with an attorney we assign to you. Why is this so important, you might wonder?
The legal process is designed to result in a written contract that will govern the rest of your surrogacy journey. This is true for both the intended parents and for the surrogate. In order to get a contract that works for you, you need to feel comfortable with your attorney. The only way to assure that is to let you choose your own attorney.
Yes, we might have recommendations for you. Or we might strongly urge you not to work with an attorney who has no experience in fertility law (because it’s a highly specialized field and we cannot expect a generalized family law attorney to understand the nuances). But the ultimate choice is yours. This gives you the opportunity to meet your lawyer (via phone or videoconference, typically) and decide if the lawyer is a good fit for you. And YOU making the choice is necessary so you can go into the legal contract process feeling comfortable that your lawyer is there to protect YOU. Well, you and your spouse or partner, if you have one.
It’s like there’s no one surrogacy agency out there that is a good fit for every surrogate or for every intended parent. One set of intended parents may be looking for an agency with a businesslike approach, while other intended parents may prefer an agency that offers a lot of emotional support. Or one surrogate may prefer an agency that has a lot of organized support for the process, while another surrogate may prefer a more hands-off approach. So you take your time finding a surrogacy agency that works for you.
Same thing with lawyers. Some lawyers are chatty and some like to keep conversations right on point. Some lawyers like to talk on the phone and some prefer to communicate by email. Some lawyers offer evening and weekend hours and some lawyers ask that you work around their typical business hours schedule. As with any profession, different strokes for different folks.
Bottom line is that you need to feel comfortable with your lawyer. This allows you to have the type of important conversations you need to have with your attorney. Like about money, sex, and condoms. You are going to be discussing some intimate and personal things with your attorney. This works best when you are at ease with the attorney. And then your attorney can best advocate for your needs and interests during the contract process. When you select your own attorney, you can approach the legal process with the comfort and confidence of knowing that your attorney is looking out for you.