Becoming a Parent Through Surrogacy as an Unmarried Gay Individual

Same-sex, unmarried couples can use a surrogate in Florida to build their family. However, the process is different from that of legally married couples. Once a same-sex couple, otherwise known as the intended parents, selects their surrogate, they enter into what’s called a pre-planned adoption agreement. This is governed by Florida’s adoption statute. The pre-planned adoption agreement sets out the rights and obligations of the parties. It governs the reasonable payments allowed to be made to the surrogate, it provides for the surrogate’s relinquishment of any parental rights to the child and provides for the intended parents to assume parental rights of the child, regardless of any type of impairments.

The intended parents will be represented by an attorney. They will hire and pay for a separate attorney to represent the surrogate. Once the child is born, I will file a petition with the court that will allow me to terminate any parental rights of the child from the surrogate, and to name the intended parents as the sole legal parents of the child. This all is involved under Florida’s adoption statute and incorporates the process called a second parent adoption. Once I have this court order, it will allow me to amend the birth certificate, removing the surrogate as the mother, and placing only the intended parents as the legal parents of the child.