Establishment of Parentage
The firm works with the state and county vital statistics office to obtain the birth certificate, ensure information on birth certificates are correct, prepare the hospital, birth registry with the state, help direct you in obtaining the passport for the child, obtain apostilled documents for your home country and any other legal steps necessary to establish your parental rights to the child.
For any questions regarding the specifics of the Gestational Surrogacy or Establishment of Parentage, please contact the office for a free consultation.
Florida Statute Law 742.16
Overview
The second part of a Surrogacy process (the first being the contractual stage, see Surrogacy) is the legal establishment of the Intended Parents’ parentage. In accordance with the statute, the Intended Parents’ parentage over the child is affirmed by a court of law in a post birth hearing. Neither the Intended Parents nor the Surrogate need be present at this hearing. A pre-birth order can also be obtained, however, this order alone will not affirm the parent’s parentage for purposes of a birth certificate.
For this part of the process, this firm will meet with the Clients to go over the information needed from them and the next legal steps, attend the hearing and obtain the signed order, work with the state and county vital statistics office to obtain the birth certificate in an expedited fashion, ensure birth certificates are correct, prepare the hospital for the surrogacy birth, explain the birth registry with the state, help direct the Intended Parents in obtaining the passport for the child, and obtain apostilled documents for Intended Parents’ home country. For single parents having their child through surrogacy, visit the Pre-Planned Adoption page for details on establishing parentage.
For any questions regarding the specifics of the Gestational Surrogacy work, please contact the office for a free consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the establishment of parentage take?
Typically, all of the child’s documentation will be obtained within a month after the birth. The court hearing is usually held within a week of the birth, then the birth certificate takes 7-10 business days (if expedited), and the passport will take 1-3 business days (if expedited). Please note that federal holidays and high volume at the government offices can make these times vary, but for the most part this is the standard time frame.
When do I obtain the child’s social security number/card?
It is important that the social security number is NOT applied for in the hospital after the birth. Once you have received the birth certificate with your names on it as the parents, then you can apply for the social security number. Waiting until the post birth court order has amended the birth certificate information with the government will ensure that the social security number is not linked to the surrogate. For more information on social security application visit this link: https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/. For international clients, you can apply while here in the United States or wait until you get home and apply at the US embassy.
What is the process to obtain the passport?
You can obtain the passport a number of ways once you have the child’s birth certificate. (1) You can go to a local passport office and wait the normal time frame of 4-6 weeks to receive the passport. (2) You can also go to a local passport office and pay a third party service to expedite the time frame for approximately $300 additional per passport to get the passport in 1-3 days. (3) The final option is to schedule an appointment or walk in to the Miami Passport Agency in Miami, Florida within two weeks of your return flight home or trip, where you will get the passport within 1-3 business days. For the passport requirements visit this link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements.html.
Must we appear in court?
For an affirmation of hearing after for a surrogacy neither the parents nor the surrogate need to be present at the court hearing. The attorney is the only person required to go to obtain the court order.
Will the surrogate’s information be on birth certificate?
After the birth, a social worker in the hospital will come in to take the birth information down for the birth certificate (or otherwise called the “certificate of live birth”). For this initial gathering of information, the surrogate’s name will go on the paperwork and will be sent to the office of Vital Statistics, however, the social worker will make a note that it is a surrogacy. This is mainly done for census purposes to keep a record of who has given birth. Once the court order is obtained, that order will be sent to Vital Statistics to change the information on that initial certificate of live birth and the Office of Vital Statistics will then send an original birth certificate with the Intended Parents names on it as the legal and natural parents of the child.