What does a surrogacy lawyer do?

At the highest level, surrogacy lawyers do 2 main things: (1) help with the surrogacy agreement (drafting it and/or providing legal advice) and (2) ensuring the intended parents' names are shown on the birth certificate.

In doing so, this can involve legal work such as going to court to obtain a court order authorizing the government to show the intended parents as the legal parents of the child.

Surrogacy lawyers are usually involved in additional smaller tasks such as communicating with the hospital in advance of the birth to help ensure that things go smoothly, and helping to arrange passports for international parents who intend to leave the country shortly after their child is born. Below is an overview of the legal process as it generally plays out in Ontario, Canada.