Weed, pot, reefer, marijuana – whatever you call it, it’s now fair game in California, and it’s a hot topic in many legal publications. Most articles speak positively about California’s new legislation, citing a positive impact on real estate and zoning, along with increased attendance at City Council meetings. As a surrogacy lawyer and adoption…
What is your first big event of this year? Mine was giving a speech at the San Diego Law Library, where I was asked to speak about the intersection of assisted reproductive technologies with family law and estate planning. I presented material based on the work I do in family-building through drafting surrogacy contacts, egg…
Surrogacy cases are cluster of people. Likewise, at my current favorite Disneyland attraction, the Tiki Room singalong is a whole flock of ridiculous 1960s animatronic birds of various cultural archetypes. The birds hosting the show are Jose, Michael, Fritz, and Pierre. Each speaks with an accent arguably from Mexico, Ireland, Germany, and France. Also present are…
This summer, multiple sources confirmed that Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West are considering working with (or have already hired) a gestational carrier (surrogate) to carry their third child. In her reality television show, Kardashian West explained that carrying a pregnancy to term and delivering again would be too risky and that surrogacy feels like…
Women who volunteer to carry a child for another family are generous and loving individuals. They knowingly agree to have an embryo transferred to their uterus in a brief out-patient procedure, and then gestate the growing fetus for the full term of a pregnancy. They are aware of the medical risks all deliveries present as…
Hospital records are lost! The judge is on vacation! Our dog ate the contract! Fear not, all good lawyers have contingency plans. Surrogacy makes people curious and sometimes wary. After all, what happens if things go wrong? In the 1980s, the Baby M case pitted absentee intended parents against a somewhat unstable biological surrogate. A…
