What are the features and possible consequences of a surrogacy agreement? Legal regulation of surrogacy - main aspects How to register the birth of a child from a surrogate mother.

It happens that a woman, due to health problems or other reasons, cannot bear a child. Then she has the legal right to turn to surrogacy: to find a woman who will agree to bear and give birth to her son or daughter. When the happy moment comes and the genetic parents are in seventh heaven, the question arises: what documents need to be prepared to register the child?

Surrogacy

Humanity was faced with infertility - the inability to have children, and thereby continue one's family - back in ancient times. The idea of fighting childlessness arose a long time ago. Our ancestors used surrogacy to solve this problem. The first time a surrogate mother was written about was in the Old Testament: a maid gave birth to a child for Abraham, whose wife could not have children.

IN last years The problem of infertility in the world has become very urgent. A huge number of families are increasingly coming to specialized clinics to find a decent surrogate mother. In our country, surrogacy is legal, so all the paperwork must be completed properly.

How to register the birth of a child from a surrogate mother

First of all, you need to contact the registry office so that the birth of the child is registered on state level. Official registration of a newborn will first require:

Certificate about the birth of a baby.
Document, confirming that the surrogate mother agrees that the genetic mom and dad will be recorded as the child’s real parents.

Important! If the genetic parents have a different citizenship, then the child’s registration is carried out where his surrogate mother lives.

You can report the birth of a new person to the registry office at in writing or in words. Documents for child registration can also be sent by e-mail. For this purpose, municipal and state websites have been created today. services.

If you submit an application online, then in the future you will still need to provide the original documents to the registry office. When you should appear there, the agency employees will write by email. An application to register the birth of a child from a surrogate mother is signed by both or one biological parent.

Surrogacy: documents for registering a child

The Law gives a month for a child born to a surrogate mother to be registered. Registration of the birth of a child is done in the maternity hospital (a certificate is issued) or at the place of residence of one of the biological parents.

Documents for registering a child from a surrogate mother

It is possible to document everything according to the law only on the basis of the following documents:

Statements genetic father and mother.
Statements surrogate mother, in which she agrees to register the spouses as the parents of the baby. The surrogate mother's signature must be notarized.
Inquiries about the genetic relationship of the child with the spouses (or one of them).
Medical birth certificate, issued in the maternity hospital.
Marriage certificates gene. parents.
Passport documents, confirming the identity of the gene. parents.

The happiness of motherhood is, unfortunately, not available to all women who want to have babies. Therefore, taking care of the rights and interests of those who dream of a child, the state allows surrogacy for couples and single women who, for medical reasons, are unable to naturally conceive and bear a baby (Part 9, Article 55 of the Federal Law No. 323 of November 21, 2011, p. 77 of the Procedure approved by Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia No. 107n dated August 30, 2012).

Table of contents:

Surrogacy in Russia

Officially, surrogacy refers to the carrying and subsequent birth of a child, including a premature one, according to special agreement, concluded between the woman who accepted the transferred fetus of the donor embryo (hereinafter referred to as the “surrogate mother”) and the biological parents of the unborn baby (the people whose germ cells were used for fertilization).

A similar agreement can be concluded with a single woman who, for medical reasons, is not able to bear/give birth to a child (see Part 9, Article 55 of Federal Law No. 323).

The law imposes a number of requirements on a potential surrogate mother (according to Part 10, Article 55 of Federal Law No. 323):

She should not be younger than 20 years old and older than 35.
She must have at least one child, and this child must be healthy.
The woman herself must be healthy (according to the relevant medical report).
At the same time, a surrogate mother cannot also be an egg donor.
Having been informed in detail, the potential surrogate mother gives voluntary consent to special medical intervention.

If a woman is officially married, the registration of surrogacy will certainly require (and necessarily written) consent of her spouse.

Important: There is a certain legal order according to which the surrogate mother should not have diseases or health conditions included in the specialScrolldiseases that are a contraindication for embryo transfer.

In situations when it comes to the surrogate mother’s assistance to HIV-infected parents, it should be remembered that this is allowed only subject to the woman’s voluntary consent and her full awareness of the risks, including after consultation with an infectious disease specialist at the Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and Infectious Diseases diseases.

Surrogacy contract

To ensure that the bearing and birth of a child is beneficial and problem-free for both parties, a special “Surrogacy Agreement” is concluded. This document is an independent agreement, different from other civil legal acts provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. If we talk about the “similarity” of content, then most of all this agreement is close to the document regulating the gratuitous provision of services (Article 779 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Subject of the agreement

The subject of the surrogacy contract is the service of bearing and giving birth to a baby. But in no case is the child himself, who appeared as a result and within the framework of this program!

When concluding this unusual agreement, the parties cannot provide for quite a few things. For example, it is impossible to know in advance how the pregnancy will proceed (even an absolutely healthy woman may experience disruptions in her body). And no one can guarantee that the baby will be born healthy, even if both parties fulfill their obligations under the contract perfectly. However, under any set of circumstances, if an embryo was implanted into the surrogate mother, and she did everything to carry and give birth to the baby, the contract should be considered fulfilled, since the “service” was provided.

Contract price

A surrogacy agreement can be concluded as follows: on a reimbursable basis, and free of charge. Most often, of course, the first case occurs, and then the woman receives some kind of reward, regardless of whether the child was born alive or dead, healthy or sick.

As part of the concluded agreement, the surrogate mother must in any case be reimbursed for all expenses associated with lost wages, physical suffering, etc. Only all this, of course, must be provided for by contractual terms.

Parties to the agreement

In such an agreement there are two main parties - the surrogate mother and the genetic parents of the unborn child. The participants in the signed agreement may also include:

medical institutions;
legal support companies;
and coordinators of surrogacy programs.

Other contractual terms

The “surrogate” agreement regulates several important issues at once. In particular:

Participation of biological parents in material support surrogate mother for the period of bearing the baby.
The possibility and procedure for compensation for a surrogate mother in cases of damage to health (as a result of pregnancy, childbirth).
Responsibilities of the parties in situations where surrogate pregnancy did not result in the birth of a healthy baby.
Maintaining the secrecy of the contract (if it is required by one of the parties or both at once).

In general, in the process of implementing surrogacy within the framework of an existing program, a lot of questions may arise, therefore, in the relevant agreement it is important to provide as many conditions as possible in case various situations. For example, you need to specify:

individual information about each of the contracting parties;
the most complete data from medical institutions performing artificial insemination, embryonic implantation, carrying out pregnancy management and delivering babies;
start/end dates of the contract;
the cost of the contract if it is paid;
all rights/obligations of the parties to the concluded agreement;
payment procedure;
the procedure for fulfilling the obligations of each party;
consequences in the event of a miscarriage, as well as the birth of a still or defective baby;
responsibility of the surrogate mother for a possible induced abortion;
liability for each party in case of dishonest fulfillment of contractual obligations assumed;
grounds for termination of the contract and the consequences of such termination;
circumstances of force majeure;
other conditions that are determined preliminary agreement parties to the contract.

How to register a child from a surrogate mother?

A child born to a surrogate mother must be registered with the biological parents established by law ok. According to current legislation, for state registration of the newborn, his parents must provide (see paragraph 5 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 143 of November 15, 1997):

relevant statement;
a document confirming the birth of the baby;
certificate of a medical institution that received the consent of the surrogate mother to record (register) the born child by his biological parents (applicants).

Important: The law allows only 1 calendar month from the moment the baby is born to complete the application of spouses (genetic parents) and provide other documents necessary for registering a newborn (Clause 6, Article 16, Federal Law No. 143).

In order to register a baby born by a surrogate mother without any problems, it is recommended to adhere to step-by-step algorithm actions:

Step 1. Collect documents for filing a birth application

Biological parents can make an application for the birth of a child orally, in writing or electronic form(on the single portal of State Services), according to paragraph 1 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 143.

The following should be attached to this application:

medical document confirming the birth of the child;
statement of the person (written or oral in the registry office) who was present at the birth of the baby, if not available medical certificate(in case of childbirth outside a clinic and without medical assistance);
consent of the surrogate mother to register the baby with his genetic parents (issued by the institution that delivered the birth);
civil passports of parents (biological);
marriage certificate of biological father and mother.

If the application is submitted on the State Services portal, the originals of the required documents will need to be provided on the date and time designated for the state registration of the baby (see paragraph 7 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 143).

Step 2. Submit collected documents at the registry office

IN local authorities The required documents and an application for registration of the child are submitted to the Civil Registry Office by both of his biological parents or one of them at the place of residence ( permanent registration one or both), according to paragraph 1 of Article 17 and paragraph 1 of Article 15 of Federal Law 143.

Step 3. Get

If there are no obstacles (documents were collected incorrectly, there are inaccuracies in the data, etc.), the baby’s birth certificate is issued to his parents on the day of application.

Along with this document, a special certificate is also issued, according to which, within six months from the date of birth of the child, you can issue all due state social benefits related to childbirth and care of a newborn (see Article 17.2 of the Federal Law No. 81 of May 19, 1995 and clause 28 of the Procedure approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia No. 1012n of December 23, 2009).

The surrogate mother refuses to give up the child: what to do?

After carrying a donor embryo and giving birth to a child, a surrogate mother can act in different ways. Agree to transfer the child to biological parents or refuse it. The current legislation in this matter leaves priority to it.

Consent of the surrogate mother to transfer the child born to her

If the consent of the surrogate mother is not obtained, the genetic parents will not be able to register their baby. That is, there will be no legal registration and subsequent exercise of their parental rights in relation to this child (see paragraph 5 of Article 16 of Federal Law 143 of November 15, 1997). The woman who carried and gave birth to a child for his biological parents must give such consent after the birth. The law does not specify exactly when she must do this, but it does say (in paragraph 6 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 143) that no later than a calendar month the baby must be registered in in the prescribed manner. But this cannot be done without the consent of the surrogate mother.

If a woman suddenly refuses to give consent to register the baby she has born as biological parents, it is almost impossible to force her to do this. Here, the terms of the previously concluded “surrogate” agreement, and even the court, are powerless.

Important: Include an unconditional transfer clause in the contract born baby in fact, it does not make sense, since the child cannot be the subject of the transaction, which means that such a condition under any set of circumstances will be considered void.

Genetic parents who have given consent to surrogacy do not have the right to subsequently challenge the maternity of the woman who carried and gave birth to “their” child, referring to the existing contract and its terms. And if the surrogate mother registers parental rights for the baby, she and her husband (if there is one) will be considered the legal parents of the baby.

Requirements for a surrogate mother in case of refusal to hand over a child

The only thing biological parents can claim in cases where surrogate mothers refuse to hand over their children to them is compensation for the costs incurred during pregnancy/childbirth plus penalties that were in the terms of the concluded contract.

These requirements are presented to the surrogate mother either before judicial procedure, or already in court. And the fact that a woman does not have the funds and/or property to pay her genetic parents is not a basis for transferring the born baby to them. The former surrogate mother will simply be awarded a certain amount to be paid, and then the plaintiffs will receive the money in installments, through bailiffs. And you need to keep in mind that state benefits related to childbirth and subsequent care of the newborn, the bailiffs will not be able to impose penalties.

Thus, potential biological parents who enter into a surrogacy agreement always remain at risk of incurring unnecessary expenses and experiencing moral suffering (which in most cases is much more severe) as a result possible actions on the part of the surrogate mother. And that is why legal and public disputes do not subside around this program, concerning not only the infringed interests of genetic parents, but also the rights of the child to live and be raised in his truly native family.

Returning to the fate of little Gosha, we note: his grandmother took a somewhat wrong path and, as a result, complicated and lengthened the procedure for registering his birth. We found a simple solution to the issue of his parents, although the law does not provide for such a rare case. Nevertheless, it is possible to reach a successful completion of this procedure, albeit indirectly.

Initially, it is necessary to establish in court a fact that has legal meaning- the fact of the birth of a child from a specific parent, the fact of paternity. In this process, it is necessary to involve specialists who performed the unique procedure of conceiving a child in order to establish the fact of the child’s origin from a specific parent. In this case, the fact that the father died two years before the son was born does not matter. This can be formatted as expert opinion or the conclusion of specialists with special knowledge in the field of medicine, which clearly describes all the actions, methods and technologies used for the birth of Gosha.

The participation of the guardianship and trusteeship authority in such a process is mandatory.

After receiving a court decision, the civil registry office will be required to carry out state registration of the child’s birth and enter information about the parents in in this case- about the child's father. A dash should be placed in the “mother” column, especially since donor eggs were used for fertilization.

The next step will be to register the grandmother's guardianship over her grandson with the guardianship and trusteeship authorities.

In this regard, I would like to quote Article 17 of the Law “On Acts civil status":

1. A father and mother who are married to each other are recorded by the parents in the child’s birth certificate upon the application of either of them.

Information about the child’s mother is entered into the child’s birth certificate on the basis of the documents specified in Article 14 of this Federal Law (a document in the established form - a certificate from a medical institution or doctor who delivered the child - L.A.), information about the child’s father - on the basis parents' marriage certificates.

2. If the marriage between the child’s parents is dissolved, declared invalid by the court, or if the spouse has died, but no more than three hundred days have passed from the date of dissolution of the marriage, recognition of it as invalid, or from the date of death of the spouse to the birthday of the child, information about the child’s mother is entered into the record the act of his birth in the manner established by paragraph 1 of this article, information about the child’s father - on the basis of the parents’ marriage certificate or other document confirming the fact of state registration of the marriage, as well as a document confirming the fact and time of termination of the marriage.
3. If the child’s parents are not married to each other, information about the mother is entered into the child’s birth certificate in the manner prescribed by paragraph 1 of this article.

In this case, information about the child’s father is entered:

· based on the record of the act of establishing paternity in the event that paternity is established and registered simultaneously with the state registration of the child’s birth;
· at the request of the child’s mother if paternity has not been established.

The surname of the child's father is written down according to the mother's surname, the first and patronymic of the child's father - according to her instructions. The information entered is not an obstacle to resolving the issue of establishing paternity. At the request of the mother, information about the child’s father may not be included in the child’s birth certificate.”

As we see, legislation lags behind modern technologies.

Neither the bill nor the existing legislation says a word about single men. In the Family Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Law dated November 15, 1997 No. 143-FZ “On Civil Status Acts” and in the order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated February 26, 2003 No. 67 “On the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in the treatment of female and male infertility” (hereinafter - order No. 67) we are talking only about spouses. On this basis, many conclude that single men cannot use the services of surrogate mothers and, in principle, are deprived of the right to have children and their own family.

Let us remember that any law performs regulatory, as well as restrictive and prohibitive functions, preventing certain acts that, in the opinion of the legislator, may cause harm to society. The law does not permit, it only prohibits. The law does not directly stipulate the use of ART in overcoming infertility (childlessness) in single men. But in law there is a concept of analogy. In the absence of civil law to regulate family relations rules governing similar relationships apply. This is explicitly stated in Article 5 Family Code RF.

If single women can have children, then single men can too. If it is possible for spouses to have children, then it is also possible for unmarried persons.

Refusal for men to realize their legal right paternity test would be a violation of several articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in particular Article 7 (ensuring state support both motherhood and paternity), part 2 of article 19 (equality of rights and freedoms regardless of gender, race, nationality), part 3 of article 19 (equality of men and women) and part 2 of article 55 (inadmissibility of laws , derogating human rights).

According to L.K. Aivara (Dr. legal sciences, professor, honorary lawyer of Russia), “the surrogacy program should not be limited married couples. Situations where a single parent can raise a child, provide for him financially, and give him an education occur all the time. Grandmothers, nannies, teachers, au pairs, tutors, etc. provide an opportunity for a single parent, who has the opportunity to support such workers, to “give birth” and raise a child independently.”

Now the question of whether a man can give birth to a child should be answered: yes, he can. The law provides equal rights and installs equal responsibilities parents towards their minor children. If the issue of motherhood is spelled out in the law more or less clearly, then the issue of paternity, when the father is the only parent, is not spelled out at all, and this state of affairs is unacceptable in the context of modern achievements of science and technology. The surrogacy program should not be limited to married couples. Situations where a single parent can raise a child, provide for him financially, and give him an education are becoming more and more common. More than 40% of children live in single-parent families.

There are known men who are ready to have a child from a surrogate mother and raise him independently. Based on the principles of Russian family law, they have every right to do so.

And one more important point. Military personnel, police officers, Ministry of emergency situations, young people whose work and service involve risking their lives - don’t they have the right to be fathers so that children born after their death will continue their line?

You need to receive a child's birth certificate within a month after the child is born. However, civil registry offices also register the birth of children aged one year or more. An adult can also apply to register his birth if he has not previously received a birth certificate. Please note: if neither of the parents is registered at their place of residence in Moscow and the child was born outside the city, it is impossible to register his birth in Moscow.

The following may apply to register the birth of a child:

parents (parent) of the child;
a representative of the parents (one parent), acting under a power of attorney;
an adult whose birth was not registered and who did not receive a birth certificate.

In the absence of parents and their representatives, representatives of medical organizations, guardianship authorities or internal affairs authorities can apply to register the birth of a child, depending on the specific situation.

2. What documents will be needed?

To obtain a child's birth certificate, you will need the following documents:

Identity documents of a citizen of the Russian Federation:
- citizen's passport Russian Federation;
- International passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation (for persons permanently residing abroad).
Identity documents foreign citizen(stateless persons):
- passport of a foreign citizen or other document established federal law or recognized in accordance with an international treaty of the Russian Federation as an identity document of a foreign citizen;
- refugee certificate;
- certificate of consideration of the application for recognition as a refugee on the territory of the Russian Federation on its merits;
- certificate of temporary asylum on the territory of the Russian Federation;.
- temporary residence permit in the Russian Federation (for a stateless person);
- residence permit in the Russian Federation (for a stateless person).
Documents issued by competent authorities foreign countries, must be legalized unless otherwise provided international treaties RF, and translated into Russian. The accuracy of the translation must be notarized.
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identification documents of the parents (or one parent if the child has only a mother or father);
an identification document of the parent's representative and a power of attorney (if it is not possible to apply in person);
one of
Documents that serve as the basis for state registration of birth:
- birth document issued medical organization, in which the birth took place;
- birth document issued by the medical organization whose doctor provided medical care during childbirth or to which the mother contacted after childbirth, or by a private practitioner (for childbirth outside a medical organization);
- a court decision to establish the fact of the birth of a child by this woman (in the absence of other grounds for state registration of the birth of a child);
- a court decision to establish the fact of birth of a child who has reached the age of one year or more (in the absence of a document in the established form on birth);
- a document on perinatal death issued by a medical organization or a private practitioner (for state registration of the birth of a stillborn child).
">documents
, which are the basis for state registration of birth;
A document issued by a medical organization and confirming the fact that the consent of the woman who gave birth to the child has been received by the parents of the child to record the spouses who have given consent to the implantation of the embryo into another woman for the purpose of bearing it., confirming the consent of the surrogate mother (when using surrogacy);
one of
Documents that serve as the basis for entering information about the father:
- parents' marriage certificate;
- certificate of paternity;
- a certificate of divorce of the parents or a court decision on divorce or invalidation of the marriage (if no more than 300 days have passed from this moment until the child’s birthday);
- death certificate of the spouse of the child’s mother (if no more than 300 days have passed from this moment until the child’s birthday);
- application from the child’s mother to enter information about the child’s father into the birth certificate writing(provided at the request of the mother, if she is not married and paternity has not been established).
">documents
, which are the basis for entering information about the father;

In some cases, additional

death certificate of the mother (if the child’s mother has died and the father submits the application);

an identity document of an adult child, if he himself submits an application to register his birth.

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3. Where to submit documents?

You can contact one of them only if you want to register the birth of a child:

born outside the Russian Federation;
born using surrogacy;
on the basis of a court decision establishing the fact of the birth of a child, which has entered into legal force.

In other cases, to register the birth of a child, contact any of When contacting the “My Documents” public service center to register the birth of a child, parents can also order a certificate for receiving benefits, SNILS, compulsory medical insurance policy, registration insert, citizenship mark, certificate of paternity (if it is necessary to establish paternity), certificate for maternal capital(at the birth of the second or subsequent children), certificate large family(if a third child was born in the family). When the documents are ready, parents will be invited to pick them up at the public services center.

">state service centers. Those for whom the civil registry office departments or the civil registry office department are the civil registry office departments at the place of residence of one of the parents or at the place of birth of the child can also contact them.

4. What difficulties may arise when registering the birth of a child?

If the child’s parents were divorced at the time of his birth, and less than 300 days have passed since the divorce, then legally the mother’s ex-husband is recognized as the child’s father. It is indicated by the child's father on the child's birth certificate.

If the child is not from the ex-husband, his real father may be, but for this the ex-husband will have to write a notarized statement that he is not the father of the child, and the father of the child - after that - apply together with the child's mother to the registry office with a joint statement.

If the ex-husband does not agree to renounce paternity or the child’s real father does not agree to establish paternity, the mother’s ex-husband will be entered as the father on the birth certificate, regardless of whether he really is and whether the mother wants it. In the future, you can challenge paternity in court, after which the registry office will make changes to the birth document.

Please note: a married man can establish paternity of a child born out of wedlock.

5. How to register a child for a single mother?

If the woman has not been married (or since her divorce from ex-husband more than 300 days have passed), and the father of the child does not recognize paternity, the child’s birth certificate is issued to the mother.

Surname When registering a child's birth, it is recorded using the surname of his parents. If the surnames of the parents are different, by agreement of the parents, the child is assigned the surname of the father, the surname of the mother, or a double surname formed by joining the surnames of the father and mother to each other in any order. It is not allowed to change the sequence of joining the surnames of the father and mother to each other when forming double surnames for full brothers and sisters. A child's double surname can consist of no more than two words, joined by a hyphen when written.

7. Where should the birth of a child born in transport be registered?

You can register the birth of a child at the civil registry office closest to the place of residence of the parents (one of the parents) or to the place of birth of the child.

If a woman gave birth to a child on a ship, on an airplane, on a train or in another vehicle during its passage, state registration of the birth is carried out by the civil registry office at the place of residence of the parents (one of the parents) or by any civil registry office located at route vehicle. The place of birth of the child indicates the place of state registration of the child’s birth.

The legal aspects of surrogacy are prescribed in the Family Code, Federal Law No. 143 “On Acts of Civil Status”, Federal Law No. 323 “On the Fundamentals of Protecting the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation” and Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 67. Several subtleties of this issue must be taken into account.

Surrogacy is the bearing and birth of a child under an agreement between a surrogate mother and potential parents. Moreover, the agreement also applies in the event of premature birth. A surrogate mother is a woman who carries a fetus after transferring a donor embryo. Potential parents are those whose reproductive cells were used for fertilization. Moreover, a parent can also be an unmarried citizen (Part 9, Article 55 of the Federal Law “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”).

What requirements does the law impose on surrogate mothers?

age from 20 to 35 years;
having at least one healthy child of your own;
- Availability medical report about a satisfactory state of health;
- availability of voluntary written consent to medical intervention.
If the woman who decides to become a surrogate mother is married, then the written consent of her spouse will also be required.

Where to look for a surrogate mother? What is the cost of her services?

There are two ways: search on your own, or you can resort to help legal companies and family centers specializing in surrogacy. Both methods have their pros and cons. The advantage of searching on your own is that you can negotiate with a surrogate mother without intermediaries for a relatively small fee. Prices for private owners range from $400 to one million rubles. At the same time, searching on your own runs the risk of becoming a victim of scammers. There are many examples on the Internet of surrogate mothers deceiving biological parents. There are even “black lists” of surrogate scammers.

The advantage of contacting a specialized company is the ability to avoid dealing with many formalities on your own, but you must understand that the services of specialized companies are usually very expensive. Many, for example, ask from 500 thousand to 1 million rubles for themselves and the same amount for the services of a surrogate mother. HOWEVER, no matter which method you choose, no one guarantees you in advance that the surrogate mother will give you the child after his birth. In this sense, the law objectively stands on the side of the surrogate mother, since a childless couple can be registered as the child’s parents only with the consent of the surrogate mother (Part 4 of Article 51 of the Family Code). To prevent this from happening, it is best to properly formalize all relationships in advance.

How to correctly draw up an agreement with a surrogate mother?

From a legal point of view, the agreement between biological parents and surrogate mother is ordinary civil contract concluded for the purpose of acquisition/transfer civil rights and responsibilities. Since the child himself cannot be the subject of the transaction, the condition obliging the surrogate mother to hand over the child to his parents is void. To prevent the surrogate mother from being tempted to keep the child, a provision can be written down that if the surrogate mother decides to keep the child, she not only loses the right to payment of the above compensation, but also undertakes to compensate the biological parents for all their expenses under this agreement.

To avoid possible problems The contract must specify the amount of compensation for medical service, place of residence of the surrogate mother during pregnancy, medical institution, the consequences of giving birth to a defective child and the obligation of the surrogate mother to comply with all doctor’s instructions.

Does a couple have to be officially married to use the services of a surrogate mother?

No, not necessarily. Part 3 of Art. speaks about this. 55 of the Federal Law “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”: “A man and a woman, both married and unmarried, have the right to use assisted reproductive technologies in the presence of mutual informed voluntary consent to medical intervention.”

Can a single woman or man use the services of a surrogate mother?

Yes maybe. The legal precedent in the case of Natalya Gorskaya is known to practice. The court, with reference to Article 45 of the Fundamentals of Russian Legislation on Health Protection, indicated that single people also have the right to use the services of surrogate mothers for procreation. It was decided that the civil registry office erroneously applied norm 51 of the Family Code, drawing from it the conclusion that it is impossible for a woman who is not in a registered marriage to participate in the surrogacy program. The court noted that such an interpretation of the legislation violates the rights guaranteed to citizens of the Russian Federation by the Constitution in Art. 38, 45, 55.

Can a man also turn to a surrogacy program?

Yes. In this case, a dash was placed in the “mother” column on the child’s birth certificate.

What is the procedure for registering a child born by a surrogate mother in the name of the future parents?

The procedure for registering a child born by a surrogate mother is determined by Art. 16 Federal Law No. 143 “On acts of civil status”.

When registering a child, biological parents must submit to the registry office:

a document confirming the fact of the child’s birth (birth certificate),
- a document issued by a medical organization and confirming the fact of obtaining the consent of the woman who gave birth to the child (surrogate mother) to register the specified spouses as the parents of the child (written consent of the surrogate mother).

In the presence of specified documents Civil registry offices register births under the surnames of genetic parents. If a single person used the services of a surrogate mother, then a dash is placed in the “mother” or “father” column.