Building and Protecting Family Dreams

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Gestational Surrogacy

Gestational surrogacy is the process by which an intended parent (or intended parents) engages a gestational surrogate (also called gestational carrier) to assist them in carrying a baby, whether the baby is in fact genetically related to the intended parent(s) or not. This typically entails an initial surrogacy agreement, as well as a subsequent parentage action. Both Florida and DC allow for gestational surrogacy. 

Genetic Surrogacy

Genetic surrogacy (also known as Traditional Surrogacy) is simply when the surrogate is also the genetic mother to the child. This is allowed under Florida Statute called pre-planned adoption agreement. At the time the pre-planned adoption agreement is executed, the volunteer mother/surrogate signs a consent to adoption which she can rescind up to 48 hours after the birth of the child. These are complex situations requiring each party to consider the risks, responsibilities, and future relationships. 

Egg/Embryo/Sperm Donation

An egg donation can be a known or anonymous relationship. The parties often use an egg donation agency for matching or they have connected directly on their own. 

An embryo donation can be a known or anonymous relationship. The parties could be using an embryo donation agency for matching or have connected directly on their own. Some agencies and/or states use the language embryo adoption and go through the formal requirements of an adoption. It is important for both donors and recipients to consider the long-term realities of their decisions for their child, their siblings - both bio and non-bio, and for both families AND to be transparent in their goals and desires regarding the match and for the child regarding privacy and communication.

Most often, our role in drafting or reviewing sperm donor agreements is in known sperm donations. Of course, the best time to do these agreements is prior to conception to ensure that all parties are aware of their rights and responsibilities, as well as their intention regarding openness and future contact. However, we sometimes get the call after the baby is already in utero or born. We can still assist you at this time, but there may be additional steps to take and clearly no guarantee about the legal outcome if there is confusion or no clear agreement prior to the actual donation. 

Embryo Creation & Disposition Agreements

These types of agreements are unfortunately not too often done in advance of creating embryos, unless the parties are unmarried or they are advised to do so by their fertility clinic or marital lawyers. These embryo agreements offer parties an opportunity to truly think through the legal issues regarding the creation of the embryos and the disposition should something happen to the couple or either of the parties. 

The Next Step

If you're not sure where to start, we offer family formation consultations to help you understand your options.

Ready to get started?

Stepparent Adoption

Stepparent adoption is the process by which the spouse to a current parent is added as a co-equal parent to the child. This is often recommended for LGBTQ+ families to ensure that they have a clear directive and a court order confirming their co-equal parentage, though for many this feels like an additional tax on the LGBTQ+ community. And as much as that may be true, I still recommend it to my clients until equal rights under the law is fully available.

 
Second Parent Adoption

Second parent adoption is the process by which a co-equal legal parent is added for a child. It is not based upon the marital relationship between the parents, but rather their commitment to the child. This is not available in every jurisdiction, although we believe it should be. 

Child Welfare & Foster Care Adoption

For many, navigating the child welfare (foster care) system is challenging and frustrating. There are many ups and downs that families go through and decisions to make regarding what is the best match for you and a child, interpreting disclosure, and negotiating subsidy to meet your child's needs.  

Search and Reunion Services/Opening Adoptions & Donor Conceived Families

Has someone reached out to you? Is your child or are you looking to open your adoption or searching for biological connections? Are you an adult born through egg, sperm or embryo donors and want to help reaching out?  Are you a parent and not sure how to handle possible open adoption or donor conceived process?  Are you ready to do a DNA/ancestry search and want to talk with a professional first? Do you just want to talk about your options, thoughts, or feelings but not ready to reach out yet? Has someone reached out to you and you don't know what you need to do next? Although I am not a therapist, many of my clients still want a secure and confidential space to talk about their situation.

Family Challenge Consultations

When family challenges arise, it is often helpful to have an unbiased facilitator helping you navigate the emotionally-charged waters in a confidential space.

Maybe you are a special needs family. Or perhaps your child is having issues at school. Maybe your child is struggling with gender identity or family structures. Perhaps your family is going through a separation or divorce. Or maybe the challenge that your family is facing is nothing like the ones listed, but is creating a hardship for your family nonetheless.

Whatever challenge has arisen for your family, we are here to help. 

The Next Step

If you're not sure where to start, we offer family formation consultations to help you understand your options.

Ready to get started? 

Estate Planning
Estate planning, in essence, is the practice of making and legalizing decisions about how to manage and plan for your assets, your health, and your family. Sometimes we avoid these topics because we are scared to address them or we don’t want to think about incapacity, emergencies, or death. However, the goal of our work is to help reduce anxiety that you may not even realize you have and provide more peace of mind when you know that you, your children, your pets, your business, and your assets are safeguarded.

Estate plans are beneficial in a variety of ways.

• Identifies who makes medical decisions for you and your children or dependents
• Creates clarity about who you want to be the guardian of your children if something should happen to you
• Provides a pathway to protect your pet
• Creates a plan for the splitting of your assets upon your death
• Protects your loved ones
• Avoids disability risks
• Helps you identify plans for medical emergencies
  

We pride ourselves on helping our clients see the big picture, educating them on their options, identifying their intentions and goals and putting those into legal documents and other communications to help their families understand their decisions. We offer a variety of estate planning services, including:

• Family Protection Consultations
• Wills & Trusts
• Powers of attorney
• Healthcare directives
• Guardianships
• Special Needs Planning
• Adoption and Donor conceived family protection
• LGBTQ+ family protections  

Special Needs Planning

Parents of special needs children often struggle to survive, let alone thrive. Special needs families need help and the systems that provide the help are vastly complex.

You've likely already discovered and defined what your child's special needs are. We can help you then access providers and supports through our library and network.

We then work with you to create plans focused on your special needs family's specific needs. This includes day-to-day planning, advanced planning, emergency planning, and estate planning. 

We also have the resources to help you advocate for your child's needs when such situations arise.

The Next Step

If you're not sure where to start, we offer estate planning and special needs planning consultations to help you understand your options.

Ready to get started?