Questions intended parents ask first

An agency and a clinic have their own contracts and their own interests. I am an independent Ukrainian lawyer and am not affiliated with, employed by or exclusively associated with any particular surrogacy agency or fertility clinic. My primary responsibility is to protect your legal interests and to give you independent legal advice throughout your surrogacy journey.

You are free to choose any fertility clinic or surrogacy agency, and I can provide legal assistance regardless of your choice. In some cases my services relating to the preparation of legal documents and the baby’s departure from Ukraine may be included in a comprehensive surrogacy package offered by an agency.

Ideally, you should contact a surrogacy lawyer before choosing a fertility clinic. Legal advice at the very beginning of your journey will help you understand whether you meet the legal requirements for a surrogacy programme in Ukraine, what documents you will need, and what legal steps must be taken throughout the process.

A lawyer can also help you assess the legal aspects of your particular situation, including your marital status, citizenship, genetic relationship with the child, and the recognition of parentage in your home country.

You do not need to have selected a clinic before seeking legal advice. Having a lawyer involved from the outset allows you to make informed decisions and to proceed with greater confidence.

Yes. I work with you in English and German.

Ukrainian legal documents are generally prepared in Ukrainian, so intended parents who do not speak the language should be provided with an accurate translation into a language they understand. Contracts are typically signed bilingually, and you do not need to arrange the translations yourself.

As your lawyer, I explain the legal meaning and implications of each important document, clarify your rights and obligations, and draw your attention to any provisions that may affect your interests. You should never be expected to sign a document simply because you have been told that it is a standard procedure.

You can choose whichever format is most convenient for you: email or messaging, a phone call, an online meeting on Zoom, or a meeting in person in Kyiv if you are here.

The initial 30-minute consultation is free of charge. It gives you an opportunity to explain your circumstances, ask your questions and receive preliminary legal guidance on surrogacy in Ukraine.

There is no need to have all the details or documents prepared in advance. We can start with your questions and discuss the next steps together.

Depending on the nature and scope of the legal services required, my fees are charged on either a fixed-fee or an hourly-rate basis.

In either case, the fee structure, the scope of services and the payment terms are discussed and agreed with you before I begin the work.

Yes. Under Ukrainian law, surrogacy is generally available to a married couple consisting of a man and a woman, provided there are qualifying medical indications. At least one intended parent must have a genetic connection with the child, while the surrogate mother must not be genetically related to the child.

At the present moment foreign citizenship is not, in itself, a restriction, and intended parents are not generally required to be permanent residents of Ukraine.

No. Under Ukrainian law, given that the surrogacy arrangement complies with the statutory requirements, the intended parents are recognised as the child’s legal parents under Article 123(2) of the Family Code of Ukraine. The surrogate mother cannot claim legal maternity of the child, and Article 139(2) expressly excludes the possibility of challenging the maternity of a child born through a surrogacy arrangement.

Her notarised consent to register the intended parents as the child’s parents is required for birth registration. Ukrainian law therefore provides strong legal protection for the intended parents’ parental status.

If at least one parent is a Ukrainian citizen, the baby is a citizen of Ukraine from birth.

If both intended parents are foreign citizens, the baby does not automatically acquire Ukrainian citizenship. You must apply for the child’s citizenship, passport or emergency travel document directly at your home country’s embassy in Kyiv. Every country operates under its own legal system, so each embassy has its own document requirements, verification steps and procedural rules.

Thanks to many years of practical experience with various jurisdictions, I know how to approach each mission and prepare the paperwork it typically looks for. How the exit process works for parents from individual countries is described in the country notes.

This is the most common question I receive, and I completely understand your wish to bring your baby home as quickly as possible. I treat every day your family waits in Ukraine as a priority.

I can give a realistic estimate of 2–4 weeks, depending on the specifics of the exit process for each particular country. I cannot, however, guarantee a definite, exact date of departure, because the processing times at local administrative bodies and foreign embassies are entirely beyond my control.

In some countries, the authorities generally accept the Ukrainian birth certificate as a valid legal document to establish parentage immediately. However, certain countries require additional, mandatory legal procedures after your return to ensure that your parentage is fully recognised under local law: for example, a Parental Order in the UK, a guardianship process in Ireland, and adoption in Germany and Switzerland.

My work therefore does not stop in Ukraine. I will guide you through the legal steps needed to make sure your family is legally protected at home.

The ongoing war and martial law in Ukraine do not invalidate the foundational legal rights of intended parents, but the conflict may indirectly affect the logistical speed, administrative processing and embassy operations involved in getting your baby home.

The core legal framework protecting your parental rights remains in place, and I have adapted my work to provide uninterrupted support as smoothly as possible.

A surrogacy programme in Ukraine generally involves three separate contractual arrangements, each regulating a different aspect of the process.

Agreement with the surrogacy agency. Before signing, it is important to understand exactly which services are included, the agency’s responsibilities, the payment schedule, the refund conditions and the circumstances in which the agreement may be terminated.

Agreement with the fertility clinic. Particular attention should be paid to the scope of the medical services, the clinic’s responsibilities, the payment terms and the allocation of responsibility in the event of medical complications or unsuccessful treatment.

Surrogacy agreement with the surrogate mother. This is one of the most important legal documents in the programme. It is also advisable for it to contain additional provisions regulating real-life emergencies, such as the birth of several children, stillbirth or miscarriage, a necessary abortion on medical indications, divorce of the genetic parents, or the death of one or both of them. Under Ukrainian law, the surrogacy agreement must be notarised.

You can read more in the contracts section of the guide to surrogacy in Ukraine.