Utah Surrogacy Laws: Eligibility, Court Validation & Parentage

Utah surrogacy laws permit only gestational surrogacy, and only when a married couple (with at least one of them contributing genetic material) enters a written agreement with a qualified surrogate who does not use her own eggs, and a Utah district court validates that agreement before any embryo transfer. When those pieces are in place, the court issues a pre-birth order naming the intended parents as the legal parents, and the birth certificate lists them directly. No adoption is needed.

Who Can Be an Intended Parent

Both intended parents must be married to each other, and both must sign the gestational agreement as parties.¹ Single individuals and unmarried couples cannot obtain a court-validated gestational agreement in Utah under the current statute.

At least one intended parent must be a genetic donor. The statute says the agreement does not apply if neither intended parent contributed genetic material to the embryo.¹ Donor eggs or donor sperm can fill the other side, but at least one genetic contribution has to come from an intended parent. Everyone signing the agreement must be at least 21.

Residency matters for filing. At least one intended parent or the surrogate must have lived in Utah for 90 consecutive days immediately before the validation petition is filed.² Out-of-state and international intended parents typically satisfy this through a Utah-based surrogate.

Who Can Be a Gestational Surrogate

The surrogate must be at least 21 and must have already been pregnant and delivered a child at least once.³ The prior-pregnancy requirement is built into the statute so the surrogate agrees to carry with firsthand experience of what pregnancy involves.

Her own eggs cannot be used in the procedure, so Utah recognizes only arrangements where the surrogate has no genetic tie to the child.¹ If she is married, her spouse’s genetic material likewise cannot be used, and the spouse has to join the validation petition.²

One requirement often overlooked: the surrogate cannot be receiving Medicaid or other state assistance when the agreement is signed.¹ The intended parents carry the medical costs of the pregnancy, and the statute keeps those costs off public programs.

Traditional Surrogacy Is Not Recognized

If you were planning to use the surrogate’s own egg, Utah has no legal path for you. The statute prohibits using the gestational mother’s eggs in the assisted reproduction procedure, and no court will validate a traditional surrogacy agreement.¹ Anyone who proceeds anyway has no pre-birth parentage order and would likely end up in a contested custody, paternity, or adoption proceeding after the birth.

What the Written Agreement Must Cover

The gestational agreement is signed by both intended parents, the surrogate, and her spouse if she is married. It has to be executed before any embryo transfer.

Financial provisions do the heaviest work. The intended parents must make adequate provision for all reasonable health care expenses tied to the pregnancy and birth, including expenses still owed if the agreement is terminated before delivery.³ Any compensation to the surrogate must be disclosed and found reasonable by the court. Before parentage is finalized, the intended parents, the surrogate, and her spouse (if applicable) must also file an affidavit itemizing every fee, expense, gift, and service connected with the surrogacy, and disclosing whether any public funds paid for medical or hospital costs.⁴

Well-drafted agreements also address the number of embryos to be transferred, the source of the genetic material, protocols for medical complications, and the surrogate’s right to make her own health care decisions during the pregnancy. Independent counsel for the surrogate is standard.

Health Insurance

The surrogate’s existing health plan should be reviewed before signing. Many commercial policies contain surrogacy exclusion clauses that deny coverage for pregnancy costs when the insured is carrying for someone else. If the plan excludes surrogacy, intended parents typically buy a supplemental policy or fund a self-pay arrangement to cover pregnancy and delivery.

The newborn is a separate coverage question. The child usually cannot be added to the surrogate’s plan because the surrogate is not the legal parent, so the intended parents need their own coverage ready from day one. Birth is a qualifying life event under federal rules, giving at least 30 days on an employer plan or 60 days on a marketplace plan to enroll the child, with coverage retroactive to the date of birth.

Court Validation Before Any Embryo Transfer

The agreement is enforceable only if a Utah district court validates it, and validation has to happen before the surrogate becomes pregnant through assisted reproduction.¹ Skip that step, do the transfer first, and the framework that would have made the intended parents the legal parents may not apply.

The intended parents and the surrogate file a joint petition, attaching the signed agreement.² At the hearing, the court works through a statutory checklist before issuing the validation order:

Home study on the intended parents, under the same standards used for adoptive parents, unless the court waives it.³
Counseling with a licensed mental health professional for all parties before the hearing.
A finding that every party entered the agreement voluntarily and understands its terms.
Confirmation that the surrogate has had at least one prior pregnancy and delivery, that all parties are at least 21, and that the surrogate’s eggs are not being used.
Adequate provision for reasonable health care expenses, and reasonable compensation to the surrogate.

If the judge is satisfied, the court issues an order validating the agreement and declaring that the intended parents will be the legal parents of any child born under it.³ Only after that order can the embryo transfer go forward.

Terminating the Agreement

Any party can walk away, but only before the surrogate becomes pregnant through assisted reproduction. The surrogate, her spouse, or either intended parent may terminate by giving written notice to the others.⁵ The court can also terminate on its own for good cause.

Whoever terminates has to file a notice of termination with the court, which then vacates the validation order. Failing to notify the court exposes the terminating party to sanctions. The surrogate and her spouse are not liable to the intended parents for choosing to terminate.⁵ Once the surrogate is pregnant, the statute does not offer the same unilateral termination right, and the validated agreement stays in effect.

After the Birth

The intended parents must file a Notice of Birth with the court within seven days of delivery.⁶ The court then issues a final order confirming the intended parents as the child’s sole legal parents.

That order directs the Utah Department of Health to issue a birth certificate listing the intended parents rather than the surrogate.⁶ Because parentage was already established before birth, no adoption is required. The intended parents have legal authority over the child’s care and medical decisions from the moment of birth.

What It Costs

The statutes do not set prices, but the pieces add up. Agency fees for matching and case management generally fall between $20,000 and $50,000. Legal fees for drafting, reviewing, and negotiating the agreement on both sides commonly run from $3,000 to $15,000. Surrogate compensation, medical reimbursement, and potential bonuses stack on top of that, along with IVF costs, insurance premiums or supplemental coverage, court filing fees, and the home study. Total costs for a gestational surrogacy in Utah can easily reach $100,000 or more. Building a written budget with the attorney and agency before signing prevents surprises mid-process.

Where the Statutes Live Now

Utah reorganized parts of its code effective September 1, 2025. The Uniform Parentage Act provisions moved from Title 78B, Chapter 15 to Title 81. The gestational agreement sections that appeared as 78B-15-801 through 78B-15-807 now sit under Title 81, Chapter 5. The substantive requirements are the same, but any petition filed after that date uses the new title and section numbers, and older citations you find online may point to the prior location.

1
Utah Legislature. Utah Code 78B-15-801 – Gestational Agreement Authorized
2
Utah Legislature. Utah Code 78B-15-802 – Requirements of Petition
3
Utah Legislature. Utah Code 78B-15-803 – Hearing to Validate Gestational Agreement
4
Utah Legislature. Utah Code 78-45g – Uniform Parentage Act
5
Utah Legislature. Utah Code 78B-15-806 – Gestational Agreement Termination
6
Utah Legislature. Utah Code 78B-15-807 – Intended Parents