The Wald Law Group | Parenting Services

The Wald Law Group works with surrogacy clients to assure that they are legally protected as parents as fully and as quickly as possible. Our firm does not find surrogates for clients. However, once intended parents have matched with a surrogate, we focus on providing the best long term legal protection to the intended parents, the surrogate, and the child, regardless of the state in which the baby is born. Our services include drafting and reviewing surrogacy contracts on behalf of either the intended parents or the surrogate; and handling the legal action necessary to assure that the intended parents end up with full parental rights and that the surrogate is relieved of her parental rights and responsibilities. For more detailed information on the issues facing gay men using surrogacy to become parents, see Ms. Wald's article: California Surrogacy: A Gay Primer.

Egg Sharing Agreements:
We provide agreements for lesbian clients engaged in 'egg sharing' - i.e. using the eggs of one partner, fertilized with donor sperm, to produce embryos which are implanted in the womb of the other partner - in order to provide them with the best and strongest legal protections possible. The Wald Law Group advocates for these clients with doctors and the courts, making sure that both mothers' legal/parental rights are protected. Ms. Wald was a pioneer in defining the legal parameters for lesbian couples engaging in egg sharing and, in 1999, she was named a "Lawyer of the Year" by California Lawyer for her groundbreaking work in this area.

"My partner and I were expecting our twins when we first needed Deborah's legal assistance. Our children were conceived using my partner's eggs, and I was carrying the pregnancy. With Deborah's legal expertise, we are now both listed as equal parents on our children's birth certificates. Deborah made this complex, often discriminatory, process smooth and relatively easy. Her patience and skill were incredibly helpful in ensuring that our children have a legal tie to both of their parents, and decreased our stress effectively along the way. Thank you Deborah!"
- Dana & Alexis, Oakland

Co-Parenting Agreements:
We prepare co-parenting agreements for people who wish to parent together outside the context of legal marriage. These include all unmarried parents including lesbian and gay couples; single men and women seeking to co-parent together; and couples looking to co-parent with another individual or couple. The Wald Law Group has two primary goals in drafting a co-parenting agreement: (1) to make sure that the agreement accurately reflects the vision of family articulated by those entering into the agreement; and (2) to make sure that the agreement provides the most up-to-date and strongest legal protections possible for our clients.

"Upon the recommendation of a friend, I contacted Deborah Wald, Esq. for a consultation on drawing up a contract for co-parenting that would address our needs...Ms. Wald was very helpful. She identified themes to include and areas to address in our contract that we had not thought about. She informed us about CA state legislation related to assisted reproduction and co-parenting, legal rights and responsibilities, and other issues specific to LGBT co-parenting couples. Of equal value as her legal expertise was her professional style, which was gentle, thoughtful and supportive. She helped us frame our thoughts and craft our format and language so that our contract would provide the best legal protections available for our child as well as for ourselves..."
- Bill, San Francisco

Assisted Reproduction Technology Litigation:
People using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to conceive children can find themselves in uncharted legal terrain. The Wald Law Group has a longstanding commitment to the representation of non-traditional families and broad experience handling cutting-edge cases at both the trial and appellate court levels, and we are available to assist clients should litigation be needed. Paul Thorndal's appellate case, Alexandria S. v. Pacific Fertility Medical Center (1997) 55 Cal.App.4th 110, is one of the few published cases in California addressing the liability of fertility clinics for negligence and breach of contract in the area of assisted reproduction. If you feel that you have not received appropriate services from your ART agency or provider, or if you are encountering difficult ies with the other parties to your donor or surrogacy agreement, we would be glad to arrange a legal consultation to determine how best to assist you in resolving - or, if necessary, litigating - your conflict.