Legal aid by surrogacy in Ukraine

Surrogacy is not perfectly regulated in Ukraine, but it is still allowed. In Ukraine, there are children, who were born as a result of the use of assisted reproductive technologies through surrogacy method, and their parents want to take them home and bring up in their family.

More and more foreigners contact Ukrainian Human Reproduction and Embryology Centers.

All legal issues shall be clearly regulated already at the stage of entering into contracts with the Human Reproduction and Embryology Centers in Ukraine. In practice, it is not uncommon for the Human Reproduction and Embryology Centers in Ukraine to give to sign several contracts, ask for cash payment for services, and offer to sign such Assisted Reproductive Technology contracts that do not take into account the interests of the child’s genetic parents. Therefore, the assistance of a Ukrainian lawyer may be required while entering into a contract with the Human Reproduction and Embryology Center in Ukraine.

And almost all foreigners from the countries where the reproductive technologies and/or surrogacy are not allowed (Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Spain) will be interested in the proper execution of documents confirming the relationship with the child born by a surrogate mother in Ukraine.

In particular, difficulties may arise at the stage of registration of citizenship of a child born with the use of assisted reproductive technologies. In Ukraine, it is possible to obtain a birth certificate for a child born through surrogacy, and this is not a problem.

Problems may arise with the recognition of such a child’s birth certificate issued in Ukraine by the state of permanent residence of the parents. If such a state does not recognize reproductive technologies and/or surrogacy, the Ukrainian birth certificate will not be recognized by it. As a result, the country of parents’ residence will not issue a passport (or another document) and will not grant citizenship to such a child.

The way out of this situation, which works in practice and has been verified by Ukrainian lawyers many times, is to obtain a Ukrainian court decision about the parental relationship between the child and the parents. Then, the citizenship will be granted and the documents for the child in the country of residence of the parents will be issued based on such court decision. 

Successful court decisions made by Ukrainian courts in such cases of recognition of parental relationship between a child born as a result of artificial insemination and foreign parents can be found at:

Therefore, the lawyers of the Ukrainian Law Firm Zilver (Ukraine) are ready to help get a decision of the court of Ukraine on recognition of the fact of parental relationship between the genetic parents and the child born as a result of artificial insemination (IVF). To do this, our lawyers will draw up a Statement on recognition of the parental relationship between the parents and the child, will represent the interests of the parents in the Ukrainian court in relation to this case.

Also, you can consult the Zilver Law Firm (Ukraine) on any issue related to the legal registration of the use of assisted reproductive technologies through surrogacy method, including at the stage of entering into contracts with a medical institution and a surrogate mother, as it is a rather expensive procedure, and you should understand what range of services you shall be provided with, and what set of documents you should receive with the birth of the long-awaited child. 

Lawyers at the Zilver Law Firm speak the English and German languages.

Some examples of our closed cases on this subject (recording from September 2024):

1. Won appeal.
2. Legal fact (parents, IVF) admitted in court.

The head office of the Ukrainian Law Firm Zilver is located in Kyiv (https://g.page/zilver-law-firm-kyiv/review), its back-offices are located in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson.

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