Prioritizing Your Family Choices
TATARSHA D.HARRIS
Surrogacy and Genetic Donation
Modern medicine allows families to grow in many ways. Individuals and couples may choose in vitro fertilization or other cutting-edge methods to achieve pregnancy. Ms. Harris provides legal assistance to couples, birth mothers, sperm donors, egg donors, and a wide array of other clients in Maryland. We provide assistance in drafting surrogacy agreements, enforcing surrogacy contracts, becoming a gestational surrogate, and drafting pre-birth orders. Whether you are a gestational carrier or an intended parent, we have the skill, knowledge, and expertise to prioritize the family you build.
Genetic donation requires legal contracts to gain ownership of the donor’s eggs and any embryos that may result after retrieval and to terminate the donor’s ownership interests. Building a family requires decisions that are collaborative that consider the child’s best interest in the long term. Ms. Harris can assist with establishing the intentions of the parents and the donor by spelling out all legal obligations in a binding agreement.
Adoptions
Depending on the family situation, there are several different ways to proceed with an adoption. Ms. Harris understands the intricacies of the Maryland adoption process and potential legal issues. We assist with step-parent adoptions, kinship adoptions, and even adult adoptions. If you are embarking on the adoption process, you will want to be sure you have met every requirement to the letter of the law. Just as critical, you will need to have a clear and detailed understanding of your child’s, as well as your own, current and future rights.
There is something special about choosing who you call “Family.” Adoption is a rewarding and complex process and achieves multiple goals. It can provide a stable home for a child in need, it can enable a couple to start a family, and it can solidify existing relationships in blended families. Adoption is not a quick and simple process. It is often complicated and bureaucratic, requiring skilled legal representation from an experienced attorney who understands the intricacies of the system.
