Surrogacy in Michigan
We serve all of Michigan, working with surrogates and intended parents in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, and the towns in between. Michigan wrote surrogacy into a new state law, the Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy Parentage Act, in effect since April 2025, and most of the process happens where you live: you apply from home, match from home, and see your own OB for prenatal care, with a small number of trips to the fertility clinic in California. Here is what that actually looks like from Michigan.
- Serving
- All of MichiganDetroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, and beyond
- Helping families since
- 2015Coordinated from our California home office
- The law
- Written into statute in 2025Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy Parentage Act
- Parentage
- Recognized at birthPre-birth judgment of parentage under the Act
How surrogacy works when you live in Michigan
Michigan's law changed recently, so the first question is usually the legal one, and the second is the practical one: where does everything actually happen? Almost all of it happens at home. Here is the honest geography for each side.
Your OB, your hospital, your town
Applying, screening conversations, and records review all happen from home by phone and video. The two clinic milestones, the medical evaluation and the embryo transfer, happen at the fertility clinic in California. That is a real flight, roughly four and a half hours from Detroit, and we say so plainly: a small number of planned trips, booked together, never a relocation.
Once pregnancy is confirmed, everything comes home: your own OB, your own hospital, whether you deliver in Detroit or Traverse City, with your coordinator a call away the whole time. The full picture is on our become a surrogate page.
One team, coordinated to Michigan
Consultations happen by video, or in person at our California home office when you want a table between you. One coordinator runs the match, the screening, and the clinic, and the legal work is handled by independent attorneys who work under Michigan's new surrogacy statute.
We tell you where each step happens, and who is in the room, before you commit to anything. Start with surrogacy for intended parents.
What the law says in Michigan, plainly.
"Is surrogacy legal in Michigan now?" is the question we hear most, because the law here changed in 2025. A new state act took effect that April, and the 1988 law it replaced was repealed the same day. The full state-by-state picture lives on our law guide.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your own Michigan attorney confirms how it applies to your match.
Read our full surrogacy law guideFrom 1988 until 2025, Michigan's statute made every surrogate parentage contract void and unenforceable, and entering one for compensation carried criminal penalties. That ended in April 2025. The Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy Parentage Act repealed the old law, provides that a surrogacy agreement may include compensation, makes an agreement that meets its requirements enforceable, and sets out how intended parents are recognized as the child's parents.
Under the new act, the agreement is signed before any medical step beyond the screening evaluations, with independent counsel on each side, and a court can enter a judgment of parentage before the birth that takes effect the moment the child is born. If you read that surrogacy contracts are void or carry penalties in Michigan, that describes the 1988 law, which was repealed when the new act took effect.
A note on accuracy. We work in gestational surrogacy only, where the surrogate is not genetically related to the child. Because Michigan's law is new, the drafting and the counsel matter; always confirm your specifics with a Michigan-licensed reproductive attorney.
Requirements to become a surrogate in Michigan
These are the general guidelines most surrogacy programs follow, ours included. Read them as a starting point rather than a verdict; the deciding step is always a conversation and a medical review.
Are between about 21 and 38 years oldThe range can flex based on your health history.
Have given birth before and are raising a child of your ownAgencies and clinics look for prior pregnancy experience.
Had healthy, full-term pregnancies and deliveriesReviewed with your medical records during screening.
Are in good general healthConfirmed through a clinic medical evaluation.
Live in a stable home with reliable supportA partner, family, or friends you can lean on.
Do not smoke or use illicit drugsAsked about and reviewed as part of screening.
Are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent residentHelps keep the legal process clean and predictable.
Have a stable income, not relying on cash assistanceSo compensation is genuinely yours to keep.
Screening is the same everywhere we work. What carries the weight is the screening itself: your records, a clinic evaluation, and psychological screening, done in that order and explained as we go. Michigan's act sets its own baseline for a surrogate too: at least 21, a prior birth, a medical evaluation, a mental health consultation, and her own independent Michigan attorney, paid for by the intended parents. The screening we have always done fits that shape.
Surrogacy pay in Michigan carried criminal penalties under the 1988 law, and the 2025 act now addresses it directly: compensation is real, the act says an agreement may provide for it, it is written into your agreement before any medications begin, and it is shaped by your situation. Other agencies post headline numbers; we would rather have the conversation with you personally, so the number you hear is actually yours.
A c-section in your history? A tubal ligation, anxiety, or PCOS? Usually not the end of the story, and never a reason to be turned away unheard. Our surrogate eligibility guide takes those questions one condition at a time, the become a surrogate page covers the whole arc, or simply reach out.
Building your family from Detroit, Grand Rapids, or Ann Arbor
From Michigan, working with us means one coordinated team: the match, the screening, the clinic, and the independent legal work, all run by one person you know by name. Here is what that means in practice.
Remote first, in person when you want
Video consultations fit around work and family; when you would rather meet in person, the California home office is a nonstop flight from Detroit or Grand Rapids. The step-by-step arc is on our how surrogacy works page.
Counsel who work under the new statute
Your agreement is drafted and reviewed by independent attorneys, and the parentage work is planned under Michigan's 2025 act, which lets a court enter the judgment of parentage before the birth, with effect from the moment the child is born. Your attorneys carry that process so you do not have to.
Every kind of family, welcomed
Michigan's new act defines an intended parent as an individual, married or unmarried, speaks of one or more intended parents, and applies whether or not an intended parent is genetically related to the child. We welcome married, unmarried, LGBTQ+, and single intended parents alike. See how we support LGBTQ+ families.
Clear costs before you commit
We post no price lists and spring no surprises. Before you commit, we walk what shapes the total and put a personalized estimate in writing for your situation. Our surrogacy costs guide shows how that conversation works.
How does surrogacy work in Michigan?
Six steps, the same order every time, at the pace your match sets. Here is the road from first call to homecoming.
First conversation and application
By phone or video from anywhere in Michigan. Surrogates begin an application; intended parents talk goals, timing, and the kind of relationship they hope to have with their surrogate. Nothing medical yet.
Screening, remote first
Records review and psychological screening are arranged around your schedule, mostly from home. The in-person clinic evaluation is one of the planned California trips, with dates you will know well in advance.
Matching
We introduce a surrogate and intended parents who fit each other on values, expectations, communication style, and the practical things, like contact during pregnancy and views on tough medical decisions. You decide together whether to move forward.
Legal contracts with independent counsel
Each side retains its own attorney, and the gestational agreement is completed and signed before any medications begin, as Michigan's act requires. Under the act, an agreement that meets its requirements is enforceable, and this is when compensation and expenses go into writing.
Embryo transfer and pregnancy
The California clinic handles the medical cycle and the transfer. Then Michigan takes over: your own OB, your own hospital, your own bed, from the first heartbeat appointment to delivery, with your coordinator close to both sides throughout.
Parentage and birth
Your attorneys complete the parentage work under the new act, which makes each intended parent a parent of the child at birth when the agreement complies with it, so the family goes home together.
A California team, honest about the miles
Our home office is in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend a Detroit storefront. Michigan is a genuine flight away, so the program is built for it: phone and video for everything except the clinic steps, scheduled around your work and your kids, with trips planned well ahead and a coordinator who runs cross-state matches every day.
When you reach out, a real person calls you back and stays your person from then on, whether home is a Detroit suburb, a street in Grand Rapids, or a small town in the Upper Peninsula. The only steps that bring you to California are the clinic ones.
11989 Arrow Route, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
(626) 528-6868
Michigan surrogacy, answered
Is surrogacy legal in Michigan?
Since April 2025, Michigan's Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy Parentage Act has governed surrogacy agreements, including compensated ones, and the 1988 law that made those contracts void and penalized compensation was repealed.
Under the act, an agreement that meets its requirements is enforceable, and a court can enter a judgment of parentage before the birth that takes effect when the child is born. For the state-by-state picture, see our surrogacy law guide.
What changed with Michigan's new surrogacy law?
The 1988 law that made surrogate parentage contracts void and attached criminal penalties to compensated ones was repealed, and the new act provides that an agreement may include compensation, that an agreement meeting its requirements is enforceable, and that a judgment of parentage can be entered before birth.
The Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy Parentage Act took effect on April 2, 2025, and repealed the 1988 Surrogate Parenting Act the same day. Depth lives on our surrogacy law guide.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Michigan?
Roughly: 21 to 38 years old, at least one healthy birth, a child you are raising now, good general health, no smoking, and a stable, supported home.
Those program guidelines plus medical and psychological screening carry the decision. Every application is read by a person, not a filter; the surrogate eligibility guide handles the condition-by-condition questions.
Do I have to travel to California?
Yes, for exactly two kinds of milestones: the clinic evaluation and the embryo transfer, which happen at the fertility clinic in California.
Those are planned trips we book together, well in advance. Everything else, the application, the screening conversations, your prenatal care, and the delivery, stays home in Michigan with your own OB and hospital.
How do intended parents in Detroit, Grand Rapids, or Ann Arbor get started?
Call or write, and tell us where you are: whether you have embryos, what your timing looks like, and what you want this to feel like.
Consultations run by video, or at the California home office if you prefer to meet in person, and from there one coordinator manages the match, the screening, the clinic, and the independent legal work. Begin with surrogacy for intended parents or the how surrogacy works guide.
Get started in Michigan
It starts with a conversation, from wherever you are in Michigan. We listen first, then show you exactly what comes next.