Surrogacy in Tennessee
We serve all of Tennessee, working with surrogates and intended parents in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, and the towns in between. Tennessee families build through gestational surrogacy every day, 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 the first fertility-clinic appointments at our clinic in California. Here is what that actually looks like from Tennessee.
- Serving
- All of TennesseeNashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, and beyond
- Helping families since
- 2015Coordinated from our California home office
- The law
- Supported by court practiceCase-guided, county by county
- Parentage
- Handled by your attorneysPre-birth or post-birth, depending on genetics and county
How surrogacy works when you live in Tennessee
The question most Tennessee families ask first is the practical one: where does everything actually happen? Almost all of it happens at home, in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, or wherever you are. 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 first fertility-clinic appointments, the medical screening, and the embryo transfer happen at our clinic in California. Tennessee to Southern California is a real cross-country flight, roughly four to five hours in the air, 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 Nashville or Clarksville, with your coordinator a call away the whole time. The full picture is on our become a surrogate page.
One team, coordinated to Tennessee
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, including counsel who plan the parentage path a Tennessee match needs.
We tell you where each step happens, and who is in the room, before you commit to anything. Start with surrogacy for intended parents.
Surrogacy in Tennessee, honestly
"Is Tennessee surrogacy friendly?" is how most people put it. The honest answer is that Tennessee families build through gestational surrogacy every day, through the courts rather than a statute, and your attorneys plan the parentage path for your match. The full state-by-state picture lives on our law guide.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your own Tennessee attorney confirms how it applies to your match.
Read our full surrogacy law guideTennessee has no surrogacy statute. Its only mention of surrogacy sits in the adoption code and stops short of authorizing the practice, so gestational surrogacy runs on county-level court practice, with agreements drafted before any medical steps and independent counsel on each side.
Parentage is completed through your attorneys, and here is the honest detail most pages skip: whether an order comes before or after the birth depends on genetics, marital status, and the county where it is filed. When an intended parent is genetically related, a pre-birth order is often available; for other families a step is sometimes completed after the birth. Your attorneys plan that path in advance, and either way the destination is the same, the intended parents recognized as the parents.
A note on accuracy. We work in gestational surrogacy only, where the surrogate is not genetically related to the child. Because Tennessee's framework rests on court practice rather than a statute, the drafting and the counsel matter; always confirm your specifics with a Tennessee-licensed reproductive attorney.
Requirements to become a surrogate in Tennessee
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. Tennessee adds no statutory checklist of its own, so 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.
About pay, because it is one of the most-searched surrogacy questions in Tennessee: compensation is real, it is written into your agreement before any medications begin, and it is shaped by your situation. Compensated gestational surrogacy is commonly practiced in Tennessee. 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 Nashville, Memphis, or Knoxville
From Tennessee, 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 Nashville, Memphis, or Knoxville. The step-by-step arc is on our how surrogacy works page.
Counsel who plan Tennessee's parentage path
Your agreement is drafted and reviewed by independent attorneys, and the parentage order is planned around your genetics and the county where it will be filed, a pre-birth order where that fits, a step completed after the birth where it does not. Your attorneys carry that map so you do not have to.
Every kind of family, welcomed
We welcome married, unmarried, LGBTQ+, and single intended parents, and experienced Tennessee counsel structures the right parentage path for each family from the start. 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 Tennessee?
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 Tennessee. 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. In a state without a surrogacy statute, the agreement is the foundation, and this is also when compensation and expenses go into writing.
Embryo transfer and pregnancy
The California clinic handles the medical cycle and the transfer. Then Tennessee 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, timed to your genetics and your county's practice, so that when the baby arrives the intended parents are recognized as the parents and 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 Nashville storefront. Tennessee is a genuine cross-country 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 Memphis neighborhood, a street in East Nashville, or a small town outside Clarksville. The only steps that bring you to California are the clinic ones.
11989 Arrow Route, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
(626) 528-6868
Tennessee surrogacy, answered
Is surrogacy legal in Tennessee?
Yes. Tennessee families build through gestational surrogacy, which is supported by Tennessee court practice rather than a specific statute.
Agreements are drafted with independent counsel on each side, and parentage orders are obtained through your attorneys. For the state-by-state picture, see our surrogacy law guide.
Is Tennessee surrogacy friendly?
For gestational surrogacy, yes in practice, with one honest note: Tennessee's parentage path depends on genetics and the county, and your attorneys plan it in advance.
There is no statute that authorizes surrogacy here, so the drafting and the counsel do the work. Depth lives on our surrogacy law guide.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Tennessee?
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.
Tennessee adds no statutory baseline of its own, so 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 the fertility-clinic milestones: the first appointments, the medical screening, and the embryo transfer happen at the 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 Tennessee with your own OB and hospital.
Do you need a lawyer for surrogacy in Tennessee?
Yes. Each side has its own independent attorney, and in Tennessee that matters even more because there is no statute and the parentage path is planned county by county.
Your attorneys draft and review the agreement before any medications begin, then handle the parentage order on your county's timeline. We coordinate the referrals so you are never hunting for counsel alone.
Get started in Tennessee
It starts with a conversation, from wherever you are in Tennessee. We listen first, then show you exactly what comes next.