Surrogacy in Virginia
We serve all of Virginia, working with surrogates and intended parents in Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia, Richmond, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and the towns in between. Virginia's assisted-conception statute sets out how a surrogacy agreement works here, with specifics your attorneys plan around, 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 Virginia.
- Serving
- All of VirginiaVirginia Beach, Northern Virginia, Richmond, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and beyond
- Helping families since
- 2015Coordinated from our California home office
- The law
- In statute since 1991Status of Children of Assisted Conception
- Parentage
- Handled by your attorneysA post-birth process, planned in advance
How surrogacy works when you live in Virginia
Virginia has surrogacy law on the books, and it has real specifics worth knowing, so the questions here are about how the legal path works and where the medical steps happen. Almost everything 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. From Virginia that is a cross-country flight, roughly five to six hours, 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 Virginia Beach or the Blue Ridge, with your coordinator a call away the whole time. The full picture is on our become a surrogate page.
One team, coordinated to Virginia
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 know Virginia's assisted-conception statute and how to plan the parentage path under it.
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 is in statute in Virginia, with specifics worth knowing
"Is Virginia surrogacy friendly?" is a fair question, and the honest answer is what the statute says: Virginia wrote surrogacy agreements into its code in 1991, and the statute has real specifics your attorney plans around. The full state-by-state picture lives on our law guide.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your own Virginia attorney confirms how it applies to your match.
Read our full surrogacy law guideVirginia's surrogacy law is written into statute, and it has been since 1991. The statute provides for a written agreement among the surrogate, her spouse if she has one, and the intended parents, and in every Lily Baby match that agreement is drafted before any medical step with independent counsel on each side. The honest detail most pages gloss over is this: in Virginia, parentage is not finalized before the birth. The statute completes it through a post-birth process, a consent form the surrogate signs after the birth and a new birth certificate issued once it is filed, and your attorneys plan for that in advance.
The statute also draws a line on payment. A contract term paying a surrogate anything beyond her reasonable medical and ancillary costs is void and unenforceable under Virginia law, while the statute does provide for the intended parents to guarantee those costs, and it defines them to include prenatal and postpartum care, medications, maternity clothes, and housing and other living expenses attributable to the pregnancy. That is one more reason the counsel and the drafting matter here. The statute's endpoint, a new birth certificate naming the intended parents once the post-birth paperwork is filed, is what your attorneys plan toward from the first draft.
A note on accuracy. We work in gestational surrogacy only, where the surrogate is not genetically related to the child. Because Virginia's statute has real specifics, from how parentage is finalized to how expenses are framed, always confirm your situation with a Virginia-licensed reproductive attorney before you rely on anything here.
Requirements to become a surrogate in Virginia
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 what you receive 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.
How much do surrogates make in Virginia is answered by the statute first: it provides for a surrogate's reasonable medical and ancillary costs, which it defines to include prenatal and postpartum care, medications, maternity clothes, and housing and other living expenses attributable to the pregnancy, and it makes any contract term paying compensation beyond those costs void and unenforceable. Whatever applies to your match is written into your agreement with independent counsel before any medications begin, and we would rather walk that through with you personally than post a headline number that may not fit your situation.
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 Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia, or Richmond
From Virginia, 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 the D.C. area or Norfolk. The step-by-step arc is on our how surrogacy works page.
Counsel who know Virginia's statute
Your agreement is drafted and reviewed by independent attorneys who plan the Virginia parentage path in advance, including the post-birth step the statute sets out in place of a pre-birth order. 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 Virginia counsel structures the right parentage path for each family from the start, because in Virginia the right path depends on your circumstances. 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 Virginia?
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 Virginia. 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 Virginia the agreement and the parentage plan are drafted with the state's specifics in mind, and this is when expenses go into writing.
Embryo transfer and pregnancy
The California clinic handles the medical cycle and the transfer. Then Virginia 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 through Virginia's post-birth process, planned well in advance. Under the statute, once the surrogate's consent form and its attachments are filed, a new birth certificate is established naming the intended 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 Richmond storefront. Virginia 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-country matches every day.
When you reach out, a real person calls you back and stays your person from then on, whether home is a suburb of Northern Virginia, a street in Richmond, or a town near the coast. The only steps that bring you to California are the clinic ones.
11989 Arrow Route, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
(626) 528-6868
Virginia surrogacy, answered
Is surrogacy legal in Virginia?
Virginia has had a surrogacy statute on the books since 1991. It provides for a written agreement among the surrogate, her spouse if she has one, and the intended parents, and it sets out how parentage is completed after the birth.
The specifics: the statute completes parentage through a post-birth process rather than a pre-birth order, and it provides for a surrogate's reasonable medical and ancillary costs while making any contract term paying compensation beyond them void and unenforceable. Your attorney plans around both. For the state-by-state picture, see our surrogacy law guide.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Virginia?
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 Virginia with your own OB and hospital.
Do you need a lawyer for surrogacy in Virginia?
Every Lily Baby match includes independent counsel on each side, and Virginia's statute, with its post-birth parentage process and its line on payment, is exactly the kind of specific that experienced counsel plans around.
Your attorneys draft and review the agreement before any medications begin, then complete the parentage work through Virginia's post-birth process. We coordinate the referrals so you are never hunting for counsel alone.
How do intended parents in Virginia Beach or Richmond 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 Virginia
It starts with a conversation, from wherever you are in Virginia. We listen first, then show you exactly what comes next.