Is surrogacy legal in Texas?
Reviewed by counsel [name], [date]. Every statement about Texas law on this page is pending review by Texas counsel, and no statute numbers are cited until counsel signs off.
Yes. Gestational surrogacy is legal in Texas under a statute that lets a court validate a gestational agreement before the pregnancy. Compensation for the surrogate is permitted. The practical question for most families is not whether surrogacy is legal in Texas, but which legal path fits their family.
The statutory path is built around a court-validated agreement for married intended parents. Unmarried and single intended parents can still complete a surrogacy journey with a Texas surrogate, but they reach legal parentage through a post-birth process or an adoption rather than through validation.
This page is written by Jan Telman Berman, Global Surrogacy Coordinator at Private Label Surrogacy, who manages national and international cycles. It is not legal advice. Before you sign anything, a Texas reproductive attorney advises you on your own agreement, and the surrogate's own attorney advises her.
| Texas at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Legal basis | State statute allowing court validation of a gestational agreement |
| Status | Legal by statute for married intended parents via court-validated agreement; others via post-birth routes |
| Parentage method | Pre-birth validation order (married parents); post-birth for unmarried |
| Who can be an intended parent | Married couples for the statutory path, with at least one party resident in Texas for 90 days; single and unmarried parents through post-birth parentage or adoption |
| Surrogate requirements | Must have given birth before; PLS also requires age 21 to 43, BMI under 33 and the full PLS screening |
| Compensation permitted | Yes |
| PLS recruits here | Yes |
What law governs surrogacy in Texas?
A Texas statute governs gestational agreements. It lets the intended parents and the surrogate ask a court to validate their agreement before the pregnancy begins. A validated agreement is what makes the intended parents the legal parents at birth.
The statute sets conditions for validation. The intended parents must be married. At least one party must have lived in Texas for 90 days. The surrogate must have given birth before. The agreement must be signed before medications begin.
Confirm the current statutory requirements, including the residency rule and any medical-need requirement, with Texas counsel before signing.
Texas law covers gestational surrogacy, where the embryo is created by IVF and the surrogate has no genetic link to the child. PLS arranges gestational surrogacy only.
How is parentage established in Texas: pre-birth or post-birth?
For married intended parents who follow the statute, parentage is settled before the birth. A court validates the gestational agreement before the pregnancy. Once the agreement is validated, the intended parents are the legal parents at birth, and the court issues the order that directs the birth certificate.
For intended parents who do not use the statutory path, such as single parents or unmarried couples, parentage is established after the birth. Depending on the family, that is a post-birth parentage order or an adoption.
The timing matters because it decides what happens at the hospital. With an order in hand before delivery, the hospital knows who the parents are before labor begins. With a post-birth route, your attorney plans the filing and the hospital paperwork in advance so there is no gap in who makes decisions for the baby.
For a side-by-side comparison of the two approaches, see pre-birth vs post-birth parentage orders.
Who can be an intended parent in Texas?
Under the Texas statute, the validation path is available to married intended parents, and at least one party must have lived in Texas for 90 days. Single intended parents and unmarried couples can still complete surrogacy in Texas through post-birth parentage or adoption.
In practice, that means:
- Married couples, including same-sex married couples, can use the validation path when the residency rule is met.
- Single parents and unmarried couples can match with a Texas surrogate, with the parentage step completed after the birth.
- Intended parents outside Texas need to confirm with Texas counsel how the residency rule applies to their agreement.
PLS works with intended parents across the US and abroad, and it treats single parents and same-sex couples exactly as it treats any other intended parents. The difference in Texas is the legal route, not the welcome. A Texas attorney will confirm the path for your family before you match.
If your family's route in Texas involves a post-birth step you would rather avoid, ask about a surrogate in another state. PLS recruits in several surrogacy-friendly states, including Illinois, where the Gestational Surrogacy Act provides pre-birth parentage.
Who can be a surrogate in Texas?
The Texas statute requires that the surrogate has given birth before. PLS's own criteria sit on top of that. To apply with PLS, a surrogate must be:
- 21 to 43 years old
- A US citizen or permanent resident
- At a BMI under 33
- Someone who has had at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and is raising a child now
- A non-smoker
- Not receiving government assistance
- Living in a stable home
- Not currently taking antidepressants
Screening has seven steps: application, interview, a records review by Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, a background check, an insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. Dr. Silverberg reads every candidate's prenatal and delivery records himself and writes a physician medical summary that goes to your fertility clinic.
How does PLS work with Texas surrogates and parents?
PLS recruits surrogates in Texas and matches them with intended parents from across the US and abroad. The process is the same as in every PLS state:
- Consultation and signing. You meet with Nancy Block, RN, who founded PLS in 2017 and personally runs matching.
- Matching. Signing to surrogate introduction takes about 9 months today, with a target of 6 months or fewer.
- Legal and medical foundations, 1 to 2 months. Each side retains its own attorney. For married parents on the statutory path, this is when the attorneys prepare the agreement for court validation. You fund escrow.
- Medical cycle, 2 to 3 months, ending in the embryo transfer at your clinic. The pregnancy test is 9 to 11 days after transfer.
- Pregnancy and birth, with parentage completed on the route your attorney planned.
The whole journey typically takes 18 to 24 months.
A Texas surrogate usually does her monitoring at a clinic near her home and travels to your clinic for screening and the transfer. PLS surrogates in Texas monitor at clinics in Dallas, Houston, Austin or San Antonio. Her case manager at PLS, Natalie Gaudio-Fricano or Jenni Symons, both former surrogates themselves, stays with her from match to delivery. Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, a registered dietitian and lactation counselor, holds at least six nutrition consults with her across the journey.
PLS does not employ attorneys or psychologists. It refers you to independent licensed professionals so that each one answers to the person they were hired to protect.
What does a Texas journey cost and how is money held?
A Texas journey costs the same as any other PLS journey. Intended parents typically budget $150,000 to $200,000 in total. The main parts are:
- PLS program fee. Program fee: confirm current schedule. The current fee is $35,000; a proposed fee of $42,000 applies to new agreements.
- Surrogate compensation. A typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000, built on $60,000 first-time base compensation (proposed, up from $55,000), or $65,000 to $70,000 for an experienced surrogate. See surrogate compensation in Texas.
- Third-party costs, $15,300 to $29,000, for attorneys on both sides, escrow, the psychological evaluation, background check, insurance review, travel and local monitoring. Court validation in Texas is part of the legal work; confirm with Texas counsel how it affects legal fees.
- Surrogate health insurance, $5,000 to $40,000, only if her plan excludes surrogacy.
- IVF and clinic fees, paid directly to your clinic.
Money is held by an independent licensed escrow agent, never by PLS. You fund $10,000 at match and the balance before the surrogate starts medications, and you may choose your own escrow company. That rule exists because agency failures happen: the Surro Connections agency collapsed in late 2025, leading to a federal indictment in August 2026, and the SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. PLS has used independent licensed escrow since 2017.
For the full itemized budget, see the cost of surrogacy. For how Texas compares with other states, see surrogacy laws by state.
Sources
- Texas gestational agreement statute, Texas Legislature. Pending review by Texas counsel.
- Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005), Illinois General Assembly. Pending review by counsel.