How much does a first-time surrogate earn in Georgia?
Through Private Label Surrogacy, a first-time gestational surrogate in Georgia receives a typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000. The base inside that package is $60,000 (proposed, up from $55,000). Experienced surrogates, meaning those who have completed a surrogacy before, receive a base of $65,000 to $70,000.
PLS leads with the total because the base alone leaves out the allowances, milestone payments and support that come with it. Each PLS figure on this page is pending final confirmation by Nancy Block, RN, and is marked until she confirms it.
Georgia pay is the same as PLS pay anywhere. A surrogate in metro Atlanta and a surrogate in Northbrook, Illinois, start from the same base. Your state changes two things: the legal route the intended parents' attorney uses, and where you go for monitoring.
This page comes from Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager. She was a three-time egg donor before becoming a gestational surrogate, and she delivered a boy for an international couple in October 2016 after a first-transfer success. She has worked in medicine since 2002.
What is in the full compensation package?
"Typical" assumes one baby and the standard allowances and milestone payments. Three things move your own total: the length of the journey, whether you pump after delivery, and your documented lost wages.
| Line | Amount | Trigger | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base compensation (first-time) | $60,000, proposed | Confirmed pregnancy with heartbeat | Installments during pregnancy |
| Base compensation (experienced) | $65,000 to $70,000 | Confirmed pregnancy with heartbeat | Installments during pregnancy |
| Allowance | $300 monthly | Agreement signed | Monthly |
| Medication start | $500 | Injections begin | At start |
| Transfer | $1,000 | Each embryo transfer | At transfer |
| Maternity clothing | $750 ($1,000 multiples) | Pregnancy confirmed | Single payment |
| Housekeeping | $90 weekly | From week 32 | Weekly |
| Breast milk pumping | $200 weekly | If you pump after delivery | Weekly |
| Twins | Additional $5,000 | Twins confirmed | With base installments |
| Triplets | Additional $10,000 | Triplets confirmed | With base installments |
| Lost wages, you and partner | Actual documented wages | Journey-related time off | As incurred |
| Life insurance | Extended coverage up to $750,000 | Before transfer | Premium paid by intended parents |
Payment triggers and timing: confirm schedule with Nancy.
Travel sits outside the table because it is reimbursement, not compensation. Whenever you travel to the intended parents' clinic, escrow pays your flights, hotel, meals, mileage and child care, plus lost wages for you and a companion.
The package also covers people. Independent licensed professionals provide mental-health support. Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, a registered dietitian and lactation counselor, holds at least six nutrition consults with you. The intended parents pay for your own attorney, and if your health plan excludes surrogacy, they pay for a separate policy.
When is each payment made and who holds the money?
Think of the payments in three phases.
Before pregnancy. Your $300 monthly allowance starts when you sign. You receive $500 when injectable medications begin and $1,000 at each transfer.
During pregnancy. Base compensation starts in installments once a heartbeat is confirmed. The maternity clothing payment follows confirmation, and $90 a week for housekeeping starts at 32 weeks.
After delivery. The final base installment is paid, and if you choose to pump, $200 a week follows.
If a transfer does not lead to a pregnancy, the allowance, medication payment and transfer fee already paid stay with you; base compensation is tied to a confirmed pregnancy.
None of this money passes through PLS. The intended parents fund an independent licensed escrow agent with $10,000 at match and the remaining balance before your medications start. The escrow agent pays you as your agreement directs.
Three questions to ask your attorney before you start medications:
- Has the escrow account been funded in full, and can I see written confirmation?
- Who at the escrow company do I contact if a payment is late?
- Where in my agreement is each payment trigger written?
Escrow is your protection against agency failure. The Surro Connections agency collapsed in late 2025, and a federal indictment followed in August 2026. The SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. In 2025 and 2026, PLS took on three surrogates, pro bono, whose agencies had failed. More on how escrow works.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Georgia?
To apply with PLS from Georgia, you must be:
- Age 21 to 43
- A US citizen or permanent resident
- At a BMI under 33
- A mom with at least one healthy full-term pregnancy, raising a child now
- A non-smoker
- Not receiving government assistance
- In a stable home
- Not currently taking antidepressants
Screening has seven steps: the application, an interview, a medical records review by Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, a background check, an insurance review, a psychological evaluation with an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. Dr. Silverberg reads your prenatal and delivery records personally and writes a physician summary for the clinic. Once records arrive, screening takes several weeks.
Where do Georgia surrogates do monitoring and transfer?
Georgia surrogates matched through PLS do their monitoring at an Atlanta-area clinic. If you live outside metro Atlanta, your nearest monitoring option is being confirmed. Monitoring is the bloodwork and ultrasounds before transfer and in early pregnancy, paid for by the intended parents.
For screening and the transfer itself, you travel to the intended parents' fertility clinic, which may be out of state. Bring a companion if you like; escrow pays travel, meals, child care and lost wages for both of you. The pregnancy test is 9 to 11 days after the transfer.
After the fertility clinic releases you, you continue care with your own OB near home and deliver at a hospital close to you.
What does Georgia law mean for you as a surrogate?
Gestational surrogacy is legal and practiced in Georgia, and compensation is permitted. There is no Georgia surrogacy statute. Courts in many counties grant pre-birth parentage orders to the intended parents, most reliably when they are married or at least one is genetically related to the baby; for some non-genetic parents, a judge requires a post-birth order or an adoption.
This summary is pending review by Georgia counsel.
For you, the route matters mostly at the hospital. If the intended parents have a pre-birth order, it is on file before you deliver. If their attorney is using a post-birth route, ask your own attorney what the hospital will have on file until the order is entered. Your attorney is paid by the intended parents and represents only you. Read the parents' side on surrogacy in Georgia.
How to apply with PLS
- Run the eligibility check against the criteria above.
- Apply, then interview with a case manager.
- Release your records for Dr. Silverberg's review.
- Complete screening: background check, insurance review and independent psychological evaluation.
- Match. Nancy Block runs matching personally. It averages about 6 months and depends on intended-parent demand for your state and profile.
Natalie or Jenni Symons, both former surrogates, is your case manager from match through delivery. Compare the package on surrogate compensation in Illinois or on the national surrogate compensation page.
Sources
- PLS compensation schedule (proposed), pending confirmation by Nancy Block, RN.
- Georgia court practice on parentage in gestational surrogacy; no Georgia surrogacy statute. Pending review by Georgia counsel.