Yes, a single man can get a surrogate in most U.S. states, and thousands have built families this way. The 2017 Uniform Parentage Act, now adopted or used as a model in a growing number of states, explicitly allows “each intended parent” to enter a surrogacy agreement regardless of marital status or gender.1Uniform Law Commission. Uniform Parentage Act (2017) A handful of states restrict or ban the arrangement, the costs run into six figures, and the legal steps for securing your name on the birth certificate vary by jurisdiction. Those details decide whether the process goes smoothly or falls apart.
Where It’s Legal and Where It Isn’t
No federal law prohibits single men from pursuing surrogacy. The framework is entirely state-driven, so your rights depend on where the surrogacy takes place. Under the Uniform Parentage Act model, an intended parent must be at least 21, complete a medical evaluation, undergo a mental-health consultation, and retain independent legal counsel. Nothing in the act requires marriage or a partner.1Uniform Law Commission. Uniform Parentage Act (2017)
States sit along a spectrum. Surrogacy-friendly states enforce compensated contracts, issue pre-birth parentage orders, and explicitly include single and LGBTQ+ intended parents. Several states create real obstacles. Arizona, Indiana, and Nebraska treat surrogacy contracts as void or unenforceable. Louisiana limits gestational surrogacy to married heterosexual couples using their own eggs and sperm, and compensated surrogacy there can trigger civil and criminal penalties. A single man pursuing surrogacy in Louisiana would be operating outside the law entirely.
Living in a restrictive state doesn’t shut the door. Many single intended fathers work with surrogates in friendlier jurisdictions, with the child born in the surrogacy-friendly state where the parentage order is issued. Choosing that jurisdiction is one of the first decisions you’ll make with your attorney, and it shapes everything that follows.
Why Gestational Surrogacy Is the Standard
Gestational surrogacy is what your attorney and agency will recommend. The surrogate carries a pregnancy created through IVF using an egg from a donor and sperm from the intended father or a sperm donor. Because the surrogate contributes no genetic material, she has no biological claim to the child.2Cleveland Clinic. Gestational Surrogacy That separation between carrier and genetic parent is what keeps the legal picture clean.
Traditional surrogacy uses the surrogate’s own egg, fertilized through intrauterine insemination, which makes her the child’s genetic mother.3PMC. Ethical Considerations on Surrogacy Several states that allow gestational surrogacy either restrict or refuse to enforce traditional surrogacy agreements, and courts have historically treated disputes more like custody battles than contract enforcement. For a single man, the gestational route is the safer one.
Under the UPA framework, a gestational surrogate must have previously given birth to at least one child, be at least 21, and pass both a medical evaluation and a mental-health consultation.1Uniform Law Commission. Uniform Parentage Act (2017) Most reputable agencies apply similar screening even in states that haven’t adopted the act.
Getting Your Name on the Birth Certificate
Having a baby born and being recognized as its legal parent are two separate legal events. How you establish parentage depends on the state where the child is born, and single fathers need to think about this before signing anything.
Pre-Birth Parentage Orders
In surrogacy-friendly states, your attorney files a petition for a pre-birth order during the pregnancy. The court issues the order before delivery, declaring you the legal parent and directing the hospital to put your name on the birth certificate from day one.4Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. Parentage Proceedings This is the cleanest outcome and a major reason intended parents choose states that routinely grant pre-birth orders to single parents.
Pre-birth orders are not guaranteed everywhere. Some jurisdictions issue them only when the intended parent is genetically related to the child. If you used both donor sperm and donor eggs, you may not qualify for a pre-birth order in certain states. Courts have also declined pre-birth orders where the state’s parentage statute requires waiting until after birth.
Post-Birth Orders and Second-Parent Adoption
Where pre-birth orders aren’t available, your attorney files a post-birth parentage order as soon as possible after delivery. The court confirms your parentage and directs the birth certificate to be updated with your name.4Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. Parentage Proceedings
In a smaller number of states, a single intended father who is not genetically related to the child may need to complete a formal adoption, sometimes called a second-parent adoption, to secure his parental rights. Iowa, Kentucky, and Montana may require this when the intended parent has no genetic connection to the child. That adds time and expense, and it’s one more reason to pick the surrogacy state carefully.
Administrative Routes
A few states let intended parents establish parentage through paperwork filed directly with the state’s vital records office, bypassing the courts. The surrogate and any spouse sign affidavits relinquishing parental claims, and vital records issues the birth certificate with the intended parent’s name. Where available, it’s the fastest route, but it’s limited to specific states and circumstances.
The Written Agreement Behind All of It
None of this works without a detailed surrogacy agreement signed before any embryo transfer. The UPA requires that the intended parent and the surrogate each have their own independent attorney, with the intended parent paying for the surrogate’s counsel.1Uniform Law Commission. Uniform Parentage Act (2017) Even in states that haven’t adopted the UPA, separate counsel for both sides is standard practice and often required by statute. The contract covers compensation, medical decision-making, what happens if multiple embryos implant, insurance responsibilities, travel restrictions, communication, and how parental rights will be established. It also addresses harder questions, like a medical emergency during pregnancy or the death of the intended parent before birth.
What It Costs
In 2026, a gestational surrogacy journey in the United States typically runs $150,000 to $220,000 all in. The major cost categories:
- Surrogate compensation and benefits: $60,000 to $110,000, depending on the surrogate’s experience, location, and whether complications arise. A first-time gestational surrogate typically earns $60,000 to $75,000 in base compensation.
- Agency and case management fees: $15,000 to $60,000.
- Egg donor costs: $35,000 to $65,000 for a fresh donor egg cycle, including donor compensation, agency fees, retrieval, and medications. Frozen donor eggs cost less but yield fewer eggs per cycle.
- IVF and medical procedures: $25,000 to $60,000, covering embryo creation, genetic testing, transfer, and prenatal care. First-transfer success rates generally run 45 to 60 percent, so budget for the possibility of two or three cycles.5Yale Medicine. Surrogacy – Fact Sheets
- Legal fees: $5,500 to $15,000, covering contract drafting, negotiation, and the parentage order process for both your attorney and the surrogate’s independent counsel.
- Insurance: $12,000 to $35,000, with a dedicated surrogacy policy running $25,000 to $35,000 on its own if needed.
- Escrow management and court filing fees: a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.6Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. Assisted Reproduction Financial Terms and Escrow Accounts
A straightforward first-transfer pregnancy with an experienced surrogate in a lower-cost state might land near $150,000. Multiple IVF cycles, a high-cost surrogate, and complex legal work in an expensive metro area can exceed $220,000. Build a 10 to 15 percent cushion into whatever budget you set.
Insurance and Taxes Catch Single Fathers Off Guard
Many standard health insurance plans exclude surrogacy pregnancies, meaning the surrogate’s existing policy may refuse to cover pregnancy-related care if it arises from a surrogacy arrangement. Your attorney or agency will review her policy early. If it excludes surrogacy, you’ll need to buy a separate surrogacy-specific policy.
Newborn coverage is a separate issue. Once the cord is cut, the baby is a distinct patient and the surrogate’s insurance stops. As a single father, you’ll need to add the child to your own plan. Birth qualifies as a qualifying life event, giving you a 30-day window to enroll the newborn with coverage retroactive to birth. Contact your carrier or HR department during the pregnancy so the paperwork is ready to submit immediately after delivery.
The tax picture is unfriendly. IRS Publication 502 states that you cannot deduct amounts paid for identifying, retaining, or compensating a gestational surrogate, and you cannot deduct the surrogate’s medical care, because those expenses relate to a third party rather than to you or your dependent.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses Agency fees, legal fees, the surrogate’s health insurance, egg donation costs, and IVF procedures performed on the surrogate are all non-deductible. The only medical expenses you can deduct are those directly attributable to your own body, such as your sperm donation costs.
The federal adoption tax credit also does not apply. The IRS explicitly excludes expenses “for a surrogate parent arrangement” from qualifying adoption expenses.8Internal Revenue Service. Adoption Credit Even where a formal adoption is required to finalize parentage, the underlying surrogacy arrangement disqualifies the expenses.
A Warning About International Surrogacy
Some single men look abroad for lower costs. The risk sits with your child’s citizenship. For a child born through surrogacy abroad to acquire U.S. citizenship at birth, the U.S. citizen parent must be the genetic father of the child.9U.S. Department of State. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and Surrogacy Abroad If you used donor sperm and have no genetic relationship to the child, the child may not qualify for U.S. citizenship, which creates serious problems bringing the child home.
The State Department has documented cases where overseas clinics substituted different genetic material than intended, leaving the child without a genetic connection to the U.S. citizen parent and without citizenship in either country.9U.S. Department of State. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and Surrogacy Abroad If the arrangement doesn’t comply with local law in the country of birth, documentation can also become difficult. Any single man considering international surrogacy should work with a U.S. immigration attorney alongside his surrogacy counsel and confirm the citizenship path before proceeding.