US Surrogacy Pathway

What is our US Surrogacy Pathway?

Our US Surrogacy Pathway is a trusted service of tailored professional care for your US surrogacy journey. As leading UK experts in US surrogacy with over a decade’s experience, we support intended parents based in the UK and those who are British living overseas.

We manage the US surrogacy process for you, helping you choose the most proven US surrogacy professionals, pulling the strings together, and providing guidance and care to overcome any challenges along the way.

We work jointly with our sibling organisation NGA Law, ensuring you also have top tier UK legal representation.

If you would like to speak to us, please get in touch. We offer a free initial 30 minute call with one of our client managers to discuss how our US Surrogacy Pathway works.

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Why trust Brilliant Beginnings and NGA Law?

Founded in 2013 and a sibling organisation to NGA Law, Brilliant Beginnings has been managing all aspects of US surrogacy journeys for over a decade. We are independent and impartial, offering you the benefit of our long experience, established relationships and ongoing research.

NGA Law is the UK’s most experienced surrogacy law firm and has helped shape surrogacy law since handling the very first international surrogacy case in 2008. Providing everything you need on the UK legal side, you have the comfort of working with the established leaders in the field.

Together we are committed to safe and ethical US surrogacy, managed confidently and smoothly.

Comprehensive support throughout your US surrogacy journey

Our tailored personal service will steer you safely through US surrogacy. We will plan, coordinate, move things along, solve practical problems, provide reassurance and support your decision-making at every step.

You will have a dedicated Brilliant Beginnings client manager, and access to all the expertise in our team.

UK legal support from the UK’s leading surrogacy lawyers

The NGA Law team will work seamlessly with you and your client manager at each step of your surrogacy journey, providing:

UK legal advice
Coordination with your US attorney
Specialist wills
Help bringing your baby home to the UK
Legal representation in your High Court parental order application.

What our clients say to us…

Thank you all at Brilliant Beginnings, who guided and supported me so well through what turned out to be a truly wonderful American surrogacy.

A huge thank you for all your invaluable help and advice, for being with us every step of the way and helping us bring our daughter into the world. What an amazing journey it’s been!

There are no words that can express our depth of gratitude for your expert help, kindness, patience and support in bringing our baby into the world.

We have a great team. We like and trust all of you a huge amount. Thanks for being there.

I have a friend who would like to go through the [US surrogacy] journey we did. I shared with her our wonderful experience with you and your team, and how safe and guided we felt.

Thank you as always for all your help and support – it’s been invaluable and is much appreciated.

Just wanted to say thank you for all your support for my surrogacy journey – the most complex part is building professional ties and it’s your support in managing this as well as the processes that has been invaluable. It is NOT an overstatement to say that I could not have managed this remotely without you.

The people and organisations you have introduced us to and your advice has been exceptional. It has been a hard journey to get here but we are so happy. We literally just can’t imagine how it would have been without Brilliant Beginnings and NGA.

You have just been absolutely amazing throughout and we feel incredibly lucky to have discovered your companies. Thank you so much for setting them up in the first place.

You certainly lived up to your name! From the moment I contacted you to meeting my baby I have felt helped and supported. The right information and advice was offered at each stage and in such a friendly and supportive way that I felt part of a family before mine had actually become a reality.

Thanks so much. You guys have been incredible on this journey.

Thank you so much for all of your support this year, we really appreciate it and it’s been so helpful to know you’re just at the end of the phone. You’ve been there every step of the way for us, through all the many ups and downs! It’s certainly been a year we will never forget!

Ready to get started?

Get in touch if you would like to have a free initial chat about our US Surrogacy Pathway, or to request an application form if you are ready to get started.

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The steps of our US Surrogacy Pathway

Step 1.

Getting started

The first step is to decide that US surrogacy is the right path for you. You can arrange a free initial 30 minute call with one of our client managers to discuss our US Surrogacy Pathway if you wish. Alternatively, if you want to look at all your options in more detail, we would suggest an in-depth Surrogacy Consultation with one of our client managers. This is a no-obligation meeting, in which we can talk about your personal circumstances and help you work through whether US surrogacy is for you. We charge a fee for our Surrogacy Consultation, but will discount this from your first US Surrogacy Pathway invoice if you decide to proceed following the meeting.

If you are ready to move forward with our US Surrogacy Pathway, we will ask you to complete our detailed application form so we can learn all about you. From there, we will send you our contract and then arrange a meeting with you to talk through the whole process, to help you budget and to explore your preferences and expectations.

Get in touch to find out more

Book a Surrogacy Consultation

Step 2.

Choosing your US professional partners and getting UK legal advice

We will help you choose the right US professional partners throughout your journey, starting with:

your surrogacy agency – to screen and support your surrogate and match you
your US fertility clinic – for your IVF treatment
your US attorney – for your surrogacy agreement and to make you your child’s legal parent(s) under US law.

We will make recommendations based on our experience and extensive research, help you create a shortlist, be part of your initial calls or meetings, and support you in deciding who to work with. We work only for you – we do not accept referral fees and have no retainers or financial arrangements with any US professionals.

From there you will have a legal review meeting with NGA Law to clearly understand the UK legal process. We will help you understand how UK law fits together with the secure legal framework in the USA including:

how to bring your child home after the birth,
what you need to do to secure your legal parenthood in the UK as well as the USA, and
how to manage the limbo period in between.

If you are British living overseas or have other nationalities, we will also connect you with any other lawyers you need to advise on nationality and parentage issues.

Step 3.

Creating your embryos

We will help you arrange fertility treatment for the conception of your child, working with you and your professional partners.

Depending on your personal situation we can help you:

choose your egg donor,
deposit or export your sperm,
create embryos in the US, or
export embryos you have already created.

Step 4.

Match and legal set-up

When your US agency finds you a surrogate we will help you consider whether the match is right for you.

From there we will ensure the US legal process runs smoothly, coordinating with your US attorney to put your gestational surrogacy agreement in place.

NGA Law team will also help you put in place specialist wills to protect your family, as well as any other necessary documentation.

Step 5.

Embryo transfer and pregnancy

We will support you through your embryo transfer, celebrating with you if you are successful and helping you regroup and make decisions if not.

Surrogacy journeys do not always go to plan, but we will be there to care for you and to support you no matter what happens.

Step 6.

Preparing to welcome your child, and getting you home safely

Once your pregnancy is established, your client manager will help you prepare for the birth.

The NGA Law team will advise you on travel/immigration and if needed provide confirmation to your employer of your eligibility for surrogacy leave.

We’ll be on hand as you take your flight out and celebrate with you when your baby arrives!

After the birth, we will support you with heading home, including providing a letter to help you at border control if you are returning to the UK immediately or at a later stage (if you live overseas).

Step 7.

Securing your UK legal status

NGA Law will represent you in your parental order application to the High Court, with a choice between two levels of service:

Premium pathway – NGA Law will manage all aspects of your court application, and will apply for your child’s UK birth certificate and passport.

Basic pathway – NGA Law will represent you in your parental order application with lighter-touch support, working in tandem with you to navigate the court process.

Costs of US Surrogacy

A healthy overall budget for US surrogacy is currently £250,000 to £320,000, including our professional and legal fees.

We offer two options: our Premium Pathway and our Basic Pathway.

Our Premium Pathway

Our end-to-end professional service, with NGA Law’s premium legal representation for your parental order.

£15,000 plus VAT (Brilliant Beginnings) + £29,000 (NGA Law)

Our Basic Pathway

Our end-to-end professional service, with NGA Law’s basic legal representation for your parental order.

£15,000 plus VAT (Brilliant Beginnings) + £16,000 (NGA Law)

Our fee payments are staged

When you sign up: £10,000 plus VAT (Brilliant Beginnings) and £5,000 plus VAT (NGA Law)

When you are matched: £5,000 plus VAT (Brilliant Beginnings)

On your 20 week scan: £4,000 plus VAT (NGA Law)

On birth: £20,000 plus VAT (NGA Law) over 5 monthly instalments on our premium pathway, or £7,000 plus VAT (NGA Law) over 2 monthly instalments on our basic pathway

You will also need to pay your US agency fees, US surrogate/donor compensation, fertility treatment costs, US health insurance, US legal costs and personal travel and accommodation. We will help you budget as part of our service.

Ready to sign up?

Fill in our contact form, send us an email or give us a call to get started on your US surrogacy journey or arrange a free 30 minute call with one of our Client Managers to discuss further.