How much does surrogacy cost?
Here are the average costs to work with a surrogate mother:
We coordinate all medical, travel, and legal procedures.
Application Fee – $500
Please note that this fee may be waived and the application is FREE, depending on your level of participation.
SMI Consulting Expenses – $10,000
This includes:
- surrogate selection and monitoring
- SMI trust account supervision
- coordination of all psychological and medical procedures
- all other administrative work to ensure success of your surrogacy arrangement
Legal Expenses – $ varies
Legal expenses vary depending on who does the legal work. SMI can refer you to a variety of attorneys to assist in all phases of the program or you are welcome to use an attorney of your own choosing.
Here are some average fees for legal work:
- $1,000 for the contract between you and your surrogate
- $4,000 for obtaining the pre-birth court order
- $2,500 for completing a step-parent adoption, if you reside in Indiana and if an adoption is necessary
- $2,000 for assistance in obtaining international travel documents, such as a passport for your child, if necessary.
If legal work is necessary outside of Indiana, additional local attorney’s fees may be required.
Medical Expenses – $5,000 to $50,000
This includes:
- For the father: physical exams and sperm count
- For the surrogate: physical exam, HSG test (if necessary), insemination/embryo transfer, prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care
- Medical costs will vary greatly depending on how comprehensive the surrogate’s health insurance policy is, or if she even has one (almost all of our surrogates have insurance).
- If she does not, you must purchase a policy for her.
Advertising Fee – $5,000
$5,000 is about what SMI pays per woman made available to you. If your surrogate does not pass the psychological testing and you select someone else, no additional fee is charged.
Psychological Fees – $2,000
This is the cost for the psychological evaluation and testing that the surrogate (and her partner if she is involved with someone) will undergo once she is selected. Also included is consultation during and after the pregnancy, if necessary.
Miscellaneous Surrogate Benefits – $750 to $5,000
This includes:
- a $500 maternity clothing allowance
- a $100,000 term life insurance policy which must be taken out on the surrogate (costs about $150)
- travel expenses to/from Indianapolis and one of several different cities for the medical procedures
- a $100 daily allowance to compensate the surrogate for such things as lost wages, child care, meals, etc.
- attorney’s fees for the surrogate’s attorney ($300-$500)
How Much Are Surrogate Mothers Compensated?
Surrogate’s Fee – $30,000 - $50,000
The typical fee our surrogates charge is $30,000 for a single birth, and $40,000 -$50,000 for multiples. Sometimes we see higher or lower fees.
The women in SMI’s program generally determine their own fee, which is clearly stated on their profile sheets and is not negotiated further once you choose your surrogate.
The average total, all-inclusive cost including everything above–for the AI program is around $100,000, and for the IVF/ET program around $120,000 (if you have frozen embryos, then the IVF/ET program’s costs are much less).
As a general guide, you can figure on at least $60,000 in expenses (includes everything except the surrogate’s fee, and assumes a successful pregnancy within the first two tries).
If you are participating in the IVF/ET program (or if you have selected an egg donor), the medical expenses may be significantly higher if you try repeated fresh transfers.
Your insurance might cover some of these expenses, as well as some of my fees.
These costs are intended as a guideline only. The actual costs may or may not exceed these figures.
The advertising costs, and psychological expenses are guaranteed not to increase once you have signed a contract, and if you withdraw from the program for any reason prior to your surrogate signing the contract, the legal fees are refunded in full.
Be sure to ask about our PLATINUM UPGRADE which can save you thousands of dollars!