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Texas Family Code - Section 160.756. Hearing To Validate Gestational Agreement

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Family Code > Texas Family Code - Section 160.756. Hearing To Validate Gestational Agreement

§ 160.756. HEARING TO VALIDATE GESTATIONAL 
AGREEMENT.  (a) A gestational agreement must be validated as 
provided by this section.
	(b)  The court may validate a gestational agreement as 
provided by Subsection (c) only if the court finds that:
		(1)  the parties have submitted to the jurisdiction of 
the court under the jurisdictional standards of this chapter;
		(2)  the medical evidence provided shows that the 
intended mother is unable to carry a pregnancy to term and give 
birth to the child or is unable to carry the pregnancy to term and 
give birth to the child without unreasonable risk to her physical or 
mental health or to the health of the unborn child;
		(3)  unless waived by the court, an agency or other 
person has conducted a home study of the intended parents and has 
determined that the intended parents meet the standards of fitness 
applicable to adoptive parents;
		(4)  each party to the agreement has voluntarily 
entered into and understands the terms of the agreement;
		(5)  the prospective gestational mother has had at 
least one previous pregnancy and delivery and carrying another 
pregnancy to term and giving birth to another child would not pose 
an unreasonable risk to the child's health or the physical or mental 
health of the prospective gestational mother;  and
		(6)  the parties have adequately provided for which 
party is responsible for all reasonable health care expenses 
associated with the pregnancy, including providing for who is 
responsible for those expenses if the agreement is terminated.
	(c)  If the court finds that the requirements of Subsection 
(b) are satisfied, the court may render an order validating the 
gestational agreement and declaring that the intended parents will 
be the parents of a child born under the agreement.
	(d)  The court may validate the gestational agreement at the 
court's discretion.  The court's determination of whether to 
validate the agreement is subject to review only for abuse of 
discretion.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 457, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.           

Last modified: August 11, 2007