I live in Michigan, where surrogacy is not allowed. My cousin who lives in Illinois has offered to have a child for me. Illinois does allow it. Which state laws are the ones we need to follow?
Reply by Rayven You will need to follow the laws of the state the baby will be born in, in this case, Illinois. You will both need to get an attorney in Illinois that specializes in surrogacy (yes, you need an attorney even though this is a family member assisting you) to handle the court requirements and the contract creation in Illinois.
But I do want to mention here that surrogacy is not illegal, per se, in Michigan, it is just more difficult. Surrogate mothers are not allowed to be compensated in Michigan, for example, and the state has a few more hoops to jump through. It is not a favorable state to do a surrogate journey in, but it is still possible. (And many of the stories that have made national news with surrogacy gone bad have, for whatever reason, taken place in Michigan.)
