Happy family

Find a legal form in minutes

Browse US Legal Forms’ largest database of 85k state and industry-specific legal forms.

Tennessee Surrogacy Law

The law of Tennessee defines “surrogate birth” as occurring only when the surrogate is gestating a fetus for a married couple.  Therefore, it seems unlikely that the law will look favorably on a surrogacy agreement involving lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals.

The Tennessee Code defines “surrogate birth” as one of two arrangements: (1) “[t]he union of the wife’s egg and the husband’s sperm, which are then placed in another woman, who carries the fetus to term and who, pursuant to a contract, then relinquishes all parental rights to the child to the biological parents pursuant to the terms of the contract;” or (2) “[t]he insemination of a woman by the sperm of a man under a contract by which the parties state their intent that the woman who carries the fetus shall relinquish the child to the biological father and the biological father’s wife to parent”.[i] As per the law, under these agreements the biological parents are not required to formally adopt formal the child.  However, the Code also says that the aforementioned language “shall be construed to expressly authorize the surrogate birth process in Tennessee unless otherwise approved by the courts or the general assembly.”

In the case of Davis v. Davis[ii], the Tennessee Supreme Court held that “in disputes as to embryos, any prior agreement would be honored.”  Although this decision did not specifically address surrogacy, the Court’s willingness to adjudicate a case involving embryos intended for surrogacy suggests that the judiciary approves of such contracts in Tennessee.

There is also no explicit prohibition in Tennessee on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender couples jointly adopting a child, nor is there an explicit prohibition on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals from adopting a child of their same-sex partner.


[i] TENN. CODE ANN. § 36-1-102(48) (2009)

[ii] 842 S.W.2d 588 (Tenn. 1992)


Inside Tennessee Surrogacy Law