Surrogacy in Montana: The Complete 2026 Guide

Montana has no surrogacy statute, and is still one of the more workable silent states: its 1975 enactment of the Uniform Parentage Act of 1973 contains exactly the two provisions a surrogacy parentage order needs.

• ⭐ A maternity action. § 40-6-121: "Any interested party may bring an action to determine the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship." Most silent states offer only a paternity proceeding.
• ⭐ A court order that moves the birth certificate. § 40-6-123(1): on a court order the health department "shall prepare a substitute certificate of birth consistent with the findings of the court."
• Practitioners report that it works. AAAA reports that in Montana gestational and paid surrogacy are permitted by practice and pre-birth parentage orders are issued — including where only the carrier lives here or only the birth happens here.

⚠️ Two cautions belong on the same page as that good news.

First, the birth-record step runs on its own published workflow. Montana Vital Records has a surrogacy page: mail a certified pre-birth order as soon as it is entered, then after the birth submit a certified post-birth order or a notarized affidavit of birth information, ID and the $41.00 fee. ⚠️ So the pre-birth order is not the last step, and whether the second step is a court order or an affidavit is a question for Montana counsel.

Second, one Supreme Court decision. Sayler v. Yan Sun, 2023 MT 175, held that a carrier agreement's own terms did not stop a carrier from later acquiring a parental interest through an independent Montana route — on facts where she married the intended father after the birth. The award was reversed on appeal. It sets no rule for surrogacy agreements generally, but it is why a Montana contract deserves real attention.

Montana has no surrogacy statute. What it has is a 1975 enactment of the Uniform Parentage Act of 1973 containing two provisions that together do the work a surrogacy statute would do elsewhere — plus one Supreme Court decision that shows where the edges are.

The two provisions that matter

Mont. Code Ann. § 40-6-121, in full:

"Action to declare mother and child relationship. Any interested party may bring an action to determine the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship. Insofar as practicable, the provisions of this part applicable to the father and child relationship apply."

⭐ That is a statutory maternity action, and it is the vehicle a gestational surrogacy parentage order needs. Many silent states have only a paternity proceeding; Montana has both.

§ 40-6-123(1) supplies the second half:

"Upon order of a court of this state or upon request of a court of another state, the department of public health and human services shall prepare a substitute certificate of birth consistent with the findings of the court and shall substitute the new certificate for the original certificate of birth."

⭐ "Shall prepare," and keyed to the findings of the court — not to adoption, not to paternity. Subsection (3) puts the evidence and the original certificate in a sealed and confidential file, subject to inspection only on the consent of the court and all interested persons, or, in exceptional cases only, on a court order for good cause shown.

⚠️ One drafting detail worth knowing: subsection (2) — the rule that the new certificate must not reveal that parentage was declared after the birth — is written around the father and child relationship. Whether that narrows anything in practice is a question for your Montana attorney.

What practitioners report — and the warning inside it

The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys reports, for Montana, that gestational surrogacy is permitted by practice, that paid surrogacy is permitted by practice, and that pre-birth parentage orders are issued for surrogacy arrangements by practice. It reports that both pre-birth and post-birth orders are issued, that a parentage order may be obtained if only the carrier resides in the state or if the carrier gives birth in the state, and that same-sex intended parents are permitted based on federal case law.

⭐ Read that against what Montana Vital Records itself now publishes. Its surrogacy page describes a two-step process: mail a certified pre-birth order as soon as it is entered so the office can prepare sealed files, then after the birth submit a certified post-birth order or a notarized affidavit of birth information, ID and the $41.00 fee. ⚠️ So a second order is one accepted route and an affidavit is another — AAAA's practitioner reporting that both orders are recommended remains useful, but it is not the state's stated requirement.

The parentage provisions, and one procedural catch

⚠️ Montana's parentage code was written before modern IVF, so more than two sections matter.

• § 40-6-104: the mother-child relationship may be established "by proof of the mother having given birth to the child or under this part."
• § 40-6-116(1)–(2): a parentage judgment is "determinative for all purposes," and where it is at variance with the birth certificate the court shall order a substitute certificate under § 40-6-123.
• ⛔ § 40-6-107(4): "If an action under this section is brought before the birth of the child, all proceedings must be stayed until after the birth, except service of process and the taking of depositions to perpetuate testimony."

⚠️ That last one deserves a direct question to counsel. § 40-6-107 is the father-and-child section, and § 40-6-121 applies the father-child provisions to a mother-child determination "insofar as practicable." How a given Montana court structures the pre-birth and post-birth halves of the case is therefore a live procedural question, and it is part of why the state's own workflow expects post-birth documentation.

⚠️ And on the certificate itself: an initial birth certificate may be obtained naming both the biological parent and the carrier, and then amended or replaced to name only the biological parent, or both intended parents. Do not plan on the intended parents appearing on the original.

All of the above is reported practice, not statute. Montana has no law requiring any of it, and your own attorney's local experience is what will decide your case.

The assisted-reproduction provision, and its limits

§ 40-6-106 is Montana's only donor-parentage rule:

"(2) The donor of semen provided to a licensed physician for use in artificial insemination of a married woman other than the donor's wife is treated in law as if the donor is not the natural father of a child conceived by artificial insemination."

⚠️ Three limits, all on the face of the text. It reaches artificial insemination only — not IVF, not embryo transfer, not a gestational carrier. It is written around a married woman. And it dates from 1975, before IVF was in ordinary practice. It says nothing about egg donors or embryo donors, and should not be read as if it did. AAAA separately reports that Montana has no egg donation statute.

Subsection (1) adds the mechanics for the husband's consent: in writing, signed by both, certified by the physician and filed with the department, kept confidential and sealed — with an express saver that "the physician's failure to file the consent does not affect the father and child relationship."

The one decision — Sayler v. Yan Sun

2023 MT 175, decided 20 September 2023, is the only Montana appellate decision touching surrogacy, and its facts are unusual. An intended father used a California surrogacy company under California's assisted-reproduction statutes; the carrier lived in Billings; they signed a 72-page California-law gestational carrier agreement. Afterwards the two married, signed a Montana premarital agreement, and divorced. The carrier, as non-parent ex-wife, sought a "parental interest" in the child.

The Supreme Court held that "the preclusive terms of a gestational carrier agreement did not preclude Surrogate from later acquiring or establishing a parental interest and right to the extent independently authorized under Montana law" — and then reversed the parental-interest award, because the district court had not made the predicate finding § 40-4-228(2)(a) requires.

⚠️ What it does not hold matters as much. It does not hold that gestational carrier agreements are invalid or unenforceable in Montana, and it announces no rule for surrogacy agreements as a class. It is a decision about what a contract could not, by itself, prevent — on facts where the carrier married the intended father and lived with the child.

The route it left open, and how narrow that route is

§ 40-4-228 lets a court award a parental interest to a non-parent, but only on clear and convincing evidence of both:

• (a) that the natural parent "has engaged in conduct that is contrary to the child-parent relationship"; and
• (b) that the non-parent "has established with the child a child-parent relationship, as defined in 40-4-211"; and (c) that continuing that relationship is in the child's best interests. All three are held to the same clear-and-convincing standard.

⚠️ Subsection (5) is the sharp edge: "It is not necessary for the court to find a natural parent unfit" first.

But (b) is the narrow one. § 40-4-211(6) defines a child-parent relationship as one that cumulatively: supplies "food, shelter, and clothing" and "necessary care, education, and discipline"; continues or existed on a day-to-day basis through "interaction, companionship, interplay, and mutuality"; and meets the child's need for "continuity of care by providing permanency or stability in residence, schooling, and activities."

⭐ A carrier who hands the child to the intended parents at birth does not supply food, shelter or clothing, has no day-to-day relationship, and provides no continuity of care. On the text, none of the three elements is met. The risk Sayler illustrates is a relationship formed with the child afterwards — not a carrier changing her mind at the hospital. That is a contract- and conduct-planning point, and it belongs in front of your attorney early.

Paying a surrogate

Montana's adoption-payment provisions — §§ 42-7-101, 42-7-102 and 42-7-105 — are written around adoption ("adoption fees … paid by the adoptive parent," "prospective adoptive parent"), and none of the three mentions surrogacy in any form. We located neither an express surrogacy carve-out nor any adverse authority on the point.

⚠️ That is an absence, not a permission. Whether a payment scheme framed around adoption reaches an arrangement that never becomes an adoption is a question for Montana counsel. What we can say is that AAAA reports paid surrogacy as permitted by practice, and that no Montana statute or decision we located says otherwise.

General information, not legal advice. Montana has no surrogacy statute, and your agreement and parentage strategy should be handled by a licensed Montana attorney experienced in assisted reproduction.

⭐ The birth-registration statute the page had been missing

MCA § 50-15-221(6): "For the purposes of birth registration, the woman who gives birth to the child is considered to be the mother, unless otherwise provided by state law or determined by a court of competent jurisdiction prior to the filing of the birth certificate."

⭐ That clause is what a Montana pre-birth order operates on — the statute itself contemplates a court determination made before the certificate is filed, which is exactly why Vital Records asks for the certified pre-birth order in advance.

⛔ Subsection (7) is the one to raise if your carrier is married. If she was married at conception, at birth, or between them, "the name of the husband must be entered on the certificate as the father" unless (i) other paternity has been determined by a court, (ii) she and her husband execute individually notarized affidavits attesting he is not the father, or (iii) a three-affidavit set naming a putative father is filed. Plan which of the three applies before transfer, not at delivery.

No Montana surrogacy statute exists to set eligibility rules for intended parents — so no age, marital, residency or citizenship condition comes from one. AAAA reports same-sex intended parents are permitted based on federal case law, and a parentage order may be obtained if only the carrier resides in Montana or if she gives birth here.

Your parentage route is a court order, and the statute supports it. § 40-6-121 lets any interested party seek a determination of the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship, and § 40-6-123(1) requires the health department, on a court order, to prepare a substitute certificate consistent with the findings of the court.

⭐ Montana Vital Records publishes the surrogacy workflow, and it is a two-step process — not necessarily two court orders. Its surrogacy page sets out Step 1, before the birth: notify the office as soon as a pre-birth order is established and mail a certified copy, so it can prepare the sealed files. Step 2, after the birth: submit a certified post-birth order or a notarized affidavit of birth information, a photocopy of photo ID, and the $41.00 fee. ⚠️ A second court order is one route, not a universal requirement — ask your Montana attorney which route the chosen court and Vital Records will accept, and budget for post-birth legal and vital-records work either way.

⚠️ Do not expect to be on the original certificate. AAAA reports that an initial birth certificate may name the biological parent and the carrier, then be amended or replaced to name only the biological parent, or both intended parents. Same-sex parents are typically listed as "Parent" on the official certificate, though the hospital certificate may use incorrect designations.

⚠️ If you use donor eggs or a donated embryo, Montana law is silent. § 40-6-106 treats a sperm donor as not the natural father, but only for artificial insemination of a married woman — a 1975 provision that does not reach IVF, embryo transfer or egg donation. AAAA reports Montana has no egg donation statute. Your contract and your parentage order have to carry that weight.

One case to discuss with counsel. Sayler v. Yan Sun, 2023 MT 175, held that a carrier agreement's preclusive terms did not bar the carrier from later acquiring a parental interest through independent Montana law — on facts where she married the intended father after the birth. The award was reversed on appeal, and no decision announces a rule for surrogacy agreements generally.

Start with intended parents, or contact us.

A Montana journey costs about what one costs anywhere in the mountain west. The state's law does not change the total — it changes how many court steps you pay for.

Typical all-in ranges for an Ivy journey:

• Surrogacy only, embryos already created: $140,000–$150,000
• With IVF: $180,000–$190,000
• With IVF and egg donation: $210,000–$220,000+

Those cover agency fees, her compensation and allowances, legal work for both sides, escrow administration, screening, insurance review and the court work. They do not cover an unusual medical course.

⚠️ Budget for post-birth legal work, not just the pre-birth order. Montana Vital Records' surrogacy workflow takes a certified pre-birth order before the birth, then requires either a certified post-birth order or a notarized affidavit of birth information afterwards. Whether that second step is a court filing or an affidavit depends on counsel's strategy and the facts — put the post-birth work in the estimate from the start either way.

Montana's payment rules are written for adoption. Its adoption-payment sections (§§ 42-7-101, 42-7-102, 42-7-105) do not mention surrogacy, and AAAA reports paid surrogacy as permitted by practice. ⚠️ That silence is not statutory permission, and we located no cap and no escrow requirement — Ivy uses an escrow agent regardless. Comparing agencies here? Ask each how funds are held.

Vital records fees are published: surrogacy processing is $41.00, which the office breaks out as a $25.00 legal action processing fee plus $16.00 for one certified birth certificate; additional certified copies at the same time are $16.00 each. Standard processing 2–3 weeks. ⚠️ The office warns third-party companies may charge high fees to "process" applications. Order direct.

Contact us for a written breakdown against your own circumstances.

A Montana journey follows the standard gestational path. What is specific to Montana is the shape of the parentage step: the state's own workflow has a step before the birth and a step after it.

1. Application and matching. Application, records review, a call, then profiles and a decision.
2. Legal strategy, early. Both sides retain independent Montana counsel. With no statute setting terms, the agreement carries the whole load — medical decisions, insurance, lost wages, termination and reduction, breach, and what happens after the birth. ⚠️ No Montana statute requires a written agreement, pre-transfer execution or independent counsel. Ivy requires all three.
3. Screening. Clinic clearance and a psychological consultation for both sides — the clinic's protocol and Ivy's, not a statutory rule.
4. Escrow funded. Montana does not require it. Ivy requires an independently administered escrow account, funded before medications begin, with the escrow agent disbursing monthly from confirmation of fetal heartbeat.
5. Transfer, heartbeat scan, prenatal care, with handoff to her local OB around 8–10 weeks. Delivery is normally near her home.
6. ⭐ The pre-birth order. AAAA reports Montana courts issue these for surrogacy by practice, and that an order may be obtained where only the carrier resides here or where she gives birth here. The statutory vehicle is § 40-6-121's action to determine the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship.
7. ⭐ The post-birth step — the state publishes it. Montana Vital Records' surrogacy page asks that a certified pre-birth order be mailed in as soon as it is entered, then requires, after the birth, either a certified post-birth order or a notarized affidavit of birth information, plus photo ID and the fee. ⚠️ Which of the two your case uses is a question for Montana counsel — plan the post-birth step from the start, and confirm the route with Vital Records.
8. The birth certificate. On a court order, § 40-6-123(1) requires a substitute certificate consistent with the findings of the court, and § 40-6-116(2) directs the court to order one where its judgment differs from the existing record. Surrogacy processing is $41.00, which includes one certified copy; additional copies at the same time are $16.00 each; standard processing 2–3 weeks.

Apply as a surrogate or read the intended parents overview.

Montana has no surrogacy statute, so almost everything that protects you is in your contract — and one Supreme Court decision is worth understanding before you sign.

What Montana law gives you:

• A clear route out of parentage. § 40-6-121 lets any interested party ask a court to determine the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship; § 40-6-123(1) then requires a substitute certificate consistent with the court's findings. Practitioners report these orders are obtained for surrogacy by practice.
• Confidentiality. § 40-6-123(3) seals the evidence and the original certificate in a confidential file, subject to inspection only with the consent of the court and all interested persons, or, in exceptional cases only, on a court order for good cause shown.

What Montana law does not give you, and your contract must:

• ⚠️ No statutory medical decision-making protection. Some states reserve health decisions to the carrier by statute. Montana does not. Exams, monitoring, travel, bed rest, termination and reduction all live in your agreement — negotiate them before signing.
• ⚠️ No statutory escrow requirement. We located nothing obliging anyone to hold your compensation with an independent escrow agent. Ivy does anyway, and funds it before medications begin — ask any agency here how your money is held, and get the answer in writing.
• ⚠️ No statutory insurance requirement, and nothing making the intended parents pay for your attorney. Ivy pays for a surrogate's independent counsel as practice, not because Montana requires it. Put both in the agreement.

About Sayler v. Yan Sun. In Montana's only surrogacy decision a carrier obtained a "parental interest" in the district court — and the Supreme Court reversed it. The facts are far from an ordinary journey: she had married the intended father after the birth and the child lived with her.

⚠️ And it cuts the opposite way from how it looks. Under § 40-4-228 a non-parent needs clear and convincing evidence of three things: a parent's conduct contrary to the child-parent relationship; an established child-parent relationship as defined in § 40-4-211(6) — day-to-day care, food, shelter, clothing, continuity of schooling and residence; and that continuing it is in the child's best interests. Handing the child over at birth does not build that relationship. The case is about a relationship formed later, not the handover.

Ready when you are — apply here or read the compensation overview.

No Montana surrogacy or assisted-reproduction statute sets requirements for surrogates — there is none to do so, and we located no minimum age, prior-birth rule, evaluation requirement or residency condition anywhere we looked. Everything below comes from Ivy and the IVF clinic.

What Ivy asks:

• 20–36 years old at application
• At least one healthy full-term pregnancy, and currently raising that child
• BMI 32 or under
• No more than 2 C-sections and no more than 5 total deliveries — these are Ivy and IVF clinic screening criteria, not state law
• No smoking, vaping or THC for 6+ months, clinic-verified
• Financially stable and not receiving public assistance
• U.S. citizen or permanent resident, with a stable living situation

You may apply as early as 3 months postpartum after a vaginal delivery; recovery from a C-section takes longer.

What the clinic adds. A medical evaluation, records review and clearance from the treating IVF clinic, plus a psychological consultation. With no statutory screening rules, the clinic's protocol is the standard.

⭐ Practitioners report that living in Montana can be enough on its own. AAAA reports a Montana parentage order may be obtained where only the carrier resides here, and separately where she gives birth here — so a Montana surrogate matched with out-of-state intended parents is an ordinary arrangement. ⚠️ Reported practice, not a statutory rule; your attorney should confirm the court and county for your case before matching.

⚠️ Expect to travel for the transfer. Intended parents usually keep the clinic holding their embryos, so monitoring near home and travelling for the transfer is common. Ivy covers travel for appointments.

Not sure whether you qualify? The application takes about ten minutes and we will tell you honestly.

Base compensation for a first-time Ivy surrogate is $40,000. A second journey is $45,000–$50,000; a third or more is $55,000–$60,000, open to discussion beyond that for a proven surrogate.

With allowances and milestones, a full package generally runs $50,000–$100,000+ — a monthly allowance, maternity clothing, travel and childcare for appointments, lost wages where they apply, and milestone payments. Your package is written into the agreement before you sign.

We located no Montana cap. Its adoption-payment sections (§§ 42-7-101, 42-7-102, 42-7-105) are written around adoption — "adoption fees … paid by the adoptive parent" — and none mentions surrogacy in any form. Practitioners report paid surrogacy as permitted by practice, and we located no Montana statute or decision saying otherwise.

⚠️ That is an absence rather than a permission, and it is worth saying plainly: whether an adoption-framed payment rule reaches an arrangement that never becomes an adoption is a question your own attorney should answer for you.

⚠️ We located no Montana law governing how your money is held. Several states require compensation to sit with an independent escrow agent before medications begin; Montana does not. Ivy uses one, funds it beforehand, and disburses monthly from confirmation of fetal heartbeat. Make the escrow terms explicit, and have your attorney confirm them.

⚠️ Two more gaps your agreement must fill: we located no Montana statute requiring the intended parents to carry or pay for your health coverage, and none addressing complications or postpartum care. Put both in writing, with amounts and durations.

Full detail on how payments are structured is on the compensation page.

We verified each entry against its own website on 17 August 2026 rather than from a directory:

• Billings Clinic Reproductive Medicine — Billings and Bozeman. ⭐ Its own treatment list carries In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Donor Egg, Donor Sperm and Gestational Carrier as service lines.
• Community Medical Center — Fertility Services — Missoula.

Montana is a large state, and Salt Lake City, Denver, Seattle and Spokane are each within a day. Ask any practice directly which parts of a gestational carrier cycle it performs on site, and whether monitoring or the transfer would require travel.

These listings are informational, not endorsements, and not a complete list. Intended parents normally stay with the clinic holding their embryos — many Ivy journeys transfer embryos in from another state or from outside the US, and the surrogate then receives care locally. If you already have a clinic, keep it.

Statute: Montana has no surrogacy statute. Parentage runs through the Uniform Parentage Act of 1973, enacted in Montana in 1975, Title 40, ch. 6, part 1 — in particular § 40-6-121 (action to declare a mother and child relationship), § 40-6-123 (birth records) and § 40-6-106 (artificial insemination). Third-party rights run through § 40-4-228 and § 40-4-211.

Case law: Sayler v. Yan Sun, 2023 MT 175 (20 September 2023) is the only Montana appellate decision touching surrogacy — see the legal framework above for what it holds and what it does not.

State workflow: Montana Vital Records — Surrogacy. Step 1 before the birth: mail a certified pre-birth order. Step 2 after the birth: a certified post-birth order or a notarized affidavit of birth information, photo ID and the fee.

Reported practice: AAAA reports gestational and paid surrogacy permitted by practice and pre-birth parentage orders issued. ⚠️ Practitioner-reported, not law.

Birth certificates: Montana Vital Records, PO Box 4210, Helena MT 59604 — surrogacy processing is $41.00, broken out by the office as a $25.00 legal action processing fee plus $16.00 for one certified birth certificate. Additional certified copies requested at the same time are $16.00 each. Standard processing is listed as 2–3 weeks, in strict order of receipt. ⚠️ Order direct; the office warns third parties may charge high fees to "process" applications.

For Chinese intended parents: Montana falls in the consular district of the Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco, with Northern California, Alaska, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.

Ivy: surrogate application · intended parents · compensation · contact us. Nearby: Idaho · Washington · Colorado.