Surrogacy in Nebraska: The 2026 Legal Guide

⛔ Nebraska has one surrogacy statute, it is one paragraph long, and everything turns on how it defines itself.

§ 25-21,200, enacted in 1988, in full:

"(1) A surrogate parenthood contract entered into shall be void and unenforceable. The biological father of a child born pursuant to such a contract shall have all the rights and obligations imposed by law with respect to such child. (2) … a surrogate parenthood contract shall mean a contract by which a woman is to be compensated for bearing a child of a man who is not her husband."

Read subsection (2) before subsection (1), because (2) decides who (1) applies to. The definition requires compensation, and it describes a woman "bearing a child of a man" — the language of traditional surrogacy, written before gestational carriage was routine.

Whether that reaches a modern gestational carrier arrangement is a real textual question, and no Nebraska decision has answered it. ⛔ It is also not a safe harbour. An unlitigated argument about a statute's scope is not a plan.

And note what (1) does when it applies: it does not create a vacuum. It gives all rights and obligations to the biological father.

Ivy does not arrange journeys in Nebraska. This page sets out the text and the two practical rules a reader here needs.

Nebraska's law on this is unusually short, and unusually dependent on one definition.

The statute

§ 25-21,200 (Laws 1988, LB 674, § 1):

"(1) A surrogate parenthood contract entered into shall be void and unenforceable. The biological father of a child born pursuant to such a contract shall have all the rights and obligations imposed by law with respect to such child. (2) For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires, a surrogate parenthood contract shall mean a contract by which a woman is to be compensated for bearing a child of a man who is not her husband."

Three features of the definition, and they all matter

1. It requires compensation. On the text, an uncompensated arrangement is outside the definition entirely.
2. It says "bearing a child of a man who is not her husband." ⚠️ That is how a 1988 legislature described traditional surrogacy, where the carrier is the genetic mother. In a gestational carrier arrangement the child is not "of" the carrier in that sense.
3. It dates from 1988 — before gestational carriage was ordinary clinical practice.

⛔ Do not read any of that as permission. We located no published Nebraska appellate decision construing § 25-21,200 or deciding whether it reaches gestational surrogacy. An untested textual argument is a risk to be advised on, not a route to rely on.

And when the section does apply, subsection (1) has a consequence people miss: the biological father takes "all the rights and obligations imposed by law." The contract fails and the law substitutes an outcome — one that is not the intended parents by default.

The parentage article is paternity only

Chapter 43, article 14 (§§ 43-1401 to 43-1418) is titled and built around paternity. § 43-1411(1): "A civil proceeding to establish the paternity of a child may be instituted…" Searching the chapter returns no maternity provision and no action to determine the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship.

So Nebraska is unlike Alabama, Kansas or Montana on this point. There is no general maternity mechanism to fall back on, and this page does not suggest one exists.

The married carrier's husband goes on the birth certificate

§ 71-640.01(1): "If the mother was married at the time of either conception or birth or at any time between conception and birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the certificate as the father of the child unless (a) paternity has been determined otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction, (b) the mother and the mother's husband execute affidavits attesting that the husband is not the father …, or (c) [a three-affidavit set naming a putative father]. … each signature shall be individually notarized."

Those three exceptions are also the three practical routes, and which one fits has to be decided before delivery, not at the hospital.

Case law

⚠️ We located no published Nebraska appellate decision construing § 25-21,200. A search of Nebraska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opinions for "surrogacy" returned a single unrelated result.

General information, not legal advice. A Nebraska-licensed attorney should advise on any arrangement touching this state.

⛔ Ivy does not arrange journeys in Nebraska — that is about where a journey is placed, not about where you live. An intended parent living in Nebraska can pursue a journey in a state where we do work. The constraint here is local, and the reason is the unresolved scope of one 1988 sentence rather than an express prohibition.

The question your attorney has to answer first is whether your arrangement is inside § 25-21,200's definition at all. It reaches a contract by which "a woman is to be compensated for bearing a child of a man who is not her husband." Compensation is an element. The phrasing is traditional-surrogacy phrasing. Neither point has been tested in a Nebraska appellate court.

If the section does apply, the consequence is specific and it is not neutral. The contract is "void and unenforceable," and "the biological father … shall have all the rights and obligations imposed by law." ⚠️ That is an assignment, not a gap — and it says nothing about a non-genetic intended parent.

There is a maternity mechanism, and it is administrative rather than judicial. § 71-604.02 provides that where a child's egg-source biological mother is not the birth mother, the hospital must supply the documents for a notarized acknowledgment of maternity; signed by both women, it is filed with the certificate of live birth, and "The name of the birth mother shall not be entered on the birth certificate." It requires a genetic intended mother and both signatures, and it does not make the contract enforceable. It is also rescindable. Subsection (8)(a) lets any signatory rescind "at any time prior to the earlier of: (i) Sixty days after the acknowledgment; or (ii) the date of an administrative or judicial proceeding relating to the child." After that it is "a legal finding which may be challenged only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact." Subsection (7) also keeps the carrier and the carrier's spouse off the certificate; (9) then enters the intended mother's spouse as the other parent, subject to exceptions.

The one concrete rule to plan around is the birth certificate. § 71-640.01 puts a married carrier's husband on the certificate as father unless a court has determined paternity otherwise, or the notarized affidavits are executed. Decide which route applies before transfer.

Contact us and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do.

⛔ There is no Ivy price for Nebraska, because Ivy does not place journeys here.

And the ordinary cost structure does not transfer, because the contract that normally carries it may be void. § 25-21,200 makes a compensated surrogate parenthood contract "void and unenforceable." A budget line whose legal basis is an unenforceable promise is not a budget line.

We located no Nebraska statute capping or regulating surrogate compensation, no escrow requirement and no agency licensing rule — and that absence is not permission. The operative provision is the one that voids the contract.

⭐ Legal work is the cost that is real here. Whether an arrangement falls inside the 1988 definition, what happens to the birth certificate under § 71-640.01, and where the arrangement should be governed are all attorney questions, and they come before any number.

For what a journey costs in a state where Ivy does work, see the intended parents overview or contact us.

⛔ There is no Ivy process to describe in Nebraska, because Ivy does not match here. What a reader needs instead is the sequence of questions a Nebraska attorney would work through.

1. ⚠️ Is the arrangement inside § 25-21,200's definition? It requires compensation, and it is phrased around "bearing a child of a man." Both are live textual questions and neither has been decided by a Nebraska appellate court.
2. If it is inside, the contract is void and unenforceable, and subsection (1) gives the biological father "all the rights and obligations imposed by law."
3. There is no maternity action to fall back on. Chapter 43, article 14 is paternity only.
4. Plan the birth certificate around § 71-640.01 before transfer. If the carrier is married, her husband is entered as father unless a court determines paternity otherwise or the individually notarized affidavits are executed.
5. Decide where the arrangement will be governed and where the birth will happen, and get that in writing from counsel rather than from an agency.

Ivy's answer for Nebraska residents is to be honest that we do not work here, not to route you into an arrangement whose foundation is an untested reading of a 1988 sentence. Contact us.

⛔ Ivy does not accept surrogate applications from Nebraska residents.

What the statute says about you. § 25-21,200 makes a "surrogate parenthood contract" void and unenforceable, and defines it as a contract by which "a woman is to be compensated for bearing a child of a man who is not her husband."

The practical consequence for you is about enforceability, not legality. Nothing in the section makes you a criminal or makes carrying a pregnancy unlawful. What it does is remove the contract's force — so promises made to you in that contract may not be something a Nebraska court will enforce.

One provision does work in the intended parents' favor, and you should know it exists. § 71-604.02 lets you and an egg-source intended mother sign a notarized acknowledgment of maternity at the hospital, after which "The name of the birth mother shall not be entered on the birth certificate." It is voluntary, it needs your signature, and DHHS publishes the form (CSE-9).

And subsection (1) assigns the outcome to someone else: "the biological father … shall have all the rights and obligations imposed by law with respect to such child."

Your marital status matters, but which rule applies depends on the acknowledgment. ⛔ If the § 71-604.02 acknowledgment is signed and notarized, subsection (7) is explicit: "The name of the birth mother shall not be entered on the birth certificate. If the birth mother is married, the name of the birth mother's spouse shall not be entered on the birth certificate unless paternity for such spouse is otherwise established by law." Only if that route is unavailable or unsigned does the general rule in § 71-640.01 apply, under which your husband's name goes on the certificate as father — unless a court has determined paternity otherwise, or you and he execute individually notarized affidavits, or a three-affidavit set naming a putative father is filed. Your spouse is part of this whether or not anyone has mentioned him to you.

If someone offers you a paid Nebraska arrangement, the enforceability question is yours as much as theirs. Talk to a Nebraska attorney before you sign.

⛔ Ivy does not accept applications from Nebraska residents, so Ivy's criteria do not apply here.

We located no Nebraska statute setting a minimum age, a prior-birth requirement, a BMI limit, a screening protocol, an independent-counsel requirement or a residency rule for a surrogate. Chapter 43, article 14 is paternity law; § 25-21,200 is one paragraph about contracts. Neither sets eligibility criteria.

The absence of criteria is not the same as an open field. The operative rule is that a compensated surrogate parenthood contract is void and unenforceable, with parentage assigned to the biological father.

⭐ The one requirement that will actually affect your paperwork is marital. Under § 71-640.01, if you were married at conception, at birth, or between them, your husband is entered on the birth certificate as the father unless a court has determined paternity otherwise or the individually notarized affidavits are executed. Ask about that before anything medical begins.

If you are being recruited for a Nebraska arrangement, ask the recruiter to put the enforceability question in writing — and then take it to a Nebraska attorney.

⛔ There is no Nebraska compensation package, and the reason is unusual: compensation is the element that pulls a contract into the voiding statute.

§ 25-21,200(2) defines a surrogate parenthood contract as one by which "a woman is to be compensated for bearing a child of a man who is not her husband," and (1) makes such a contract "void and unenforceable."

So compensation is not separately prohibited — it is the trigger. On the face of the text an uncompensated arrangement is outside the definition, though we located no Nebraska appellate decision confirming that reading.

What "void and unenforceable" means for you. ⛔ It is not a criminal rule and it does not make you a wrongdoer. It means a Nebraska court may decline to enforce the promises in that contract — including promises made to you.

And § 25-21,200(1) assigns the child's parentage elsewhere: "the biological father … shall have all the rights and obligations imposed by law."

Before you rely on any payment schedule in a Nebraska arrangement, have a Nebraska attorney tell you in writing whether the contract carrying it is enforceable. For what compensation looks like where Ivy works, see the compensation page.

⚠️ Ivy does not match in Nebraska, so nothing here is a recommendation for a surrogacy journey. A reader in the state may still be looking for fertility care.

We have not verified a Nebraska fertility practice for this page. Rather than repeat a directory listing, this section says so. When we list a clinic we check its own website, including the state it is in — a check this page has not yet completed for Nebraska.

Ask any practice directly which parts of an IVF or carrier cycle it performs, where its laboratory is, and whether it takes carrier cycles at all.

And note the separation that matters most here. A clinic's willingness to perform a transfer says nothing about whether the contract behind it is enforceable under § 25-21,200. The clinical question and the legal question are different questions, and only the second one is decided by that statute.

Statute: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-21,200 — "A surrogate parenthood contract entered into shall be void and unenforceable. The biological father … shall have all the rights and obligations imposed by law." Definition: a contract by which "a woman is to be compensated for bearing a child of a man who is not her husband." Laws 1988, LB 674, § 1.

Parentage: Chapter 43, article 14, § 43-1411 — "A civil proceeding to establish the paternity of a child may be instituted…". ⚠️ We located no maternity provision and no action to determine the existence or nonexistence of a mother and child relationship.

Birth certificates: § 71-640.01 — a married mother's husband is entered as father unless (a) a court has determined paternity otherwise, (b) she and her husband execute affidavits that he is not the father, or (c) a three-affidavit set names a putative father. Each signature must be individually notarized.

Case law: ⚠️ We located no published Nebraska appellate decision construing § 25-21,200.

For Chinese intended parents: Nebraska is in the Chinese Consulate-General in Chicago's district, with Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin and the Dakotas.

Ivy: Ivy does not arrange journeys in Nebraska. Contact us. Nearby: Iowa · Missouri · Colorado.