Surrogacy in North Dakota: The Complete 2026 Guide

North Dakota has a surrogacy statute — N.D. Cent. Code ch. 14-18, the Uniform Status of Children of Assisted Conception Act — and for the one arrangement it covers, it is remarkably clean.

• ⭐ Parentage by force of law, with no court order. § 14-18-08, in full: "A child born to a gestational carrier is a child of the intended parents for all purposes and is not a child of the gestational carrier and the gestational carrier's husband, if any."
• ⭐ The intended parents carry the pregnancy costs, by statute. § 14-18-09 puts "the costs of pregnancy-related services, including labor and delivery services" on the intended parents — and it reaches both defined terms.

⚠️ Everything above depends on one closed definition, and this is the part to read twice.

§ 14-18-01(2) defines a "gestational carrier" as one who carries an embryo for intended parents "where the embryo is conceived by using the egg and sperm of the intended parents."

⛔ An arrangement using a donor egg, donor sperm or a donated embryo is outside that definition, so § 14-18-08's protection does not reach it. On the face of the statutes it would fall instead to "surrogate," and § 14-18-05 provides that "any agreement in which a woman agrees to become a surrogate … is void," and that "the surrogate, however, is the mother of a resulting child."

⚠️ That is an adverse reading of the text, not a settled outcome. No North Dakota court has ever construed the definition or how these sections work together — so it is neither a confirmed prohibition nor a workable path. On the text it reaches every journey using donor gametes, which necessarily includes every single intended parent and every male same-sex couple.

If your embryos are made from your own eggs and sperm, North Dakota is workable and unusually simple. If they are not, this is a conversation to have with North Dakota counsel before matching — not after.

North Dakota enacted the Uniform Status of Children of Assisted Conception Act (1988) as ch. 14-18, then added two sections of its own. It never adopted the Uniform Parentage Act's gestational-agreement article.

⚠️ The chapter is mostly repealed. Its official text shows §§ 14-18-02, 14-18-02.1, 14-18-03, 14-18-04, 14-18-06 and 14-18-07 all marked "Repealed." ⭐ Four sections are live: 14-18-01, 14-18-05, 14-18-08 and 14-18-09 — and everything below is those four.

The definition everything turns on

§ 14-18-01(2), verbatim:

"'Gestational carrier' means an adult woman who enters into an agreement to have an embryo implanted in her and bear the resulting child for intended parents, where the embryo is conceived by using the egg and sperm of the intended parents."

§ 14-18-01(3), verbatim:

"'Surrogate' means an adult woman who enters into an agreement to bear a child conceived through assisted conception for intended parents."

⭐ Two defined terms, and only one gets the good rule. The distinguishing clause is the source of the gametes — nothing else.

The good rule, and the bad one

§ 14-18-08, in full:

"A child born to a gestational carrier is a child of the intended parents for all purposes and is not a child of the gestational carrier and the gestational carrier's husband, if any."

⭐ No parentage petition, no hearing, no court order. For a qualifying arrangement, parentage is a matter of law at birth. ⚠️ The separate birth-record process still needs advance planning.

§ 14-18-05, in full:

"Any agreement in which a woman agrees to become a surrogate or to relinquish that woman's rights and duties as parent of a child conceived through assisted conception is void. The surrogate, however, is the mother of a resulting child and the surrogate's husband, if a party to the agreement, is the father of the child. If the surrogate's husband is not a party to the agreement or the surrogate is unmarried, paternity of the child is governed by chapter 14-20."

⛔ Read those two together. On the face of the text, donor egg, donor sperm or a donated embryo puts the arrangement outside § 14-18-01(2) — and therefore outside § 14-18-08's protection — and into § 14-18-05. ⚠️ No North Dakota court has construed that interaction, so this is an adverse textual reading rather than a settled result.

What chapter 14-20 does and does not fix

North Dakota adopted the Uniform Parentage Act (2002) as ch. 14-20 in 2005, including its assisted-reproduction article.

⭐ § 14-20-60, in full: "A donor is not a parent of a child conceived by means of assisted reproduction." Egg and sperm donors are not at risk of parentage here. That much is settled.

⚠️ But it does not clearly supply an alternative route. § 14-20-61 ends: "Parentage of a child born to a gestational carrier is governed by chapter 14-18." ⚠️ Note that the routing sentence uses the defined term, so it arguably does not reach a donor-gamete arrangement at all — see the next paragraph.

⚠️ A residual question your attorney should be asked directly, because it does not resolve on the text: § 14-20-61's routing sentence uses the defined term "gestational carrier," so it arguably does not reach a donor-gamete arrangement at all — which could leave § 14-20-61's first sentence and § 14-20-62's signed-consent record supplying paternity for an intended father while § 14-18-05 still makes the carrier the mother. That outcome is worse than a void agreement, not better. North Dakota counsel should answer this before anyone matches.

Costs, and what the statute does not do

§ 14-18-09, in full:

"The costs of pregnancy-related services, including labor and delivery services, incurred by a surrogate or gestational carrier as defined by section 14-18-01 are the responsibility of the intended parents."

⭐ Note the drafting: it reaches both defined terms, so it survives § 14-18-05's voiding rule. Whatever else happens, the intended parents carry the medical costs.

⚠️ What ch. 14-18 does not do: it supplies no order mechanism of its own, no compensation provision, no escrow requirement, no requirement of independent counsel, no medical decision-making provision, and no screening standard. For a qualifying arrangement none of that is needed for parentage, because § 14-18-08 operates by force of law — everything else is the agreement and the clinic.

What North Dakota does have: the general parentage article

⭐ Chapter 14-18 is not the only chapter in play. The Uniform Parentage Act, ch. 14-20, supplies the general machinery:

• § 14-20-06 (UPA 106) — determination of maternity.
• § 14-20-36 (601) — proceeding authorized; § 14-20-37 (602) — standing.
• § 14-20-46 (611) — proceeding before birth.
• § 14-20-57 (636) — order adjudicating parentage.

⚠️ Two cautions, and they cut opposite ways. It is wrong to say North Dakota courts have no parentage machinery — they do. But § 14-20-61 routes carrier parentage back to ch. 14-18, so how far the general article is available for an arrangement that falls outside § 14-18-01(2) is exactly what has never been decided here. ⛔ Treat it as an open question for North Dakota counsel, not as a settled route and not as a closed door.

Case law

We located no published North Dakota appellate decision using "gestational carrier" or "assisted conception," or citing § 14-18-05 or § 14-18-08. ⚠️ That is not the same as saying no North Dakota court has entered a parentage order in a surrogate birth — the state's own birth-registration materials, below, presuppose that surrogate births are handled. It means the appellate rules are unwritten.

⚠️ So no published North Dakota appellate decision has construed § 14-18-01(2)'s definition — it stands exactly as written.

General information, not legal advice. North Dakota's statute turns on a definition with a hard edge; a licensed North Dakota attorney should confirm where your arrangement falls before you match.

⭐ The state's birth-registration handbook documents court orders in surrogacy births

The EVERS Birth Registration Handbook, read in full, is more specific than the forms list suggests.

"Surrogate — If a surrogate mother is delivering the child, the 'SURROGATE MOTHER' tab will appear on the left side of the data entry screen. In these cases, the tab is completed from the Surrogate Worksheet … The Surrogate Worksheet would be required to be uploaded."

"Court Orders — These documents are typically used when a same-sex couple is having a surrogate mother carry and deliver the child. These order[s] direct who should be listed on the birth records as the parents … (The original certified copy of the court order must still be mailed to the Vital Records office after delivery.)"

⭐ Three things follow. North Dakota's registration system has a dedicated surrogate path; court orders directing who is listed as parent are documented practice, not speculation; and the certified original is expected after delivery. ⚠️ The handbook does not give the order's legal basis, the court, or when it is entered, and we located no published appellate decision reconciling that practice with ch. 14-18. It is administrative evidence of practice, not authority on enforceability.

⚠️ The Surrogate's Worksheet also has an "Intended Parent's Section for Completing the North Dakota Birth Certificate," with its own signature line — so the form collects both her information and the intended parents'.

⛔ Start here, because in North Dakota this decides everything else. § 14-18-01(2) protects a "gestational carrier" only "where the embryo is conceived by using the egg and sperm of the intended parents."

If that describes your embryos, the statute states the result directly: § 14-18-08 makes the child yours for all purposes, by force of law, at birth — no petition, no hearing, no order.

⚠️ If it does not, § 14-18-08's protection does not reach you — though §§ 14-18-05 and 14-18-09 may still apply. On the face of the statutes, a donor egg, donor sperm or a donated embryo puts the arrangement outside the definition and into § 14-18-05, which voids surrogate agreements and makes the carrier the mother. On the text this reaches:

• any journey using donor eggs or donor sperm
• single intended parents, who necessarily use one
• male same-sex couples, who necessarily use a donor egg

⚠️ No North Dakota court has construed the definition or how these sections interact, so this is an unsettled and adverse textual reading — not a settled prohibition, and not a workable path either. ⚠️ We located no published appellate decision either way — though the state's birth-registration handbook does document court-order practice in surrogacy births (above). This is a question for North Dakota counsel before matching, and Ivy will not pretend the answer is clearer than it is.

⭐ What the statute does give you, if you qualify. § 14-18-08 needs no court order, which is genuinely unusual. § 14-18-09 makes pregnancy and delivery costs your responsibility as a matter of law — an obligation, not a benefit, but it removes an argument. And § 14-20-60 settles that a donor is not a parent.

⭐ The state does have a surrogate-birth workflow, and you should ask about it by name. North Dakota HHS publishes a Surrogate's Worksheet (Vital Records Unit, 1-2026) and an Assisted Reproduction Consent Form among its hospital birth-registration forms; the worksheet must be completed before leaving the hospital and signed by the surrogate or gestational carrier, and EVERS asks at record creation whether the birth involves a surrogate. ⚠️ Ask your attorney and the delivering hospital, in advance, which of those forms will be used and what else the hospital needs — including whether a court order will be part of the packet in your circumstances.

Start with intended parents, or contact us and tell us how your embryos were created — it is the first question we will ask about North Dakota.

A North Dakota journey costs about what one costs anywhere in the upper Midwest. The statute changes almost nothing about the total — because it requires almost nothing.

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+

⛔ Read that third line against this state. A journey using donor eggs falls outside § 14-18-01(2)'s definition, so § 14-18-08's protection does not reach it; on the face of the statutes § 14-18-05 would then void the agreement and make the carrier the mother. ⚠️ No court has tested that. The obstacle in North Dakota is the definition, not the cost.

Those ranges cover agency fees, her compensation and allowances, legal work for both sides, escrow administration, screening, insurance review — and, unusually, no court work, because a qualifying arrangement needs no parentage proceeding.

⭐ One cost is a statutory obligation. § 14-18-09 makes "the costs of pregnancy-related services, including labor and delivery services" the intended parents' responsibility, and it applies to a "surrogate or gestational carrier" — so it holds even where § 14-18-05 voids the agreement.

⚠️ No cap, and no escrow rule — because there is no compensation statute at all. North Dakota's chapter says nothing about paying a carrier, and no North Dakota decision has spoken. Ivy uses an independent escrow agent regardless. Ask any agency here how funds are held, and get it in writing.

Vital records: certified copies of a birth record are $15.00 each; first-class mail is the no-cost default, with FedEx $25 and UPS $30 if you need speed.

Contact us for a written breakdown against your own circumstances.

A North Dakota journey follows the standard gestational path with one step missing and one gate added.

1. ⛔ The gate, before anything else: confirm the embryo source. § 14-18-01(2) protects only an embryo "conceived by using the egg and sperm of the intended parents." Ivy asks this before matching in North Dakota, and your attorney should confirm it in writing.
2. Application and matching. Application, records review, a call, then profiles and a decision.
3. Legal strategy, early. Both sides retain independent North Dakota counsel. ⚠️ No statute requires a written agreement, pre-transfer execution or independent counsel. Ivy requires all three — and here the agreement carries even more than usual, because the statute supplies no terms at all.
4. Screening. Clinic clearance and a psychological consultation for both sides — the clinic's protocol and Ivy's, not a statutory rule.
5. Escrow funded. North Dakota does not require it. Ivy requires an independently administered escrow account, funded before medications begin, with the escrow agent making the scheduled disbursements monthly from confirmation of fetal heartbeat.
6. Transfer, heartbeat scan, prenatal care, with handoff to her local OB around 8–10 weeks. Delivery is normally near her home.
7. ⭐ For a qualifying arrangement, no parentage proceeding is needed. § 14-18-08 makes the child the intended parents' "for all purposes" at birth, by force of law — no petition and no order required to create parentage. ⚠️ If the arrangement does not fit § 14-18-01(2), that automatic rule does not apply, and whether the general parentage article (ch. 14-20) supplies a route is an open question for North Dakota counsel. Settle it before transfer.
8. ⚠️ The birth record is a hospital step, and North Dakota has forms for it. HHS publishes a Surrogate's Worksheet (1-2026) and an Assisted Reproduction Consent Form; the worksheet must be completed before you leave the hospital and signed by the surrogate or gestational carrier, and the state's birth-registration system asks whether the birth involves a surrogate. Confirm with your attorney and the hospital, in advance, exactly which forms and any court order they will need.

Certified copies are $15.00 each from North Dakota Vital Records; first-class mail is the free default.

Apply as a surrogate or read the intended parents overview.

North Dakota's statute is short, and it cuts both ways for you. Which side you land on depends on whose eggs and sperm made the embryo — not on anything you do.

If the embryo is made from both intended parents' own gametes, § 14-18-08 does the work: the child "is a child of the intended parents for all purposes and is not a child of the gestational carrier." ⭐ That is automatic at birth. You do not have to sign anything away, and no court has to agree.

⚠️ If a donor egg, donor sperm or a donated embryo is used, the statutes point the other way — and not in your favor. On the face of the text § 14-18-05 makes the agreement void and provides that "the surrogate, however, is the mother of a resulting child." ⚠️ No North Dakota court has decided this, so treat it as an unresolved risk rather than a settled rule.

⛔ Read that as a risk to you, not just to them. Being named the legal mother of a child you did not intend to raise is a legal and financial exposure, and a void agreement is not one you can enforce either. Ask, before you sign, whose gametes the embryo will be made from, and get the answer in writing.

What North Dakota law does give you:

• ⭐ The intended parents owe your pregnancy costs by statute. § 14-18-09: "the costs of pregnancy-related services, including labor and delivery services … are the responsibility of the intended parents." ⭐ It reaches a "surrogate or gestational carrier" — so it applies even if § 14-18-05 voids the agreement.
• A person acting as an egg or sperm donor is not a parent of the child (§ 14-20-60).

What it does not give you, and your contract must:

• ⚠️ No medical decision-making protection, no escrow requirement, no insurance requirement, and nothing requiring the intended parents to pay for your attorney. Ivy pays for a surrogate's independent counsel as a matter of practice, not because North Dakota requires it.
• ⚠️ No compensation provision at all — the statute is silent, and no North Dakota case has spoken.

⚠️ And there is no case law. We located no published North Dakota appellate decision construing any of this. Your own attorney matters more here than in a state with a developed practice, not less.

Apply here or read the compensation overview.

No North Dakota statute sets requirements for a surrogate. Chapter 14-18 defines two terms and assigns parentage; it says nothing about age, prior births, screening or residency. 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.

⛔ One North Dakota-specific condition that is not about you at all. § 14-18-01(2) protects the arrangement only where the embryo is made from both intended parents' own gametes. On the face of the statutes, if donor eggs or donor sperm are used, § 14-18-05 voids the agreement and names you the legal mother — an adverse reading no North Dakota court has yet tested. ⚠️ So ask, before you sign, whose gametes will be used — it changes your legal position, not theirs alone.

⚠️ Expect to travel for the transfer. Intended parents usually keep the clinic holding their embryos, so monitoring near home and traveling 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.

North Dakota's statute says nothing about compensation. Chapter 14-18 has no payment provision, no cap and no prohibition, and we located no North Dakota decision addressing it. ⚠️ That is a silence, not a permission — and here the silence sits next to § 14-18-05, which on the face of the text voids surrogate agreements for arrangements outside the protected definition, a reading no North Dakota court has tested. Your own attorney should tell you which side of that line your match falls on before you discuss money.

⭐ One thing the statute does hand you. § 14-18-09: "the costs of pregnancy-related services, including labor and delivery services, incurred by a surrogate or gestational carrier … are the responsibility of the intended parents." ⭐ It names both defined terms, so the medical-cost obligation holds even where § 14-18-05 voids the agreement. That is a real protection, and it is the only one in the chapter written for you.

⚠️ Everything else is contract. No North Dakota statute requires an escrow agent, requires the intended parents to carry or pay for your health coverage, requires them to pay your attorney, or addresses complications and postpartum care. Ivy requires an independently administered escrow account funded before medications begin, and pays for a surrogate's independent counsel — as practice, not because the state requires it. Put all of it in writing, with amounts and durations.

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

We verify clinic entries against each practice's own website rather than from a directory. For North Dakota, that produces a short and deliberately cautious list.

• Sanford Reproductive Medicine Clinic — Fargo. Its own page confirms a reproductive medicine practice in Fargo offering in vitro fertilization.

⚠️ We are not listing gestational carrier services for any North Dakota practice, because no practice's own site confirmed that service line to us on 18 August 2026. Ask any clinic directly which parts of a gestational carrier cycle it performs on site, and whether it takes carrier cycles at all.

These listings are informational, not endorsements, and not a complete list.

⚠️ In this state the clinic question and the legal question are the same question. § 14-18-01(2) protects only an embryo made from both intended parents' gametes, so how and where your embryos were created decides whether North Dakota's statute reaches your arrangement at all. Settle that with counsel before you settle the clinic.

Intended parents normally stay with the clinic holding their embryos, and monitoring near the surrogate's home with travel for the transfer is a common arrangement. Ivy covers travel for appointments. If you already have a clinic, keep it.

Statute: N.D. Cent. Code ch. 14-18, the Uniform Status of Children of Assisted Conception Act. Four sections are live — § 14-18-01 (definitions), § 14-18-05 (surrogate agreements void), § 14-18-08 (gestational carrier agreements) and § 14-18-09 (pregnancy-related costs). ⚠️ §§ 14-18-02, 14-18-02.1, 14-18-03, 14-18-04, 14-18-06 and 14-18-07 are repealed. Donor parentage sits in ch. 14-20: § 14-20-60 and § 14-20-61.

Case law: ⚠️ we located no published North Dakota appellate decision using "gestational carrier" or "assisted conception," or citing § 14-18-05 or § 14-18-08. The only phrase match for "surrogate mother," Johnson v. Johnson, 2000 ND 170, is a grandmother-and-grandchild custody case. No published appellate decision has construed § 14-18-01(2)'s definition. ⭐ General parentage machinery does exist in ch. 14-20 — §§ 14-20-06, 14-20-36, 14-20-46 and 14-20-57 — though § 14-20-61 routes carrier parentage back to ch. 14-18.

Birth certificates: North Dakota Vital Records, Department of Health and Human Services — $15.00 per certified copy on state form SFN 8140 (10-2025). First-class mail is the no-cost default; FedEx $25, UPS $30, international $100. ⚠️ The form limits who may request a record to a short list of categories, among them self (16+), mother or father, and authorized representative — which requires a court order.

For Chinese intended parents: North Dakota falls in the consular district of the Chinese Consulate-General in Chicago, with Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Ivy: surrogate application · intended parents · compensation · contact us. Nearby: Minnesota · Wisconsin.