Surrogacy in Wyoming: The Complete 2026 Guide

⛔ Wyoming does have a gestational surrogacy statute — and most guides still say it does not. It is in the vital-records title, not the family-law title, which is why it gets missed.

§ 35-1-401(a)(xiv) defines a "gestational agreement" as "a written, notarized agreement between two (2) intended parents and a gestational carrier" that meets seven conditions. Three of them decide who can use it:

• "(D) All parties to the agreement are twenty-one (21) years of age or older"
• "(E) The intended parents have been residents of the state of Wyoming for not less than one (1) year immediately preceding the date of the gestational agreement"
• "(G) Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs including the cost of lost opportunity that are directly connected to the pregnancy."

⭐ What you get in return is unusually clean. § 35-1-410(e): on a birth under a compliant agreement, the intended parents "shall be deemed to be the mother and father of the child, including for purposes of birth registration and the birth certificate," on an application to Vital Records Services plus verification that the agreement complies. No court order.

Wyoming is therefore an expenses-only, residents-only state. Ivy does not arrange journeys here.

Wyoming's framework sits in two titles, and reading only one is how this statute gets missed.

Title 35 — the gestational agreement statute (2021)

§ 35-1-401(a)(xiv), verbatim: a "gestational agreement" is "a written, notarized agreement between two (2) intended parents and a gestational carrier" where:

"(A) The gestational carrier agrees to pregnancy by means of assisted reproduction; (B) The gestational carrier, and her spouse if she is married, agree to relinquish all rights and duties as the parent of any child that is delivered from the gestational carrier; (C) The agreement specifies that the intended parents shall become the parents of the child; (D) All parties to the agreement are twenty-one (21) years of age or older; (E) The intended parents have been residents of the state of Wyoming for not less than one (1) year immediately preceding the date of the gestational agreement; (F) The agreement is filed with the state registrar of vital records. Any agreement filed under this subparagraph shall be sealed … (G) Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs including the cost of lost opportunity that are directly connected to the pregnancy."

(a)(xv): a "gestational carrier" is "a woman twenty-one (21) years of age or older who gives birth to a child under a gestational agreement." (a)(xvi): "intended parents" are "two (2) persons" who enter such an agreement "for the birth of a child for which the two (2) persons shall assume paternity or maternity."

Read (a)(xvi) carefully: the statutory route requires two intended parents. ⚠️ A single intended parent is outside it on the face of the text, and we located no Wyoming decision addressing that.

The birth-registration route — no court order required

§ 35-1-410(d) sets the default: "the woman who gives birth to the child shall be deemed the mother," except as provided in (e). And (e):

"Upon the birth of a child under a gestational agreement, the intended parents … shall be deemed to be the mother and father of the child, including for purposes of birth registration and the birth certificate, upon satisfying the following conditions: (i) Submission of a complete application by the intended parents as the state office of vital records services prescribes; and (ii) Verification by the state office of vital records services that the gestational agreement complies with the requirements of W.S. 35-1-401(a)(xiv)."

This is an administrative route, not a judicial one — and it runs entirely on the agreement qualifying under (a)(xiv). Vital Records Services does not publish that application. Its forms index lists certificate orders, corrections, paternity, adoption, data and ITOP forms; the amendment page lists $55 for a court-ordered amendment, $20 for a correction only and $25 if a new certificate is also requested. No published fee for the § 35-1-410(e) application was located. "Not posted" is not "no procedure" — ask VSS directly, before transfer.

Title 14 — what happens outside the statute

§ 14-2-901, verbatim: "This article does not apply to the birth of a child conceived by means of sexual intercourse or to the birth of a child under a gestational agreement as defined by W.S. 35-1-401(a)(xiv)."

⚠️ So the assisted-reproduction article steps aside for a compliant agreement — and steps back in when the agreement does not qualify. For that case:

• § 14-2-403(d): the act "does not authorize or prohibit" an agreement in which a woman relinquishes parental rights to a child conceived by assisted reproduction, and an unenforceable one sends parentage to article 4.
• § 14-2-406, in full: "Provisions of this act relating to determination of paternity apply to determinations of maternity."
• § 14-2-811: a proceeding "may be commenced before the birth of the child, but may not be concluded until after the birth."

Together those give a maternity adjudication that can start before birth and finish after — the fallback when the statutory route is unavailable, which for a non-resident or a compensated arrangement it will be.

What the statute does not do

It sets no penalty of its own, and we located no licensing rule for agencies. The main consequence of non-compliance is that § 35-1-410(e) is simply unavailable — the registrar has nothing to verify. ⛔ But the vital-records title is not penalty-free. § 35-1-431 punishes anyone who "willfully and knowingly … makes any false statement in a report, record, or certificate required to be filed under this act, or in an application for an amendment thereof," and separately anyone who "willfully neglects or violates any of the provisions of this act" — by a fine of not more than $100 or up to six months, or both. Since (F) requires the agreement to be filed with the registrar, that filing sits inside this section's reach. Do not read (G) as a criminal compensation ban, and do not read the chapter as penalty-free either.

Case law

We located no published Wyoming appellate decision construing § 35-1-401(a)(xiv), § 35-1-410(e), § 14-2-406 or § 14-2-811 in a carrier case.

General information, not legal advice.

⛔ Ivy does not arrange journeys in Wyoming — that is about where a journey is placed, not about where you live. An intended parent living in Wyoming can pursue a journey in a state where we do work. The constraint here is local, and the reason is in the statute rather than in our preference.

⛔ Two conditions exclude almost every client we would otherwise serve. § 35-1-401(a)(xiv)(E): the intended parents must have been "residents of the state of Wyoming for not less than one (1) year immediately preceding the date of the gestational agreement." And (G): "Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs … directly connected to the pregnancy," including lost-opportunity costs.

Wyoming's statutory route is for Wyoming residents, on an expenses-only basis. It is not a prohibition — nothing here is criminal, and no statute penalizes a non-compliant agreement. It simply means § 35-1-410(e) is unavailable to you, and you fall back to the general parentage route.

If you do qualify, the route is genuinely good:

• The agreement must be written, notarized, filed with the state registrar and sealed, and must say the intended parents become the parents.
• Both of you must be 21 or older, as must the carrier, and her spouse must join the relinquishment if she is married.
• § 35-1-410(e) then makes you "the mother and father of the child, including for purposes of birth registration and the birth certificate" on an application plus VSS verification. No court order.
• The statute requires "two (2) persons." A single intended parent is outside it on the face of the text; no Wyoming decision addresses that.

If you fall outside the statute, § 14-2-406 carries the paternity provisions across to "determinations of maternity," and § 14-2-811 lets a proceeding start before birth and finish after. That is a real fallback, and it is the one your attorney will be working with.

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

⛔ There is no Ivy price for Wyoming, because Ivy does not place journeys here — and the ordinary cost structure does not fit the statute.

The reason is [§ 35-1-401](https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf)(a)(xiv)(G): under a qualifying gestational agreement, "Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs including the cost of lost opportunity that are directly connected to the pregnancy." An agency-style base fee plus milestones is not an expense schedule, so a package built that way will not qualify the agreement — and it is the agreement's qualification that unlocks the birth-certificate route.

Note what (G) does include, because it is broader than most expenses-only rules: "the cost of lost opportunity," so long as it is directly connected to the pregnancy. What that permits in practice is a question for Wyoming counsel, and we found no decision construing it.

The registrar's costs are modest but not published for this route. Wyoming's amendment page lists $55 for a court-ordered amendment, $20 for a correction only and $25 if a new certificate is also requested. ⛔ No published fee for the § 35-1-410(e) application was located. Ask VSS.

Budget for the fallback too. If residency or compensation puts you outside the statute, the plan reverts to a maternity adjudication under § 14-2-406 and § 14-2-811 — more attorney time, and no published Wyoming decision to price the risk against.

For what a journey costs where Ivy works, see intended parents or contact us.

⛔ There is no Ivy process to describe in Wyoming, because Ivy does not match here. The statute sets out its own sequence, and it is worth following exactly.

1. Test residency before anything else. § 35-1-401(a)(xiv)(E) requires the intended parents to have been Wyoming residents for at least one year immediately preceding the agreement. Fail this and the statutory route is closed.
2. Test the money. (G) limits compensation to pregnancy-connected expenses, including lost-opportunity costs. A base fee does not fit.
3. Confirm the party structure. Two intended parents, everyone 21 or older, and the carrier's spouse joins the relinquishment if she is married.
4. Draft, notarize, and file the agreement with the state registrar before transfer. (F) — it is sealed on filing.
5. Transfer, pregnancy and delivery.
6. After the birth, apply to Vital Records Services. § 35-1-410(e): a complete application "as the state office of vital records services prescribes," then verification that the agreement complies with (a)(xiv). The intended parents are then deemed the parents for the birth certificate. ⚠️ VSS does not publish this application — request it in advance.
7. If any condition fails, switch to the general route. § 14-2-901 puts a non-compliant birth back inside the assisted-reproduction article; § 14-2-406 applies the paternity provisions to "determinations of maternity"; § 14-2-811 lets the proceeding start before birth and conclude after.

Contact us and we will be straight with you about where we work.

⛔ Ivy does not accept surrogate applications from Wyoming residents. Here is what Wyoming law gives you, because it is more than most states give.

First, the part that will disappoint you. § 35-1-401(a)(xiv)(G): under a qualifying agreement, "Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs including the cost of lost opportunity that are directly connected to the pregnancy." There is no base-fee model inside Wyoming's statutory route. Lost-opportunity costs are expressly included, but they are still costs — not a fee.

Now the protections, which are real and written into the definition itself:

• The agreement must be written and notarized, must say the intended parents become the parents, and must be filed with the state registrar — where it is sealed and openable "only upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction."
• You must be at least 21, and so must every other party.
• Your spouse is inside the statute, not an afterthought. (a)(xiv)(B) requires the carrier "and her spouse if she is married" to agree to relinquish all rights and duties. That protects you both from being left with a status nobody planned for.
• The handover is administrative, not a courtroom fight. § 35-1-410(e) makes the intended parents the legal parents for birth registration on an application plus VSS verification.

And the honest limit. ⛔ We located no published Wyoming decision construing any of this, and Vital Records Services does not publish the § 35-1-410(e) application — its amendment page lists only the ordinary fees ($55 court-ordered amendment, $20 correction, $25 with a new certificate). Ask VSS for the prescribed application in writing, before anything medical begins.

If you are offered a paid Wyoming arrangement, that payment is the thing to ask a Wyoming attorney about first.

⛔ Ivy does not accept applications from Wyoming residents, so Ivy's criteria do not apply here. Unusually, Wyoming sets some of its own by statute — and one of them is stricter than Ivy's.

From [§ 35-1-401](https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf)(a)(xiv)–(xv):

• You must be at least 21. (a)(xv) defines a gestational carrier as "a woman twenty-one (21) years of age or older," and (a)(xiv)(D) requires all parties to be 21 or older. Ivy's own floor is 20 — Wyoming's statutory route is one year stricter.
• Your spouse signs too. (a)(xiv)(B): the carrier "and her spouse if she is married" must agree to relinquish all rights and duties.
• The agreement must be written, notarized, and filed with the state registrar, where it is sealed.
• The intended parents must be two persons, both Wyoming residents for at least one year, and compensation is limited to pregnancy-connected expenses.

What the statute does not set: we located no prior-birth requirement, no BMI limit, no screening or counseling protocol and no independent-counsel rule. Those come from the clinic and the agency, not from Wyoming law.

⭐ And the payoff if every condition is met: § 35-1-410(e) makes the intended parents the child's legal parents for birth registration, on an application and VSS verification — without a court hearing.

Ask a Wyoming attorney to confirm the agreement qualifies before anything medical begins, because qualification is what the whole route depends on.

⛔ There is no Wyoming compensation package, and this is not Ivy's policy — it is the statute.

§ 35-1-401(a)(xiv)(G), verbatim: "Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs including the cost of lost opportunity that are directly connected to the pregnancy."

Read that as a definition, not a penalty. (G) is one of seven conditions a "gestational agreement" must meet. ⛔ An agreement that pays a base fee simply is not a "gestational agreement" under Wyoming law — which means § 35-1-410(e)'s birth-certificate route is unavailable to it. We located no criminal provision and no penalty attached to paying more.

What (G) does allow is broader than most expenses-only rules. It expressly reaches "the cost of lost opportunity," provided the cost is directly connected to the pregnancy. How far that extends has never been construed by a Wyoming court. Get it in writing from a Wyoming attorney before you sign, itemized.

Two protections sit in the same definition and are worth knowing. The agreement must be notarized and filed with the state registrar, where it is sealed; and if you are married, your spouse joins the relinquishment rather than being left out of it.

Nothing in Wyoming law governs how your money is held. We located no escrow requirement. Ask who holds the funds, and get the answer in writing.

For what compensation looks like in the states where Ivy works, see the compensation page.

⚠️ Ivy does not match in Wyoming, 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 Wyoming 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 completed for Wyoming.

Wyoming is a large state with limited fertility provision, and intended parents commonly keep the clinic holding their embryos. Ask any practice directly which parts of a carrier cycle it performs, where its laboratory is, and whether it takes carrier cycles at all.

And keep the sequence in mind, because Wyoming's statute is order-sensitive. § 35-1-401(a)(xiv)(F) requires the agreement to be filed with the state registrar, and the definition's conditions have to be satisfied for § 35-1-410(e) to work afterward. A clinic's willingness to transfer says nothing about whether the agreement qualifies.

The surrogacy statute — Title 35 (vital records): § 35-1-401(a)(xiv) (a "gestational agreement" is written and notarized, between two intended parents and a carrier; all parties 21+; intended parents Wyoming residents ≥ 1 year; filed with the state registrar and sealed; compensation limited to pregnancy-connected expenses including lost opportunity) · (a)(xv) (carrier 21 or older) · (a)(xvi) ("intended parents" means two (2) persons) · § 35-1-410(d)–(e) (birth mother is the default except under (e); intended parents "deemed to be the mother and father … including for purposes of birth registration and the birth certificate" on application + VSS verification).

Title 14 — outside the statute: § 14-2-901 (the assisted-reproduction article "does not apply … to the birth of a child under a gestational agreement") · § 14-2-403(d) (act "does not authorize or prohibit" such an agreement) · ⭐ § 14-2-406 ("Provisions of this act relating to determination of paternity apply to determinations of maternity") · § 14-2-811 (commenced before birth, concluded after).

Vital records: Vital Records Services · amending a record — $55 court-ordered amendment, $20 correction only, $25 with a new certificate. ⛔ The § 35-1-410(e) application is not published; request it from VSS.

Case law: We located no published Wyoming appellate decision construing these provisions.

For Chinese intended parents: Wyoming is in the Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco's district.

Ivy: Ivy does not arrange journeys in Wyoming. Contact us. Nearby: Colorado · Utah · Idaho.