Does A Surrogate Court Handle Breach Of Contract? - YouTube

Ever heard of a surrogate court? Have you ever  wondered if a surrogate court handles breach of  

contract? If you're on my channel and you're  looking for a surrogate court, it may not be  

exactly what you think it is, but some things  still apply. Let's jump in and figure it out.

What's up? My name is Corlandos Scott and I'm  a surrogacy attorney based in Los Angeles  

and I, unlike typical surrogacy courts in some  states, help people have babies. Yeah, that kind of  

surrogacy. So, if you're growing your family through  surrogacy, egg donation, sperm donation, any kind of  

assisted reproductive technology, I'm the type of  attorney that you'd work with to help you handle  

the legal side of things. And in this video we're  going to cover what is breach of contract and what  

it means in surrogacy. We're going to look at what  court handles a breach of contract in this context  

and we'll also talk about how breach is addressed  in surrogacy. So, what is a breach of contract? It's  

just a fancy legal term, it means one party in a  binding agreement failed to deliver or perform  

the obligations according to the terms of that  binding agreement. I like to say it like this.  

A breach means you did something you  weren't supposed to do or you didn't  

do something you were supposed to do. One of the  frustrating things about breach of contract is  

there's no hard and fast rules. Essentially most  people will say that a breach is any deviation  

from your promises in the agreement. So, you could  look at the agreement and the facts of your  

situation and say I think that other person is in  breach but just because you claim that there's a  

breach or you allege that there's a breach doesn't  mean that there's necessarily a breach. There needs  

to be some uninterested, unbiased third party who  takes the terms of the agreement and compares it  

against the facts and determines whether there is  an actual breach and to do that, you got to bring  

a case. Yeah, so you need somebody to hear your  argument as to why there's a breach of contract.

So, you feel like somebody's breached the  contract with you and you want to make them pay,

you want to hold them accountable, well like I said  you have to initiate a claim but where do you do  

that? Well, first let's talk about what courts can  hear claims and arguments and all that kind of  

stuff. This is going to be like a mini little law  school lesson so I'll basically just give you a  

degree after this episode. So, for a court to hear  your breach of contract claim, they must first have  

the authority to hear the breach of contract claim,  and why do I talk about the question of authority?

Because courts have different jurisdictions  or different purviews, different areas where  

they are allowed to be the deciders so their  authority to hear or entertain a case depends  

upon what type of court they are. It's basically  a system that allows them to filter out cases  

and limits their authority. So, every court can't  hear every case so there's 2 types of authority  

to hear cases or jurisdiction. There's jurisdiction  over the legal issue or there's jurisdiction over  

the person involved in the matter. If we're talking  about jurisdiction over the legal issue, then  

before a court can entertain or hear your case,  the court needs to have the authority to do that.

So, for instance an appellate court can't entertain  a case that's being brought for the first time  

because a court that hears appeals means  that a lower court has already heard it,

that's an example. So, for instance  another example would be tax courts  

only entertain federal tax cases. You know, you  can't file a petition to establish parentage in a  

tax court, just doesn't work like that. Then, I said  courts can have jurisdiction over the person. So,  

if one of the parties is from outside the state  where the case is brought and that party raises

that fact as a defense, then the court may not  have jurisdiction or authority over that person  

or that case. Let's say you're from Louisiana and a  matter is being brought in Connecticut, you may say

look, this court doesn't have jurisdiction over me.  I'm not in that state and I'm not going to visit  

that state for them to get jurisdiction over me.  Now, I know the title of the video talked about  

surrogate courts and breaches of contract but  let's be very clear. I want to clarify something.

The phrase "surrogate court" is not a court handling  cases filed by surrogates or intended parents  

regarding a surrogacy agreement. So, what is a  surrogate court and what is this jurisdiction? Well,  

a surrogate court really has jurisdiction over  ownership disputes between living persons and  

decedents or people who have died. So, some know  that as a probate court, this is the type of  

court in some states that administers will's and  estates and handles guardianships and trusts and  

things like that. The idea is that they're playing  on the actual definition of the word "surrogate,"  

you know somebody who does something in the  stead of someone else. So, if a person has died,

if they're deceased, they can no longer administer  their estate so the court steps in as a surrogate  

for the deceased person. So, that's what many  people are referring to when they're talking  

about a surrogate court but I think  it's a good time for us to address  

surrogates in a assisted reproduction arrangement  and breaches of contract. So, let's talk about  

breaches of contract in the surrogacy arrangement.  Hey, but before I do, do me a quick favor. Just go  

click the like button, just real quick. I  mean it's not going to take a minute, I mean it's  

nothing it's no big deal, just yeah, just knock it  out. You see, easy. Easy, so yeah, let's get back to it.

So, what does it mean to breach a surrogacy  agreement? Well, surrogates can breach a surrogacy  

agreement. When a surrogate agrees to for instance  follow the medical instructions and she fails to  

follow medical instructions, that's a breach. When  a surrogate agrees to inform the parents before  

moving out of state or traveling out of state and  she fails to do so, that would be a breach of the  

agreement. Here's another example. When a surrogate  agrees to terminate the pregnancy at the doctor's  

recommendation to the parents because the baby  has a medical issue that the parents have asked  

the surrogate and she's agreed to terminate  under and she doesn't do it, that would be a  

breach of agreement. If you're curious about how  abortion, termination, reduction works, go back and  

watch my video on reduction of a pregnancy  and watch the other on will can a surrogate 

abort a pregnancy. Last but not least, you know,  I've never seen this happen in any of my cases  

any of my colleagues cases but I have heard that  it has happened before. So, another breach would be  

when the surrogate refuses to release custody of  the child or surrender the child to the intended  

parents after delivery, that would definitely be  a breach of contract. But surrogates aren't the  

only party to a surrogacy contract there has  to be another side, right, the intended parents.

Well, intended parents can break their promises or  fail to live up to the terms of the contract too  

and when intended parents fail to fund  the trust account or the escrow account

to answer for the medical expenses, that's a breach  of contract. When intended parents failed to make  

the proper payments and or reimburse the surrogate  for the agreed upon surrogacy related expenses,

that's a breach of contract. If the intended  parents failed to take custody of the child after  

delivery, that is a breach of contract. You would be  surprised but I hear more cases where the intended  

parents abandoned the baby than I've ever heard of  surrogates wanting to keep the baby. So, that would  

also be a breach of contract. If the parents  violate the surrogate's confidentiality and  

privacy, again, that would be a breach of contract.  So, going back to the idea of surrogacy courts,  

you know, you may be wondering well, what courts do  surrogacy related cases go to if they don't go to  

surrogacy courts? Well, again, we realize like that  they're using surrogacy in a different context  

but a surrogacy related case with regards  to assisted reproduction simply goes to  

the court in the state that has jurisdiction  over that surrogacy agreement. So, for instance,

if a surrogacy arrangement happened in Los Angeles,  based on California law and it was drafted with  

regard to being heard and under the jurisdiction  of the county of Los Angeles, it would simply  

go to Los Angeles superior court in the proper  department that handles those cases. So, essentially  

any court that has the authority to hear your case,  you know, the legal parentage or custody or breach,

one of the places to look for a clue as to  where a breach of contract should be filed, in  

your particular case, it would be included in the  terms and conditions of the surrogacy agreement.

Oftentimes there will be a choice of law section  and a jurisdiction section in your surrogacy  

contract and it'll tell you what court each party  is submitting to with regards to jurisdiction  

and of course choice of law. So, that's going  to be a great place for you to go check  

to find out where to bring a breach of contract  claim in a surrogacy arrangement that you're in.

But now is a good time to discuss how we handle  breach of contract claims in a surrogacy agreement  

because this isn't any old agreement, right? You  know once a surrogate is pregnant, she's kind of  

pregnant and there's really no turning back until  she delivers. So, surrogacy is a bit different than  

other contractual relationships because it's not  just like, you know, I hired someone to mow my lawn  

and I get angry with them and it's all bets  are off, stop mowing my lawn. Well, I can't say  

all bets are off, stop carrying my baby. It's not  necessarily safe so, there's a nuance and there  

is a certain finesse that needs to be applied to  surrogacy arrangements even with regards to breach  

of contract claims. So, when there's a possible  breach of contract in a surrogacy agreement, the  

parties just don't steam head first and file a  case in court. First, we take steps to assess the  

potential breach or material breach and it's  really handled in more of a gradual nature  

so as to make a determination and not jump to  conclusions. First thing we need to do is determine  

if there's a breach or if there's a likely breach.  Now, some things are very easy to determine. You  

know let's say that the surrogate was supposed  to have a doctor's appointment and the surrogate  

didn't show up at the doctor's appointment. Well,  that's very easy to find out. We can just simply  

check the records at the doctor's office and find  out did she show up. If she didn't, that's a breach  

of contract. But again it's not time to run to  the court and file a breach of contract claim.

The first thing we do after there is a likely  breach or or a seriously alleged breach is we  

provide notice to the breaching party. So, after  you discover the breach, put the other party on  

notice that hey, I think you violated the contract  and again you wouldn't want to do this directly.

If at all possible, you want to work through your  professionals, that's why you pay them. So, you want  

to reach out to your attorney to contact her  attorney or or the parent's attorney or vice  

versa however the breach is flowing or even get  the agency involved if you have an agency helping  

but you want to put the people on notice that  they've reached. The next thing that you should  

do is give the breaching party the opportunity to  cure the breach or fix it, that's what I mean by  

cure. So, essentially you give them the opportunity  to make it right and if it's something as simple  

as missing a doctor's appointment, then for sure  you can reschedule the appointment and hopefully  

for a very close time and get it knocked out and  that way you've cured or you fixed the breach.

If there is a breach and it can't be cured  in a timely fashion, you would want to take  

a step prior to initiating court proceedings and  that step may be mediation. So, the agency and the  

attorneys would first try to mediate or settle the  misunderstanding or maybe you take it to formal  

mediation with the mediation company. If efforts  at mediating the issue fail, you can also bring in  

a mental health professional to talk through  it if it's only issues that are related to  

relationship or relational issues. If talking to  the mental health professional doesn't work, if  

mediation doesn't work, then you can actually go to  arbitration and that's when the dispute is brought  

before an arbitration board or an arbitration  court and you have a hearing that's very very  

similar to a court hearing and actually is held  by attorneys or retired judges and it's private  

in nature and really a lot of intended parents  and surrogates, they rather go the arbitration  

route than court because again, it is private. Once  you file something in court, it's public record for  

the most part unless it involves a minor and  some courts do view surrogacy arrangements as  

court proceedings that involve minors and they  will seal the records so that it's not available  

to the public, but that's not a guarantee. So,  that's why most parties will prefer to have  

an arbitration because they get the same level of  a court proceeding, but it's a private resolution  

to the issues. So, in an arbitration, the arbitrator  will heal the case and they will make a binding  

decision on the matter just like if it was a court.  And then last but not least, if all those things  

fail, you can always take your matter to a court  of competent jurisdiction, meaning a court that has  

the jurisdiction to hear the case. If you're in a  surrogacy arrangement and you feel like the other   

party has breached the arrangement, my first advice  is reach out to them through your representatives,

but if you still can't find any satisfaction and  you need some help, reach out to me. I may or may  

not be able to help you but I may also be able  to point you in the direction of someone who can  

help you if you're in a different state or if I  just can't take the case or something like that.

So, if that's you and you want some help or you  want to talk to somebody about your situation,

just click the link below and you'll be taken to a  chat with me and we can chat, we can talk about it.