Who will be the legal parents of a child born through surrogacy in Ukraine if the intended parents divorce or die during the pregnancy?

Who does Ukrainian law recognize as the parents of a child born through surrogacy?

Ukrainian law recognizes the married couple whose embryo was used as the parents of a child carried by a surrogate. The rule is set out in Article 123(2) of the Family Code of Ukraine:

"2. Where an embryo conceived by spouses (a husband and a wife) through the use of assisted reproductive technologies is transferred into the body of another woman, the spouses are the parents of the child."

The provision does not specify at what point the intended parents must be married: on the date of the embryo transfer, on the date of the birth, or on the date the birth is registered. Nor does it address what happens if the couple divorces or one of them dies before the birth.

The civil registry office (DRACS) registers the birth of such a child on the application of the spouses who consented to the embryo transfer. Along with their application, the spouses submit the document confirming the birth, the consent of the woman who gave birth to register the spouses as the child's parents, with her signature notarized, and a certificate confirming the genetic relationship of both parents, or of one of them, to the fetus (Paragraph 11, Chapter 1, Section III of the Rules for State Registration of Civil Status Acts in Ukraine, approved by Order No. 52/5 of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine of October 18, 2000 (the "Registration Rules")).

The requirements for the surrogacy program itself were set by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in the Procedure for the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Ukraine, approved by Order No. 787 of September 9, 2013 ("Procedure No. 787"). Under this Procedure, a clinic may perform a surrogacy program only if the couple, or one of the intended parents, has a genetic link to the child (Paragraph 6.1 of Procedure No. 787). The couple submits to the clinic, among other documents, a copy of their marriage certificate and a notarized copy of the agreement with the surrogate (Paragraph 6.11 of Procedure No. 787).

Unlike the clinic, the civil registry office does not require the surrogacy agreement. Registration of the intended parents as the child's parents therefore depends on their application, the surrogate's consent, and the certificate of genetic relationship, not on the terms of the agreement.

Alongside this special procedure, the general rule of the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Civil Status Acts" applies. The civil registry office registers a child's birth on the application of both parents or of one of them (Article 13(2) of the Law). If the parents have died or cannot register the birth for other reasons, the application may be filed by relatives, other persons, or an authorized representative of the healthcare facility where the child was born (ibid.).

No one may contest the maternity of a child born through a surrogacy program (Article 139(2) of the Family Code). The Code contains no comparable bar for paternity. A person who consented to assisted reproductive technologies under Article 123(1), that is, where the wife herself gave birth, may not contest paternity (Article 136(5) of the Family Code). The widely repeated claim that this provision also bars an intended father in a surrogacy program from contesting paternity is not supported by its text.

Whom will the civil registry office register as parents if the intended parents divorce before the birth?

Will the civil registry office register a divorced couple as the child's parents?

The civil registry office may register a divorced couple as the child's parents if both former spouses file the application and the surrogate gives notarized consent to register them, specifically, as the parents. No provision addresses this situation directly. If one of the former spouses does not file the application or the surrogate withholds consent, the matter will be decided by a court.

The closest rule is Article 122(2) of the Family Code: a child born before ten months have passed since the marriage ended or was declared invalid is presumed to be the child of the spouses. That rule was written for a child born to the wife, because Part 1 of the same Article establishes parentage on the basis of a document confirming that the wife gave birth. Whether the ten-month rule extends to a child born to a surrogate, the Code does not say, and a court will decide this question case by case.

The civil registry office has registered intended parents as parents even when they were not yet married on the date of the birth. In case No. 465/1387/17-ц, the surrogate gave birth on January 5, 2012, and the intended parents registered their marriage on February 4, 2012. Three days after the marriage, on February 7, 2012, the surrogate gave notarized consent to register the couple as the parents. The civil registry office issued the birth certificate naming the intended parents as parents on February 10, 2012.

Can a former husband or wife disclaim paternity or maternity?

A former wife registered as the mother of a child born to a surrogate cannot contest her maternity, even if the marriage was dissolved during the pregnancy and she is not the child's genetic mother.

In case No. 726/2261/15-ц, the couple, because of the wife's medical diagnosis, went through a surrogacy program using donor eggs and the husband's sperm. On November 17, 2014, the clinic transferred the embryos to the surrogate; on May 26, 2015, a court dissolved the marriage; and on July 9, 2015, the surrogate gave birth to twins, whom the civil registry office registered as the children of the former couple. The former wife sued her former husband to remove her name as mother from the birth records, and the former husband admitted the claim.

On January 18, 2016, the Sadhirskyi District Court of Chernivtsi dismissed the claim, relying on Article 139(2) of the Family Code. In its reasoning, the court noted that the rules of Article 123 rest on the principle of acknowledgment, under which "legal significance attaches not to the biological aspect of the child's birth but to the social one – the person's intention to acknowledge the child as their own," and that such acknowledgment "occurs before the child's birth – at the moment consent is given to the use of a particular reproductive technology." The Chernivtsi Regional Court of Appeal upheld the decision, and on September 22, 2016, the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases dismissed the former wife's cassation appeal.

A former husband may contest his paternity in court, because Article 139(2) of the Family Code applies only to maternity. In such a case, the court will examine whether the former husband consented to the program and to the use of the specific embryos the clinic transferred to the surrogate.

Courts have already assessed this kind of consent in cases where a woman carried the child herself after assisted reproduction. A man who agreed to the use of these technologies cannot contest paternity, regardless of how his relationship with the child's mother developed afterward (Supreme Court ruling of April 28, 2020, in case No. 520/12514/18). Consent that the husband never withdrew remains effective even after the couple has in fact separated (ruling of the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases of November 18, 2015, in case No. 6-27563ск15). If, however, the husband never agreed to the use of donor embryos with no genetic link to him, the court removes his name as father from the record (Supreme Court ruling of August 3, 2022, in case No. 344/1962/19).

A court will also leave the father's registration in place where the intended parents' marriage has been declared invalid. In case No. 148/1378/22, the intended mother, registered as the child's mother, sued after the marriage was annulled to remove her former husband's name as father, because the clinic had created the embryo from her genetic material and that of a third party. On January 30, 2023, the Nemyriv District Court of Vinnytsia Region granted the claim. However, on December 19, 2023, the Vinnytsia Court of Appeal reversed that decision and dismissed the claim, because when the joint application to register the birth was filed, the intended mother already knew that the respondent was not the child's father.

What happens to the child after the intended parents divorce?

Courts decide disputes between former spouses over termination of parental rights, the child's place of residence, and child support under the general rules of the Family Code of Ukraine. They apply no special rules to a child born to a surrogate.

In case No. 202/1437/22, the couple divorced on January 12, 2021, in the seventh month of the surrogate's pregnancy. After the birth, the father took the child home from the maternity hospital, and the son lives with him. On September 6, 2022, the Amur-Nyzhnodniprovskyi District Court of Dnipropetrovsk granted the father's claim and terminated the parental rights of the former wife, who was registered as the mother (Article 164(1)(2) of the Family Code). The court found that she takes no part in raising her son, does not visit or communicate with him, and avoids supporting him, although the father does not prevent contact.

Termination of parental rights remains an exceptional measure even when the child was born to a surrogate. In case No. 753/14498/22, the father, with whom a court had placed the son after the divorce, asked the court to terminate his former wife's parental rights. On October 24, 2023, the Darnytskyi District Court of Kyiv dismissed the claim, because the mother opposed it, wished to maintain contact with her son, and had herself sued to have the child live with her. The Kyiv Court of Appeal (ruling of May 8, 2024) and the Supreme Court agreed; the Supreme Court noted that severing the child's family ties with the mother would not be in the child's best interests (ruling of June 4, 2025).

A mother with no genetic link to the child has the same rights as the father in a dispute over the child's place of residence and custody. In case No. 358/266/22, involving the father's claim and the mother's counterclaim to determine where their daughter, born to a surrogate, should live, the Obolonskyi District Court of Kyiv, by decision of March 26, 2024, dismissed the father's claim and ordered that the daughter live with her mother. The court noted that although the child was "born through surrogacy," the woman named on the birth certificate "is her mother."

After a divorce, each intended parent remains equally obliged to support the child. In the same case No. 465/1387/17-ц, the intended parents divorced on July 11, 2012. The Frankivskyi District Court of Lviv ordered the father to pay child support, and the Lviv Regional Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court upheld that order (ruling of March 15, 2018).

What happens to the embryos after a divorce?

No legal provision determines the fate of embryos left at the clinic after a divorce. In case No. 758/7618/24, the former husband sued after the divorce to compel the clinic to destroy the couple's cryopreserved embryos, and on October 15, 2024, the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv granted the claim. In its ruling of January 14, 2025, the Kyiv Court of Appeal revised the reasoning of the decision but otherwise left it unchanged.

The appellate court noted that the law does not regulate this kind of dispute, so the court decides it based on the agreement with the clinic and the application for embryo cryopreservation. Under that application, the clinic could extend storage of the embryos only with the mutual written consent of both spouses. Once the former husband stated his objection in writing, the clinic was no longer entitled to continue storing them.

To have embryos cryopreserved, the couple files an application (Paragraph 7.1 of Procedure No. 787), but that paragraph does not require the spouses' mutual consent to extend storage. Couples therefore need to include terms on what happens to the embryos in the event of divorce both in the agreement with the clinic and in that application.

Who will be the child's parents if one of the intended parents dies during the surrogate's pregnancy?

The law does not expressly say whether the civil registry office will register both the surviving and the deceased intended parent as the child's parents. The civil registry office may register a birth on the application of one parent (Article 13(2) of the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Civil Status Acts"). For a child born to a surrogate, however, the Registration Rules require an application from the spouses and do not provide for the death of one of them (Paragraph 11, Chapter 1, Section III of the Registration Rules).

The surviving intended parent may therefore file the application as one of the parents. If the civil registry office refuses to register both intended parents, the surviving intended parent files a lawsuit to recognize paternity or maternity.

A claim circulating online holds that the law on biological parenthood for military personnel recognizes a deceased person as the father or mother of a child conceived from that person's reproductive cells. The text of the law does not support it. Law of Ukraine No. 3496-IX of November 22, 2023, as amended by Law No. 3573-IX of February 7, 2024, provides only that a deceased person's reproductive cells are stored free of charge for three years after death. After that period, storage may be extended at the expense of a person named in the deceased's will (Subparagraph 3, Paragraph 2, Section II of Law No. 3496-IX). The law does not determine the parentage of a child conceived from such cells.

If the civil registry office did register the deceased husband as the father, his heirs may, in certain circumstances, contest his paternity. The wife, parents, and children of a man registered as the father after his death may contest his paternity if he died before the child was born and did not know, and could not have known, of his wife's pregnancy. In such a dispute, the court applies Article 137(3) of the Family Code by analogy (ruling of the Joint Chamber of the Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of July 31, 2023, in case No. 461/3122/19).

That case involved a child conceived naturally. A child was also conceived naturally in case No. 383/817/24, where the Supreme Court applied Article 137(3) of the Family Code directly (ruling of July 8, 2026). The Joint Chamber tied the heirs' right to contest paternity to the husband's lack of knowledge of the pregnancy, whereas an intended father in a surrogacy program gives written consent to the embryo transfer.

A child whose registered father has died keeps the rights that flow from the child's parentage. The Supreme Court upheld the right to a survivor's pension for a child whom the widow gave birth to through assisted reproductive technologies almost two years after her husband's death, noting that this right "cannot be made dependent on the time of the child's birth" (ruling of the Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of October 19, 2022, in case No. 420/5/22). In that situation, the deceased's paternity was established in non-contentious proceedings by the Suvorovskyi District Court of Odesa (decision of July 21, 2021, in case No. 523/19447/20). In both cases the widow carried the child herself, so neither case involves surrogacy.

The Supreme Court also held that refusing a one-time payment to the child of a fallen service member, conceived during his lifetime and born after his death, was discriminatory (ruling of the Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of May 10, 2024, in case No. 440/6725/23).

The widow or partner of a fallen service member may obtain the right to his reproductive cells or the couple's embryos by suing the clinic. In such cases, courts rely on the man's wishes expressed during his lifetime. On June 30, 2025, the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv granted a widow the right to dispose of and use her late husband's cryopreserved sperm, because he had given her a power of attorney to dispose of his biological material during his lifetime (case No. 758/4691/25). On February 13, 2026, the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv granted the same right over shared embryos to a woman who had lived with a service member as a family without registering a marriage (case No. 463/12547/25).

What happens to the child if both intended parents die before the birth?

If both intended parents have died, the civil registry office registers the child's birth on the application of relatives, other persons, or an authorized representative of the healthcare facility where the child was born or is staying (Article 13(2) of the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Civil Status Acts"; Paragraph 8, Chapter 1, Section III of the Registration Rules). Paragraph 11 of the same Rules requires an application from the spouses to register intended parents as parents, so it does not cover the case where both intended parents have died. As of November 2026, no cases in which both intended parents died before the birth were found in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, so the consequences of this situation are governed only by general rules.

The surrogate does not acquire the right to decide the child's future after both intended parents die. No provision grants her such a right, and in the event of the parents' death the law assigns a role to relatives, the healthcare facility, and the guardianship authority.

If the parents or other relatives do not take the child home from the maternity hospital, Children's Services, together with the authorized unit of the National Police, places the child temporarily, for example with relatives or family friends, with a foster carer, in a foster family, or in an infant home (Paragraph 31 of the Procedure for the Activities of Guardianship Authorities Related to the Protection of Children's Rights, approved by Resolution No. 866 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of September 24, 2008 ("Procedure No. 866")). Within two months, Children's Services gathers the documents needed to grant the child the status of an orphan or of a child deprived of parental care (Paragraph 21 of Procedure No. 866). The district state administration or the executive body of the city or city-district council grants orphan status to a child whose parents have died, based on the death certificate of each parent (Paragraphs 22 and 23 of Procedure No. 866).

A guardian for the child is appointed by the guardianship authority (Article 63(1) of the Civil Code of Ukraine). Preference goes to persons who have family or kinship ties with the child, taking into account their personal relationship and ability to perform a guardian's duties (Article 63(4) of the Civil Code). Grandparents and other relatives may take the child home from the maternity hospital with the permission of the guardianship authority (Article 143(4) of the Family Code).

Intended parents therefore cannot designate a guardian for the child by agreement or by a written statement. The guardianship authority chooses the guardian, and the intended parents' relatives receive preference only as candidates whom that authority evaluates.

Foreign grandparents who are not married may adopt the child, because the bar on adoption by unmarried foreigners does not apply to the child's relatives (Article 212(1)(9) of the Family Code). The same rule applies to guardians (Article 244(3) of the Family Code). Where several persons wish to adopt the child, a citizen of Ukraine, including a relative of the child, has priority (Article 213 of the Family Code).

In case No. 203/4924/23, on September 8, 2025, the Tsentralnyi District Court of Dnipro recognized the right of a deceased man's parents, as a married couple, to use assisted reproductive technologies through surrogacy with three of their son's embryos, ordered the clinic to hand those embryos over to them, and recognized their right to be registered as the child's parents. On April 24, 2026, the Dnipro Court of Appeal declared that decision void and closed the proceedings because the plaintiffs withdrew their claim. The decision therefore cannot be cited as an example of case law, although some publications still present it as a precedent. The facts of this case are analyzed in detail in the article "Surrogacy in Ukraine: the illusion of legal protection."

Can anyone refuse a child born to a surrogate?

Can intended parents refuse to take the child?

The Family Code declares a parent's refusal of a child unlawful and contrary to the moral principles of society (Article 155(3) of the Family Code). Parents who evade their parental duties bear the liability established by law (Article 155(4) of the Family Code).

A married mother and father are required to take their child home from the maternity hospital (Article 143(1) of the Family Code). Parents may leave a child at a healthcare facility only if the child has significant physical or mental developmental defects, or if there are other circumstances of material significance (Article 143(3) of the Family Code).

If parents, without good reason, do not take the child from the maternity hospital and show no parental care for six months, a court may terminate their parental rights (Article 164(1)(1) of the Family Code). The six-month period in this provision is part of the ground for terminating parental rights.

A person whose parental rights have been terminated is not released from the duty to support the child (Article 166(2) of the Family Code). When a court grants a claim to terminate parental rights, it orders child support at the same time (Article 166(3) of the Family Code).

Courts apply these provisions to foreign intended parents who did not take the child from the surrogate as well. In case No. 758/14787/24, a surrogate gave birth to a child for a couple who were citizens of China, and the clinic confirmed the child's genetic relationship to the father. The intended parents never came to Ukraine and did not register the child's birth themselves. From March 2022 the child lived in the Chernivtsi Regional Specialized Infant Home, and the intended parents never once visited.

By a default judgment of May 5, 2025, the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv granted the claim brought by the Podilskyi District State Administration in Kyiv acting as the guardianship authority. The court terminated the parental rights of both intended parents, finding that they had evaded their parental duties, and ordered them to pay child support to the persons or institutions that will take over the child's upbringing.

In case No. 715/3012/25, brought by a nanny against the intended parents, a citizen of Italy and a citizen of Cameroon, to terminate their parental rights, the child is genetically related to both intended parents. The child was born on March 26, 2021; the intended parents did not take the child from the maternity hospital, and from the age of one month the child was cared for by a nanny. The civil registry office registered the birth only on the basis of a decision of the Hlyboka District Court of Chernivtsi Region of June 30, 2023. On October 22, 2025, the same court granted the nanny's claim, noting that she intends to adopt the child, and terminated the parental rights of both intended parents, citing, among other things, the unlawfulness of a parent's refusal of a child.

Even a notarized statement renouncing a child does not strip a parent of parental rights. In a case unrelated to surrogacy, the Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of a claim to terminate a mother's parental rights, even though she had renounced the child by notarized statement and admitted the claim. The court held that such statements "cannot serve as grounds for granting the claim, because a parent's refusal of a child is unlawful" (Supreme Court ruling of November 10, 2023, in case No. 401/1944/22).

The law does not expressly prohibit refusing a child before the birth is registered. Even so, where intended parents have not registered the child's birth themselves, a court still orders them to pay child support and terminates their parental rights, as in case No. 758/14787/24. If a parent's willful failure to care for a child has caused grave consequences, criminal liability follows (Article 166 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

What happens if the surrogate withholds consent or keeps the child?

Without the surrogate's notarized consent, the civil registry office cannot register the intended parents as parents under Paragraph 11 of the Registration Rules. If there is no consent, the intended parents protect their rights in court.

In a case brought by a married couple who were citizens of Italy against the surrogate, her husband, and the civil registry office to recognize paternity and amend the birth records, the surrogate, after giving birth to twins, refused to consent to the intended parents' registration as parents. She registered the children's birth, naming herself and her husband as the parents, and refused to hand the children over to the intended parents. On March 13, 2012, the Bar District Court of Vinnytsia Region granted the claim, and the Vinnytsia Regional Court of Appeal upheld the decision.

By ruling of April 10, 2013, in case No. 6-791св13, the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases dismissed the cassation appeals of the surrogate, the prosecutor, and the representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. The court agreed that "regardless of how long the children stayed with the surrogate, they retain the inalienable right to live with their biological parents." On July 25, 2013, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv dismissed the same surrogate's claim against the clinic and the intended parents to invalidate the agreement (case No. 2610/22368/2012).

If the surrogate does not oppose the intended parents' claim, the court removes her details from the birth record. On July 16, 2013, on the claim of a married couple who were citizens of Italy, the Bohunskyi District Court of Zhytomyr removed the surrogate as the child's mother from the birth record and entered the intended father's wife instead, citing the bar on contesting maternity in such cases (case No. 295/4670/13-ц).

In case No. 645/9412/14-ц, on January 27, 2015, the Frunzenskyi District Court of Kharkiv dismissed the claim of a French citizen, already registered as the child's father, against the surrogate to contest maternity and remove details from the birth record. However, on June 25, 2015, the Kharkiv Regional Court of Appeal reversed that decision, granted the claim, and removed the surrogate as the child's mother from the birth record.

How can intended parents be registered as parents if the surrogate died during or after childbirth?

If the surrogate has died and her consent cannot be obtained, the intended parents go to court, and the court orders the civil registry office to register the child's birth naming the intended parents as parents. The surrogate carrying for a married couple who were citizens of Poland died on April 15, 2021, after giving birth to twins, and the civil registry office refused to register the birth because her consent was missing. On June 30, 2021, the Makariv District Court of Kyiv Region granted the wife's claim against her husband and the civil registry office, recognized the intended parents' maternity and paternity, and ordered the civil registry office to register the children's birth (case No. 370/1384/21).

On October 9, 2023, in non-contentious proceedings, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv established the family relationship between a married couple who were citizens of Sweden and their two daughters, whose surrogate died in childbirth (case No. 761/32092/23). The court noted that current law does not regulate how a birth is to be registered when the surrogate's notarized statement cannot be obtained because of her death.

What risks does the absence of these rules create for foreign intended parents?

A child of foreign intended parents does not acquire Ukrainian citizenship simply by being born in Ukraine. A person born in Ukraine to foreign nationals is a citizen of Ukraine if, at the time of birth, the parents were permanently residing in Ukraine within the meaning of the Law of Ukraine "On Citizenship of Ukraine" and the child did not acquire another citizenship at birth (Article 7 of the Law, as amended by Law No. 4502-IX of June 18, 2025). The same condition of the parents' permanent residence applies to acquiring citizenship by territorial origin (Article 8 of the Law).

Foreign intended parents who stay in Ukraine for the program on a visa or under the visa-free regime do not permanently reside in Ukraine within the meaning of that Law. As a result, a child whom foreign intended parents have abandoned, or whose parents have died, risks being left stateless if the intended parents' country does not recognize the child's parentage.

If the birth has not been registered on the intended parents' application, a dispute over the child's parentage can drag on for years. In case No. 760/6143/21, a child born to a surrogate on March 16, 2020, for a Chinese man and a Ukrainian woman, genetically related only to the father, remained in Ukraine without the intended parents because the father was in China due to COVID-19 restrictions. In April 2020, the child, removed during a search in a criminal investigation, was recorded in the official reports as a foundling. On the decision of the guardianship authority, the civil registry office registered other persons as the child's parents, and the child was given the status of a child deprived of parental care.

On October 17, 2024, the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv recognized the intended parents' paternity and maternity. On November 4, 2025, the Kyiv Court of Appeal reversed that decision and dismissed the claim, because the father did not appear for sample collection for a repeat DNA examination and the child has lived in Ukraine with a guardian since birth. By ruling of September 16, 2026, the Supreme Court upheld the appellate ruling.

Where the civil registry office has already registered the intended parents as parents, a court will not establish a second time that they are the child's parents for use abroad. On January 17, 2024, the Kyiv Court of Appeal reversed a decision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv that, on the application of a German citizen, had established that she and her husband were the parents of a child born to a surrogate, and dismissed the application (case No. 761/21494/22). The appellate court noted that the birth certificate already confirms the family relationship. Because the applicant's husband, from whom she had by then lived apart for almost three years, appealed the decision, the appellate court concluded that there was a dispute over rights, which cannot be resolved in non-contentious proceedings.

The intended parents' home country decides under its own law whether it will recognize a Ukrainian birth certificate or a Ukrainian court decision. Disputes Law Firm represents clients only in Ukraine, so intended parents should check the requirements of their own country's law with a local lawyer before starting the program.

How can intended parents be recognized as the child's parents if they divorced or one of them died before the birth?

If, after a divorce or the death of one of the intended parents, the civil registry office cannot register them as parents, a court establishes paternity or maternity in an action to recognize paternity or maternity. After the death of one intended parent, the surviving parent files the action; after a divorce, the former spouse who wishes to be registered as the child's father or mother does so.

The firm's attorney assesses the likelihood of success in such cases as high, because courts decide disputes over a child's parentage based on the child's best interests, meaning that the child should stay with the parents and not end up in an institution for children deprived of parental care. In doing so, courts refer to Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which establishes the best-interests principle. The Supreme Court has expressly stated that in paternity disputes courts "must be guided by the best interests of the child, ensuring a balance between the interests of the child and those of the parties" (Supreme Court ruling of April 28, 2020, in case No. 520/12514/18).

The death of one intended parent and the divorce of the intended parents are different factual grounds, so the parties and the claims differ between these cases. In each case they depend on the circumstances of the particular couple and on the surrogate's position: whether she consents to registering the intended parents, whether she objects, whether both intended parents are alive, and whether both former spouses wish to be the child's parents.

The research for this article found no court decisions recognizing intended parents' paternity or maternity in connection with their divorce or the death of one of them. It did identify other cases in which a court resolved a situation where the law was silent or the documents needed to register the intended parents at the civil registry office were missing. Besides the cases involving the surrogate's death (No. 370/1384/21 and No. 761/32092/23), these include three cases.

On October 17, 2025, the Romny City and District Court of Sumy Region recognized the paternity and maternity of a Ukrainian couple who registered their marriage only after the surrogate gave birth, and ordered the civil registry office to register the birth. The court called the refusal to register the child "excessive formalism" that violates the child's rights (case No. 585/2122/25).

On April 4, 2023, the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv recognized the paternity and maternity of a married couple whose child the civil registry office had earlier registered, on the decision of the guardianship authority, as a child of unknown parents, naming other persons as the parents (case No. 760/7095/21). The child had been removed during the same search as the child in case No. 760/6143/21, but in case No. 760/7095/21 the court had the conclusions of two genetic examinations.

On February 20, 2023, the Dniprovskyi District Court of Kyiv recognized the paternity of a French citizen over a child carried by a surrogate using a donor egg, and ordered the civil registry office to register the birth with the father's details (case No. 755/7142/22). The civil registry office had earlier refused registration because the plaintiff was not married to the woman who gave birth, and the court noted that this situation deprived the father of the ability to register the birth out of court and violated the child's rights.

When preparing a claim in a case on establishing and contesting paternity and maternity, the attorney begins by analyzing the program documents, the circumstances of the particular couple, and the surrogate's position.

What can and cannot be settled in the agreements with the clinic and the surrogate?

An agreement with the surrogate does not change the rules on the child's parentage and does not replace her consent to register the intended parents as parents. Nor does the agreement determine who will be the child's guardian if the intended parents die, because the guardian is appointed by the guardianship authority.

Procedure No. 787 does not require the agreement itself to be notarized. The couple submits a notarized copy of it to the clinic (Paragraph 6.11 of Procedure No. 787). A notary also certifies the authenticity of the surrogate's signature on her consent to register the spouses as parents (Paragraph 6.9 of Procedure No. 787). The claim that the agreement and all program documents must be in notarial form is therefore not supported by these provisions.

In a will, a person may name who will pay for storing his or her reproductive cells after three years of free storage (Subparagraph 3, Paragraph 2, Section II of Law No. 3496-IX). The fate of embryos in the event of divorce is determined by a court based on the agreement with the clinic and the application for embryo cryopreservation, as in case No. 758/7618/24.

Courts resolve financial disputes under these agreements according to their terms. The Supreme Court set aside a decision ordering the surrogate to return part of the money paid by the intended parents, because the agreement tied any refund to a pregnancy, which never occurred (Supreme Court ruling of October 23, 2019, in case No. 150/628/16-ц). The Ivano-Frankivsk Court of Appeal ordered a clinic to pay the former wife pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages because clinic staff had used donor embryos without the couple's consent. The Supreme Court upheld that part of the appellate ruling (ruling of August 5, 2026, in case No. 344/4082/23), although in that case the woman carried the child herself.

Before the embryo transfer, intended parents need to check what their agreements with the clinic, the agency, and the surrogate provide in the event of divorce or death. This review is where legal support for surrogacy in Ukraine begins.

The bills intended to regulate surrogacy have not resolved these issues. In April 2023, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recommended rejecting government bill No. 6475. According to the Verkhovna Rada, government bill No. 13683 was withdrawn on July 16, 2026. Alternative bill No. 13683-1 and bills No. 15507 and No. 15506 remain under consideration by the relevant committee as of November 2026.

Accordingly, if intended parents divorce or one of them dies during the surrogate's pregnancy, their rights and the child's rights are protected by the program documents executed before the embryo transfer and by a lawsuit to recognize paternity or maternity.