## Facts

- A married couple from Connecticut (the genetic parents) entered a written gestational carrier agreement with a gestational carrier and her husband from New York.
- The agreement provided that the child would be delivered at a Massachusetts hospital if possible and that the carrier would take reasonable steps to give birth in Massachusetts.
- The embryo was created from the genetic parents’ gametes and transferred to the gestational carrier.
- The carrier received prenatal care at a Massachusetts hospital in anticipation of delivering there.
- Before birth, the genetic parents filed an uncontested equity action in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court seeking declarations of paternity and maternity and a prebirth order directing that a Massachusetts birth record list them as the child’s legal parents.
- The Probate and Family Court judge dismissed, concluding she lacked authority to issue prebirth parentage judgments or order a prebirth record of birth because none of the individuals resided in Massachusetts.
- A single justice of the Appeals Court enjoined the hospital from issuing or filing a birth certificate for the child while appellate review proceeded.

## Issues

1. Whether the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, exercising equity jurisdiction under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 215, § 6, may issue prebirth judgments of parentage and direct issuance of a Massachusetts birth record when none of the individuals are Massachusetts residents but the birth is to occur at a Massachusetts hospital.
2. Whether Massachusetts law governs the requested relief under the parties’ choice-of-law clause and the transaction’s contacts with Massachusetts.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the dismissal and remanded.
- The court held the Probate and Family Court had authority under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 215, § 6, to issue prebirth judgments of paternity and maternity and to order issuance of a prebirth record of birth in these circumstances.
- The court held Massachusetts law applied, enforcing the parties’ choice-of-law clause given Massachusetts’ substantial relationship to the transaction.
- The court directed entry of judgments establishing the genetic parents as the child’s legal parents and a prebirth order requiring the Massachusetts birth record to reflect that parentage.

## Legal Principles

- Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts possess broad equitable authority under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 215, § 6, including power to adjudicate parentage and order relief affecting Massachusetts vital records when a Massachusetts birth and related statutory reporting duties are implicated.
- Prebirth judgments of parentage and orders directing the content of a Massachusetts birth record may be entered even if the genetic parents and gestational carrier are nonresidents, when the planned delivery and birth registration occur in Massachusetts.
- A contractual choice-of-law clause selecting Massachusetts law will be applied where Massachusetts has a substantial relationship to the transaction and applying the parties’ selection is reasonable in light of dispersed multi-state contacts.

## Conclusion

The court held that Massachusetts equity jurisdiction permits prebirth parentage judgments and related birth-record orders for an out-of-state gestational surrogacy arrangement when the parties selected a Massachusetts hospital for delivery and a Massachusetts birth record, and it required the trial court to grant the requested parentage declarations and prebirth order under Massachusetts law.


Hodas v. Morin, 442 Mass. 544, 814 N.E.2d 320 (Mass. 2004)