LGBTQIA+
Our firm strives to be a welcoming place for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Our firm has a long-standing relationship with the Pride Center of the Capital Region as its pro bono legal counsel, and we routinely volunteer with groups such as the Pride Center, In Our Own Voices, Equality NY, and GLSEN to provide pro bono legal services and/or legal advice to LGBTQAI+ New Yorkers.
Some of the legal services that we offer are specific to members of the LGBTQIA+ community, such as name and sex designation change proceedings. While many of the other legal services we provide (such as divorce and custody proceedings), are not specific to this community, our experience representing members of the LGBTQIA+ community in these cases allows us to be mindful of the specific issues and challenges that can arise in these cases for LGBTQAI+ individuals.
- Surrogacy – We have attorneys licensed in NY, NJ, PA and VT who can assist LGBTQIA+ individuals and couples with the process of becoming parents through gestational surrogacy, including the drafting and negotiation of the surrogacy agreement and the subsequent parentage proceeding after a pregnancy is achieved. The laws in all four of these states are legally safe places for LGBTQIA+ individuals and couples to pursue surrogacy.
- Sperm, Egg or Embryo Donation Agreements – We offer services in drafting and negotiating sperm, egg and embryo donation agreements.
- Parentage Proceedings – We handle the court proceeding to obtain an order of parentage which specifies that the intended parent(s) are the parents of their child for all purposes and that any donor(s) are not parents of the child. Orders of parentage can be obtained before or after a child is born.
- Adoption – Although many of our LGBTQIA+ clients have turned to surrogacy or assisted reproduction to form their families and secure their parentage, adoption is still an option to create or expand your family. This includes domestic infant adoption of an unrelated child, as well a second-parent or “confirmatory” adoption of a child that is biologically related to only one of the intended parents.
- Name & Sex Designation Changes – We handle both the court proceeding to obtain a legal name or sex designation change, and also assist with changing your name and/or sex designation with various state and federal agencies. We also handle litigated minor name and sex designation change cases when one parent will not consent to the change for their transgender or gender non-conforming child.
- Family Law Services – While these practice areas are not specific to the LGBTQIA+ community, the attorneys in our firm have handled many cases on behalf of members of this community and are familiar with the nuances that can arise. For example, we have handled custody cases for parents of transgender children where the issue of whether hormones should be given to the child have been at issue. We have also handled several cases for same sex partners who were not married and needed quasi-divorces when their relationship ended, and represented transgender individuals during their divorce where there were attempts to use their gender identity against them with respect to custody.
- Estate Planning – We offer estate planning services that are mindful of inheritance and other issues for same-sex couples who have chosen not to marry and also of making sure children are properly provided for when their status as the child of an individual has not been fully legally established (i.e., adoption or parentage order).
