2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 10. Children › §10-557.14. Termination of agreement.

A. In no event may a gestational agreement be terminated after the gestational carrier becomes pregnant by means of assisted reproduction.
B. Other than as prohibited by subsection A of this section, a gestational agreement may be terminated by any party thereto as permitted by the terms of the agreement under the following procedures:
1. Any of the parties to a validated gestational agreement may seek to terminate the gestational agreement by first giving written notice of termination of the gestational agreement to each other party to the gestational agreement;
2. A person who sends the notice to terminate a validated gestational agreement shall file notice of the termination with the appropriate court. The court shall thereafter enter an order vacating the validation of the gestational agreement and terminating the gestational agreement. As necessary, prior to issuing the order vacating the validation and terminating the gestational agreement, the court may consider evidence to confirm the gestational carrier is not pregnant by means of assisted reproduction;
3. A validated gestational agreement is not terminated until an order vacating the validation and terminating the gestational agreement has been entered by the court;
4. If a gestational agreement has not been validated, it may be terminated by any of the parties thereto by such party sending a written notice of termination to the other parties to the gestational agreement. It is not necessary for a court to enter an order terminating a gestational agreement that has not been validated;
5. The notice of termination required by this section shall be served upon the other parties to the gestational agreement in the same manner as summons is served in civil cases;
6. Upon receipt of a notice to terminate a gestational agreement, the gestational carrier shall not undergo any assisted reproductive procedure to transfer any gametes or embryos to the gestational carrier for the purpose of conception or implantation as part of the gestational carrier arrangement unless otherwise permitted by the court;
7. No party to a gestational agreement shall be liable to any other party for damages for terminating a gestational agreement in accordance with this section; provided, however, that termination of a gestational agreement, whether validated or not, shall not relieve any party of the duty to pay for or to reimburse any other party for any medical, legal or travel expenses incurred pursuant to the gestational agreement prior to its termination which would otherwise be owed if the gestational agreement had not been terminated, and a party having a duty to pay or reimburse such expenses shall be liable to pay or reimburse such expenses; and
8. Notwithstanding anything in this act to the contrary, within one (1) year of the termination of a gestational agreement, whether validated or not, any party to the gestational agreement may file a written petition with the court that terminated a gestational agreement seeking to reinstate the gestational agreement and requesting the court validate the gestational agreement. The party filing such petition shall serve such petition on all other parties to the gestational agreement in the same manner as serving a petition in a civil case in Oklahoma. In any such case, the sole basis upon which the court may reinstate the gestational agreement and validate it is if the court finds through competent evidence that the gestational carrier became pregnant by means of an assisted reproduction procedure contemplated by the gestational agreement that was performed before the party seeking to terminate the gestational agreement served upon the gestational carrier the written notice of termination of the gestational agreement. If the court so finds, and if all the requirements to validate a gestational agreement under this act are otherwise met, the termination of the gestational agreement shall be null and void, and the court shall enter an order reinstating the gestational agreement as if it had never been terminated and validating the gestational agreement. The court, taking into account the health and well-being of the gestational carrier and the child with which she is pregnant, may order any scientifically acceptable genetic or medical testing allowed by law to aid it in its findings, may assess the costs of such testing to the party or parties the court deems appropriate and may wait to make its ruling on the reinstatement and validation of the gestational agreement until after the birth of the child.
Added by Laws 2019, c. 433, § 15, emerg. eff. May 23, 2019.