Adoption
What a home study asks, and what it doesn’t
It is not an inspection of your furniture. A walk through the visits, the paperwork and the three questions that cost people the most sleep.
Giselle Ashcombe6 min read
Adoption, surrogacy and parentage lawyers in Beverly Hills
A family is made twice, at home and on paper
I came to this work through the paperwork, not the nursery. Early in my career I stood beside a family at a finalization hearing and watched a judge ask two nervous parents a few easy questions, because the file in front of her was clear. A frightening morning became a short and kind one. I decided to build a firm around that file.
Ashcombe Vasilakis is three lawyers who do one kind of work: bringing children into families by adoption, surrogacy, donation and parentage orders. We do not find children, match families or recruit surrogates and donors. Agencies, clinics and counselors do that, and we work alongside whichever you choose. We read the contract before you sign it, prepare what the court asks for, and stand next to you when it is decided.
Below is how we work, in plain words, with the arithmetic shown.
Giselle Ashcombe
Founding partner
Unhurried
Courts, agencies and clinics keep their own calendars. We plan around them and tell you what comes next.Exact
Every agreement and petition read line by line, and explained to you before you sign.Discreet
Your story, and your donor’s or carrier’s, held in confidence from the first call to the last order.
Guides
Start with the long answers
Written by the lawyers, in plain English, for the weeks before a first call.
ParentageWhy a birth certificate may not be enough
Two names on a certificate is a record. A court order is a judgment other states recognize. When the difference matters, and when it doesn’t.
Zora Fontaine5 min read
How it worksFrom the first call to the final order, step by step
What happens, who does it, and which parts wait on someone else’s calendar.
4 min read
Worked examples
Three families, and what each path involved
Invented examples, built from the kind of matters we handle. Your facts will differ, and we price your matter in writing after the first conversation.
- 01Adoption
A stepparent adoption nobody contests
A stepfather has raised his wife’s daughter since she was four. The girl’s other legal parent has agreed in writing, and she, now eleven, wants the adoption to happen.
How adoption worksFlat fee, quoted in writing: petition, consents, background paperwork and one hearing
The court’s filing fee is paid to the court, on top of ours
Timing is set mostly by the court’s calendar once the consents are in
- 02Surrogacy
A carrier agreement, signed before any medication
Two intended parents and a gestational carrier who met through an agency. Each side has its own lawyer, and ours represents the parents.
How surrogacy worksFlat fee for the parents’ side, quoted in writing: the agreement and the parentage order
The carrier’s lawyer, the agency, the clinic and escrow bill separately
Nothing medical starts until both sides have signed
- 03Parentage
Two mothers, one birth certificate
A couple married before their daughter was born, and one of them gave birth. Both names are on the certificate. They add a confirmatory adoption so both mothers’ rights hold wherever the family lives.
How parentage orders workFlat fee, quoted in writing: petition, a short hearing and certified copies
Some courts ask for a home study and some waive it; we say which on the first call
The certified order travels with the passports
Every case is different. Court, agency, clinic, escrow and medical costs are paid to them and are never part of our fee.
Watch
Giselle on the home study, in six minutes
A social worker visits once or twice. I explain what they are looking for, what they are not, and the three questions that cost people the most sleep.
What a home study is for, and how to prepare
Before you call
What families ask before the first call
Short answers here. The rest are on the questions page.
Do you find children, or match us with a surrogate or donor?
No. We are a law firm. Agencies, clinics and counselors do the matching, and we work with whichever you choose. We write and review the agreements, handle the court filings, and tell you if something in the arrangement worries us.
Should we call before or after we choose an agency?
Before is usually better. An agency contract, a clinic consent form or a donor agreement is far easier to change before it is signed. We will read it with you and say which parts are ordinary and which are not.
Do we need a lawyer if everyone agrees?
Often, yes, because agreement is not the same as an order. A court order is what a school, a passport office or a hospital will accept years from now, when memories and circumstances have changed.
What does it cost?
Most of our work is a flat fee, quoted in writing after the first conversation, with what it includes and what it does not. Court fees, agency and clinic charges and the other side’s lawyer are paid to them.
Do you work with families who live in other states?
Parentage law is state law, and our admissions are listed on each lawyer’s page. When a family’s story touches another state, we say so on the first call and bring in a trusted lawyer there.
Tell us which stage you are at
Choosing an agency, holding a draft agreement or waiting for a hearing date: write a few lines, and a lawyer will read them and reply.
Please don’t send confidential details, such as names or medical information, until we have agreed to work together.