Welcome to Family Formation

We are a unique team of dedicated adoption and assisted reproduction professionals, including one of the only adoption attorneys in the country who is also a birth mother. Our clients include:

  • Birth mothers considering adoption for their babies;
  • Adoptive parents looking to adopt an infant, adult, family member, or step child;
  • Ovum, sperm, and embryo donors and recipients;
  • Surrogates and intended parents, building family through assisted reproduction;
  • Parties who want to resolve their conflicts through mediation, save money, and move on with their lives.

Whatever your journey, we are here to help! We bring passion and commitment to each individual case and look forward to the possibility of working with you.

Adoption Services

If you are pregnant and considering adoption or want to adopt a baby, a relative, a stepchild, or an adult, we are experts at determining the most seamless and cost-effective way to process your adoption, always with an eye to precluding legal issues. We are industry experts, and our managing attorney and owner, Megan Cohen, is one of the only attorneys in the country who is also a birth mother.

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Assisted Reproduction

Family Formation has worked with hundreds of intended parents to realize their dream of family. Since 2010, we have specialized in all types of third-party reproduction contracts, including surrogacy, egg donation, embryo donation and sperm donation. Our previous experience as a premier surrogacy agency gives us unique and invaluable insight when representing our intended parent clients.

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Mediation Services

Megan Cohen is a compassionate and tenacious attorney and mediator. She believes in the transformational power of mediation and works diligently with all stakeholders to come to a beneficial resolution that works for everyone. Megan’s areas of expertise include family disputes of all kinds: separation and divorce, distributing estate assets, conflicts around adoption and surrogacy.

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- Kristen and Buster Posey

We knew we wanted to work with Megan after our first phone call with her. We did our research and talked to other attorneys and agencies but after our conversation With Megan we knew we had found a great fit for our family! We felt lucky to have found her.

Megan is a really good listener. We feel we can be open and tell her anything, and she will tell us the truth, not what we want to hear. We really respected the fact that she did not give us guarantees, and she didn’t paint a rosy picture of how our adoption journey would go. She clearly and frequently managed our expectations and supported us through some difficult decisions, always compassionate and thoughtful.

We appreciate how Megan makes a complex and emotional process feel natural and positive for everyone. As a birth mother herself, Megan helped us understand what our daughters’ birth parents were going through. She was always ready with perspective and guidance as we were building a relationship with them and their family.

- Mary & James S.

From our very first phone call with Megan, it was clear to my husband and me that adoption law is not Megan’s job, it is her passion.

She has an amazing way at calming an anxious, hopeful adoptive mother (that was me!). She does not sugar coat the fact that there are no guarantees, and we found it invaluable to work with someone who was able to manage expectations. Megan truly cares and wants what is best for the baby and birth mother. Probably most important, Megan has an AMAZING team. It is a very small firm so you will get to know everyone, whether they are directly working with you or not. When you call the office, it won’t matter who answers the phone, they will know who you are and will do their very best to help you. Maura is Megan’s paralegal/case manager who worked on our adoption and I just can’t say enough. She is knowledgeable, compassionate, honest and just a joy to work with. Adoption will likely be one of the most emotional journeys you can ever go on, but in retrospect, we would do it all the same way again, starting with hiring Family Formation.

- Tomer Y.

I cannot recommend Megan and the Family Formation team enough! Megan helped us with all the legal aspects of our surrogacy journey: reviewing our contract with the egg donor agency, drafting the ovum donation contract, reviewing our contract with the surrogate agency, drafting the surrogate contact, and obtaining the parental court order.
Megan was truly amazing throughout!
Her prices are very reasonable, but more importantly, we found Megan to be both sharp and knowledgeable, and warm and patient. A truly rare combination.
As we were new to the surrogacy process, my partner and I had a lot of questions (and I mean A LOT!!), and Megan always explained things patiently and addressed all our concerns. It was clear from day one that she was extremely knowledgeable, and we quickly came to rely on her experience and advice. She always followed up quickly and didn’t let things drag on.
When at some point we ran into issues with our surrogate, Megan provided great advice in how to handle the situation, and help us make sure things didn’t escalate.
I cannot imagine a better partner for our long journey than Megan – sharp, experienced, warm, and highly professional!

- Rhonda, Mother of a Birth Mother

As the biological grandmother of an adopted child, I can honestly say that had my daughter not found Megan and Family Formation, the whole process of adoption would have been completely overwhelming for our whole family. Megan was there for my daughter, the baby’s father, and even us, the grandparents. She encouraged each of us to call with any questions or concerns (and there were a lot), and was exceptionally understanding. She made answering our concerns her only priority. Megan was there in person before and after the birth, and she was always, and still is, there for us, by phone or email. She found the perfect parents for our grandchild, and we couldn’t have asked for more. Megan made going through this heartbreaking experience less so, and I would highly recommend her. It’s not business for her. It’s personal, and it’s something you feel each time you speak with her.

More Testimonials

*These testimonials or endorsements do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. (Pursuant to Rules of Professional Conduct 1-400 and the standards adopted by the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California).