Family Formation Benefits
Support more paths to parenthood.
Building a family does not look the same for everyone. We help employers create flexible programs that can support fertility treatment, fertility preservation, adoption, surrogacy and other family-building needs, designed around the different ways employees actually build their families rather than forcing every expense into a traditional medical benefit.
One program, multiple paths
Employees see a single program with one balance and one set of rules. Underneath, each expense is routed to the component that carries the right tax treatment.
Fertility treatment
Support for eligible fertility care such as diagnostic services, fertility medications, IVF, egg retrieval, embryo transfer and related treatment. Depending on the circumstances and the terms of the plan, many of these expenses can be reimbursed tax-free.
Fertility preservation
Support for egg, sperm or embryo preservation, including expenses that may fall outside a traditional tax-free medical benefit. When needed, these are administered through a separate taxable reimbursement component.
Adoption assistance
Reimbursement for eligible adoption expenses such as agency fees, legal expenses, court costs, home studies, placement expenses and qualifying travel. Adoption assistance has its own tax and payroll rules, so we administer it separately from the medical portion of the program.
Surrogacy and donor support
Taxable reimbursement for eligible surrogacy, gestational carrier and donor-related expenses, based on your plan design. This lets you support more family-building paths without trying to treat every expense as a medical claim.
Doula care before, during and after childbirth, including pregnancy loss support, can be built into the same program.
Why the structure matters
To an employee, this feels like one family formation benefit. Behind the scenes, not every expense receives the same treatment. Some reimbursements qualify as tax-free medical benefits. Others need to be treated as taxable income. Adoption assistance follows a separate set of rules again.
Fertility care is the clearest example. Whether it can be reimbursed tax-free usually comes down to documentation: a diagnosis, and a letter from the treating provider explaining why the treatment is medically necessary, are typically what make the difference. We tell employees what is needed up front, so it is not a surprise at claim time.
That is where specialized administration matters. We build the distinctions into the program, process each expense against the right benefit component and give you what you need for payroll reporting. Employees should not have to become tax experts to use their benefit.
Flexible by design
There is no single family formation program that works for every workforce.
You determine the overall benefit amount, the covered services, the eligibility rules, and whether the program includes fertility, preservation, adoption, surrogacy or other family-building support.
Plans can also be built with shared annual or lifetime maximums across components, so an employee whose path changes partway through does not start over. Eligibility can be written so that coverage does not depend on marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or family structure, which is how most of the programs we administer are designed.
A better member experience
Family-building care is personal. The benefit should feel supportive, not administrative.
Members get clear plan information, straightforward reimbursement instructions and direct access to our team when they have a question about an expense or a documentation request. We handle the complexity behind the scenes and keep the employee experience as simple as we can.
Supporting a global workforce
Family formation benefits do not have to stop at the US border.
For employers with employees outside the United States, we can coordinate reimbursement administration with your payroll team and local advisors to support international benefit programs.
Program design, tax treatment, currency conversion and reporting vary by country, so these programs are structured in coordination with you rather than copied from the US plan.
Expertise without the one-size-fits-all approach
Family formation benefits sit at the intersection of healthcare, reimbursement administration and payroll. That makes thoughtful plan design worth the time it takes.
We specialize in employer-funded reimbursement programs. We work directly with employers and their advisors to develop a program that reflects the organization, then provide the hands-on administration and member support that makes it work in practice.
Marin Benefits provides third-party administration and plan design support. Information on this page is general in nature and is not legal or tax advice. Eligibility, reimbursement and tax treatment depend on the specific plan and expense. Surrogacy arrangements are subject to state, federal and local law.