A surrogate is a person acting on behalf of someone else or as a substitute. A woman who gives birth to the child of another woman, who is unable to conceive a child on her own, is referred to as a surrogate mother. In the judicial context, an officer in certain states of the United States is known as a surrogate, as they hold the responsibility for granting legal documents such as administrative letters in probates, estates, and adoption cases.
[Last updated in November of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]