JACKSONVILLE, Fla -- A Central Florida father is demanding custody of the baby girl he claims a Jacksonville surrogate mother has stolen.

Tom and Gwyn Lamintina live in the town of Oviedo near Orlando. The surrogate, Stephanie Eckard, lives on the Westside.

The two parties are involved in a legal fight because the Lamintinas said Eckard refuses to give them the 2-week-old.

"My biggest fear is that I won't be able to bring her home. It's so hard," Gwyn Lamintina said.

The child, named Emma Grace Eckard, was born on May 9, according to court documents.

The Lamintinas said the Jacksonville woman agreed to have their baby but is now keeping the child for herself, and according to court documents filed in Duval County, the surrogate mother is asking for more than just the child.

In addition to custody of the baby, Eckard is suing for support and wants Thomas Lamintina to help pay for the child's health care and wants the father to carry life insurance with her as the beneficiary.

The fact that Tom Lamintina provided the sperm and Eckard provided the egg and carried the child has been confirmed by a DNA test included in court documents.

However, the surrogate never signed the surrogacy contract. The Lamintinas said they never checked because they trusted her.

"I just hope -- I pray everything would work out," Tom Lamintina said.

Whether there was an agreement or not, court documents state Eckard is asking for sole custody of the child, stating that shared responsibility would be detrimental and that the father would not provide a supportive or loving environment.

Eckard wouldn't comment on the case, but referred all questions to her lawyer Kelly Hanson.

Hanson said under the laws of the state of Florida, surrogacy is like adoption -- the surrogate mother has the option to keep the baby.

"She has the absolute right, at anytime, to terminate the contract and said that I want to parent my child," said adoption attorney Michael Shorstein.

Although he's not part of the Lamintina and Eckard's case, Shorstein said if it was gestational surrogacy, with Gwyn Lamintina's donating her own egg, the couple would have all rights to the child, but because it was not Gwyn Lamintina's egg, the case is a custody dispute for the court to decide.

"They would have to balance the best interest of the child and decide where the child goes, but whoever doesn't have the child the other party is going to have to pay child support," Shorstein said.