The Escrow Company – The One Link You Cannot Compromise On

During your surrogacy journey you will wire a six-figure sum to a company you've probably never heard of, somewhere in the middle of the U.S., and trust it to pay your surrogate, clinic and insurance – ⁠the correct amounts, on time. That company is called an escrow company, and most intended parents choose it without asking a single question. That's a mistake.

Why am I writing about this now? Because over the past year the entire field was shaken by the collapse of a major U.S. escrow company, which left parents – some mid-pregnancy – without the funds they had deposited. Families discovered that savings that were supposed to sit in a protected trust account were simply gone. It's the scariest scenario in this journey, and it happened to real families.

So what is escrow, exactly? It's a trust account into which you deposit the funds intended for your surrogate and journey expenses. The company releases payments according to the contract: the surrogate's monthly compensation, expense reimbursements, maternity clothes, travel and so on. The idea is excellent – the money sits with a neutral party, not with the agency and not with the surrogate. But "neutral" does not mean "regulated".

The questions you must ask before depositing a single dollar: Is the company licensed and bonded in its state? Does your money sit in a segregated account under your name, or in one big pool with all clients' funds? Who performs external audits, and how often? Are the funds insured? And what happens to the money if the company shuts down?

One more important point: if your agency "handles" escrow itself, inside its own accounts – that's a glaring red flag. Separation between the agency and whoever holds the money isn't bureaucracy; it's your protection.

My tip: don't be shy about asking the agency to work with a different escrow company than the one it's "used to", if the proposed one doesn't meet these criteria. It's your money and your future child – a good agency will have no problem with these questions. An agency that dodges them has just told you everything you need to know.

Good luck and good health!