As a surrogacy agency, the work you do is life-changing for so many. Every day, you are confronted with complex challenges and highly emotional situations. Just as your clients depend on you to reduce their liability and stress, you can count on SeedTrust to do the same for you and your team.
Taking on unnecessary business risks could limit your ability to help build families and take care of your own. You and your clients deserve the protection that only a highly qualified and independent third-party escrow provider like SeedTrust can offer.
Protect Yourself From Financial Loss
Did you realize that if you allow your intended parents’ attorney to hold escrow, your agency is fully responsible for all financial mistakes? If a payment is requested and paid in error, your agency is ultimately responsible for recovering the funds. The risk lies with you — not the attorney!
Choosing the wrong escrow company can also leave your agency open to liability. Ensure you understand whether your escrow agent provides fund holding or fund management services and then assess your level of risk.
In a fund holding arrangement, the escrow agent simply makes payments at the request of the agency. In this situation, the agent is only held liable if they make a disbursement that was different than what the agency requested, leaving you financially responsible if a disbursement is made incorrectly.
Fund management services, such as those provided by SeedTrust, ensure that the liability for any mistakes remains solely with the escrow agent. Our services differ in the fact that we assist the parties in submitting requests, review each request submitted, check the request against the express terms of the parties’ contract, collect all necessary supporting documentation required, and communicate with the parties to clarify any concerns or issues.
Partnering with an escrow provider that specializes in surrogacy fund management eliminates your financial risk and shifts the full burden of liability to the escrow provider.
Preserve Your Reputation
Selecting the wrong escrow provider can have disastrous consequences on your agency’s reputation. Attorneys collect fees for holding your client funds in escrow, but your agency still accepts all the risk — leaving you open to public criticism and financial loss should a mistake occur, or a conflict arises.
A greater reliance on social media brings with it a variety of concerns for your agency. In the age where social media is the most likely outlet for disgruntled clients to air their grievances, stories of late payments or improper handling of funds can run quickly through social media networks. The negative effects of social media can have significant consequences on your reputation, even if the issue is not your fault. Once the information receives public exposure, you will be handling it forever. Even if you manage to put a particular topic behind you, it can resurface at any time, impacting your ability to recruit potential surrogates and giving intended parents pause before signing with your agency.
SeedTrust accepts the liability when we manage your escrow cases. If an error is made, the liability is ours. We will make the necessary corrections, take the loss if needed, and provide your clients with the resolution. That is one less burden that you must shoulder throughout the surrogacy journeys you manage.
Avoid Legal Issues
Before the development of a specialized surrogacy escrow service such as SeedTrust, attorneys offered escrow services simply because there were no other options available. This business model is no longer the best solution as there are now more secure and efficient options without conflicts of interest that put the agency and surrogate at risk.
In fact, attorney-held escrow poses a conflict of interest legally. If the attorney holding escrow also represents the intended parent, then an attorney-client relationship exists between them. It is an attorney’s job to abide by the decisions of their client. This means that the attorney MUST place the intended parent’s best interest above anyone else’s or risk losing their license to practice, regardless of the repercussions that may arise from such actions.
If the intended parents decide that they would like to withhold their surrogate’s compensation or expenses, their attorney, is absolutely bound by their Bar Association’s rules of conduct to vigorously defend their client’s position. This creates an undeniable conflict of interest, putting your surrogates and your agency at risk. Since there is no neutral party acting in each party’s best interest, your agency may be named in a lawsuit if such a dispute arises. For example, if a surrogate’s compensation is withheld unjustly, your agency could be sued for damages.
SeedTrust is an independent third-party with a fiduciary responsibility to protect funds. As such, we propose no greater alliance nor threat to any party. We are legally obligated to ensure that funds are administered in accordance with the underlying contracts. This ensures that your agency, your intended parents, and your gestational carriers are protected from any conflict of interest.
Recover Time Lost Due to Inefficient Processes
The primary cause of wasted time during the workday is inefficient processes, followed by an overload of paperwork. Sound familiar? Many of these frustrations can be eliminated by choosing the right escrow provider.
Recovering your lost time enables your team to connect with clients and help more dreams come true.
- Eliminate time spent chasing and managing inefficient escrow providers who require your agency to do a majority of the work.
- Put an end to the time-consuming process of managing multiple attorney-held escrow accounts with individual processes and procedures.
- Stop waiting for replies from escrow providers while your clients are anxiously awaiting their payment or seeking information about a transaction.
SeedTrust saves your agency time by leading the communication with your clients regarding expenses, receipts, and other records. We also help settle disputes, ensure disbursements are paid out on the agreed-upon dates, and make certain reimbursement requests are processed promptly.
Our innovative online escrow fund management platform provides 24/7 access to your entire escrow file, including ledgers, documents, and transaction history. The SeedTrust portal creates a seamless and efficient experience for all parties. Escrow agreements are signed electronically and handled entirely within the platform, eliminating the frustrating task of emailing accounting documents back and forth.
Choosing SeedTrust to manage your client funds quickly and efficiently allows your employees to shift their focus toward the most critical aspects of your business – building a relationship with clients.
Prevent Catastrophic Theft or Misappropriation of Funds
Unethical and unsecured escrow providers have been known to take advantage of the position of trust in which they have been placed. Surrogacy escrow companies have embezzled the money under their custody through wire fraud and money laundering schemes. Determining who should bear the loss when the escrow holder embezzles the funds is a difficult and troublesome process. The one responsible for the hardship has typically either disappeared or become insolvent, which leaves the agency, intended parents, and surrogate to battle between themselves over the missing funds. The agency is tasked with cleaning up the mess, helping everyone get through the situation the best way they can while attempting to maintain their own reputation. As you can imagine, this would be a devastating experience for your agency and your clients.
Choosing a qualified, experienced, and secured escrow provider can prevent the possibility of such a scenario. SeedTrust partners with more than 300 agencies and has successfully managed over 8,000 journeys. We are a licensed escrow provider, and every dollar held in escrow is bonded and insured. This insurance coverage provides the highest level of security and protection available. SeedTrust client funds are insured with a $50 million bond! When funds are bonded and insured, a claim can be filed on the company’s bond in the event of theft or misappropriation, protecting your agency from any financial loss.
With this level of protection, there is no scenario in which your agency would be held financially liable for theft or misappropriation of funds.
The SeedTrust Promise
✓ We will guide you through the escrow process, making it easy for all parties.
✓ We will reduce your liability by ensuring client funds are distributed according to the agreement’s terms.
✓ We will preserve your reputation by providing efficient and timely escrow services.
✓ We will provide an efficient escrow process, reducing stress and time loss.
✓ We will protect you from financial loss by maintaining the highest level of insurance coverage available.
Join the 300+ agencies who are already experiencing the SeedTrust Difference.