Why does PLS refuse to hold your funds?
Status as of [date], reviewed by counsel.
Because an agency that holds your money can lose it, spend it, or take it down with it if the agency fails. Private Label Surrogacy (PLS) has never held client funds for the surrogate or third-party services. Since 2017, every family has paid those amounts to an independent licensed escrow agent, and you may choose your own escrow company.
This is a structural decision, not a promise. PLS does not employ in-house attorneys, psychologists or escrow, and it refers to independent licensed professionals on purpose. Each of them answers to the person they protect. An escrow agent that is independent of the agency answers to the agreement: it pays the surrogate and vendors on the schedule you and the surrogate signed, and it reports to you.
For international parents this matters twice over. You are wiring a large sum to a country where you do not live, to people you have met by video. Independent escrow means your money sits with a licensed third party under a written agreement, and the paper trail it produces is one you can take to a court at home.
PLS refers you to independent licensed escrow agents if you want a referral. It has no ownership or fee interest in any of them.
How does an independent escrow account work?
An escrow account is held by a licensed escrow agent for one journey. Money goes in from you, and comes out only as the gestational carrier agreement allows.
- You choose the escrow company, from PLS's referrals or on your own, as long as it is independent and licensed.
- The escrow agreement sets out the agent's fees, how disbursements are approved, and what happens to unused funds.
- You fund the account at match and before medications start.
- The agent pays the surrogate's compensation and expense reimbursements, the attorneys, the psychologist and other third-party providers, on the schedule in the agreement.
- The agent reports every disbursement to you in a ledger.
- At the end of the journey, the agent returns any unused balance to you, less fees set out in the escrow agreement.
PLS's own program fee is paid to PLS, and IVF and clinic fees are paid directly to your clinic. Neither goes through escrow.
When is each amount due, and in what currency?
Every amount is due in US dollars. Escrow accounts are held in US dollars, and your bank converts at the time of the wire.
| Milestone | Amount or range | Payee | Currency | Typical wire lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signing with PLS | $15,000 (program fee: confirm current schedule) | PLS | USD | Ask your bank [typical days to confirm] |
| Match | $10,000 | Independent escrow agent | USD | Ask your bank [typical days to confirm] |
| Surrogate acceptance | $15,000 (program fee: confirm current schedule) | PLS | USD | Ask your bank |
| Before medications start | Balance of the surrogate's compensation package and third-party costs (typical compensation package roughly $68,000 to $78,000; confirm with Nancy) | Independent escrow agent | USD | Ask your bank [typical days to confirm] |
| Third-party costs | $15,300 to $29,000, paid from escrow | Attorneys, escrow, psychologist, background checks, insurance review, travel, monitoring | USD | Paid by the escrow agent |
| Medical clearance | $5,000 (program fee: confirm current schedule) | PLS | USD | Ask your bank |
| Surrogate health policy, if needed | $5,000 to $40,000 | [confirm payee and whether paid through escrow] | USD | [confirm] |
| IVF and clinic fees | Set by your clinic | Your fertility clinic | USD | Set by your clinic |
Across the whole journey, intended parents typically budget $150,000 to $200,000. See the full cost of surrogacy for each line, and LGBTQ surrogacy costs for two-father and single-parent budgets.
Nothing medical starts until the agreement is signed and escrow is funded. That rule protects you as much as the surrogate: you never pay for a cycle without a signed agreement behind it.
How do you manage exchange-rate risk?
Exchange-rate movement is your risk, not the escrow agent's and not PLS's. If your home currency weakens against the dollar between signing and funding, the journey costs more in your currency.
Three practical approaches:
- Convert in tranches. Many families convert in two or three tranches rather than all at once, for example at match, before medications, and when the remaining balance is clear. That spreads the rate risk across several dates.
- Compare your bank with a currency broker. Some families use a currency broker for better rates. Ask each for its exchange margin and fees in writing, on the same amount, on the same day.
- Budget at the top of the range. If you build your budget at the high end of $150,000 to $200,000, a moderate currency move is covered.
The escrow account itself stays in US dollars. You cannot hold it in euros, pounds or yuan.
What does a wire from your country require?
An international wire to escrow needs the escrow agent's wiring instructions, your bank's international transfer form and, often, documents your bank asks for. What your bank asks for varies by country and by bank, so start early.
Before your first wire:
- Get the instructions from the escrow agent directly, and confirm them by phone using a number you already have, before you send money.
- Ask your bank what it needs for an international transfer of this size, how long it takes, and what it charges.
- Ask about limits. Some countries limit how much currency residents can move abroad; Chinese foreign-exchange limits, for example, may require planning. Your bank and the escrow agent can advise.
- Time the wire. The $10,000 deposit is due at match, and the balance before medications start. Allow for your bank's processing time before each date.
PLS's Global Surrogacy Coordinator, Jan Telman Berman, has managed national and international cycles for more than 18 years and will walk you through the calendar of payments. Your bank and the escrow agent handle the transfer itself.
What statements will you receive, and who else can see them?
The escrow agent issues a ledger: every deposit, every disbursement, its date, payee and purpose. The ledger is yours.
International parents use it at home. The ledger is routinely used in parental order and recognition proceedings, including in the UK and Israel. In the UK, for example, the court reviews payments made to the surrogate abroad, and a complete ledger is how your solicitor shows them. See US surrogacy for UK parents.
[Confirm with escrow agents which other parties, such as PLS or the surrogate, receive copies of statements or notices of disbursement.]
What went wrong at SEAM and Surro Connections, and how escrow prevents it
In late 2025, the Surro Connections agency collapsed, and a federal indictment followed in August 2026. The SEAM escrow fund also collapsed, with more than $16 million involved. In 2025 and 2026, PLS took on three surrogates, pro bono, who were stranded when their agencies failed.
The lesson is not that escrow is risky. It is that escrow only protects you when it is truly independent: licensed, separate from the agency, with its own agreement with you, and reporting to you directly. Before you fund any account, ask:
- Is the escrow company licensed, and by whom?
- Does the agency, or anyone at the agency, own or control it, or receive fees from it?
- Will I receive statements directly from the escrow agent?
- What does the escrow agreement say about unused funds?
PLS has always used independent licensed escrow. Read more on how escrow works at PLS.
Sources
- Private Label Surrogacy program terms: program fee schedule, escrow funding schedule and cost ranges.
- Public record on the Surro Connections and SEAM collapses. Pending review by counsel.