Why use an escrow agent?
Secure the payment of the price, without exposing any party
In any transaction where the price is paid before the asset changes hands — or the other way round — one party takes a risk. The escrow agent removes it: the price is entrusted to a lawyer, held on a CARPA account, and released only when the agreed conditions are met.
Security for every party
Buyer, seller, intermediary: all protected
Escrow does not protect one party against the other: it protects the transaction itself. Everyone knows the price is available, locked, and released according to rules set in advance.
For the payer
Certainty of paying only on completion
The price is placed in the hands of a trusted third party and released only when the agreed conditions are met. You commit the funds without exposing them: if the deal falls through, they come back to you.
For the payee
Proof that the price is available
From signing, you know the price is actually held on the CARPA account — no longer a promise to pay, but funds genuinely locked, released to you as soon as the conditions are met.
For the intermediary
A deal that closes without friction
Advisers, brokers and introducers secure the closing: escrow neutralises counterparty risk, smooths the release of funds and protects the relationship between the parties.
Reasons to use one
What an escrow agent changes for your transaction
Neutralise counterparty risk
Neither early payment of the price nor early delivery of the asset: the escrow agent removes the 'who performs first' dilemma by holding the funds until the obligations are performed.
A neutral, impartial third party
The escrow lawyer acts neither for the buyer nor for the seller: they apply the agreement to the letter and release the funds only on the set conditions, with no unilateral discretion for any party.
The safety of a CARPA account
The funds are ring-fenced on a dedicated sub-account of the French bar's fund-handling body, checked as to the origin and destination of the sums, separate from any other assets.
A legal and ethical framework
Fund handling by a lawyer is governed by strict professional ethics, professional secrecy and anti-money-laundering obligations (AML/CFT): a guarantee only a legally authorised third party can offer.
Suited to all your transactions
M&A, private equity, financing, business sales, sales of assets or artworks, settlement agreements: the escrow agreement is tailored around each transaction.
Traceability and peace of mind
Every step is time-stamped and documented, from receipt to release of the funds. The parties proceed with the same information and the certainty that the price is protected throughout.
Why a lawyer
The most legitimate trusted third party to hold the price
Not just anyone can escrow funds. Entrusting the price to Maître Martin Estanove, lawyer, means benefiting from a framework only a regulated professional can bring together: fund handling passes through the CARPA, which controls its origin and destination; professional secrecy covers the entire matter; and professional ethics guarantee strict impartiality between the parties.
The escrow agreement, drafted to measure, sets out precisely the conditions for release. No sum leaves the account outside this framework: neither on the sole wish of the payer, nor on that of the beneficiary. It is this rigour that makes escrow a genuine safeguard rather than a mere formality.
A transaction to secure?
Escrow the price on a CARPA account, or let's discuss your situation.