Escrow is the holding of money, documents or title by a third party who releases them only when stated conditions are met. It protects buyer and seller from each other by removing the moment at which one must perform first. Nothing defines escrow, because it is a contractual structure rather than an instrument: what exists is whatever the escrow agreement says. “Funds are in escrow” therefore carries almost no information on its own. Read who may instruct release, what evidence the agent will accept as proof of the triggering event, whether the agent verifies documents or merely checks they exist, how competing instructions are resolved, and what becomes of the deposit if the agent itself fails. The agent’s solvency and standing matter as much as its instructions.
Why this entry carries no source list. This lexicon cites an official primary source wherever one exists and says plainly where none does. No body defines this term: it is commercial vocabulary, and what it means in any particular deal is whatever the document says. Citing a bank’s product page, an insurer’s brochure or a consultancy’s explainer would dress one firm’s usage as a general rule. The paragraph above therefore ends by naming what to read instead of the word.