Advokátní úschova

Under Czech law

Escrow with an attorney rests on the Advocacy Act (zákon o advokacii, Act No. 85/1996 Sb., § 56 a § 56a) and the Czech Bar Association''s stavovské předpisy on managing client funds: each escrow must be held on a separate account per client, distinct from the lawyer''s own money, with the Bar supervising compliance and the arrangement documented in a tripartite escrow agreement. Funds on such accounts belong to the client, not the lawyer''s estate. Notarial and bank escrow are the regulated alternatives; the mechanics are equivalent, the pricing and flexibility differ.

The escrow agreement is the real safeguard: it defines exactly which document (typically an extract showing the buyer registered as owner, free of undisclosed burdens) releases the money to the seller, and what returns it to the buyer if registration fails.

A practical example

In a 7.5 million Kč apartment sale, the buyer deposits the price into the lawyer''s escrow at signing. The cadastre registers the transfer three weeks later; the lawyer checks the fresh extract, pays the bank its mortgage payoff, transfers the balance to the seller, and confirms completion to both sides. Neither party ever had to trust the other with the money.

When you need a lawyer

Every property purchase — escrow is the single cheapest risk-removal in Czech conveyancing, and the same lawyer usually drafts the purchase contract and files the cadastre application. Scrutinise any seller who resists escrow; that resistance is information.