Erin Scott, age 16, of Baltimore, Md., for her question:

JUST WHAT IS AN ESCROW?

     Escrow, in law, is a conditional delivery of money or property, or documents evidencing or transferring rights therein,  to a third person to be kept by that person until certain conditions are satisfied and then to be delivered over to the obligee or grantee.

The property or documents thus conditionally held are also called the escrow, and the contract defining the conditions of the second delivery is called the escrow agreement.

The escrow is a device most frequently applied in real estate transactions. A deed, as an example, that is delivered in escrow does not operate as an obligation or conveyance so long as it remains in the hands of the third person. When the prescribed conditions are fulfilled, the deed generally takes effect from the second delivery.

Although the term "escrow" was originally applied only to such conditional delivery of instruments for the conveyance of land, it is now applied to any kind of written instrument or form of property that may be deposited for later delivery on fulfillment of prescribed conditions. Included are shares of stock, assignments for the benefit of creditors and oil leases.