I’m acting as the intermediary on a US $13,000 website build and I need a rock-solid payment arrangement that keeps my client and the developer equally protected. We’ve agreed on a milestone-based schedule—three staged releases tied to project initiation, halfway completion, and final delivery—so what I need now is your expertise implementing that structure in a way that is transparent, enforceable, and friction-free for both parties. Here’s what I’m after: • Clear, legally sound milestone wording that links each payout to objective proof of progress. • A practical workflow—whether that’s configuring an escrow-style gateway inside a platform like Stripe, PayPal, or a specialised third-party processor—so funds are automatically held and only released once each checkpoint is signed off. • Documentation or lightweight walkthroughs I can hand to both sides so everyone understands exactly how money moves and what triggers the next release. If you’ve set up milestone or escrow payments for creative or software projects before, I’d love to apply that know-how here. Please tell me which tools you’d propose and how quickly you can have the framework ready so we can kick off the first milestone with confidence.