When will escrow automatically release funds to the freelancer without me clicking "pay now" button?

[489189e6]

The freelancer I hired has not provided any material on her due date which is today because she needs more time. The milestone has already been funded of course but I do not want to give her any money until she has given me what I have asked for. I can not extend the milestone so how long do I have before escrow decides to automatically release funds to the freelancer? I do not want to request a refund because I still want her to continue but I do not want to pay her until I get what I ask for and wondering can someone provide an answer and a link to where I can find this information about how long do I have until escrow release funds from the account without me manually pushing the "pay now" button.

[JoanneP]

Hi Joshua,

The freelancer will have to use the Submit Work and Get paid button to submit their work. Once they do, you have 14 days from the most recent submission on a milestone to review and approve or request changes. Approval releases the payment from escrow to the freelancer. If you don't respond to any milestone submission within 14 days, the deposit is automatically released to the freelancer. For more information regarding Fixed-Priced Contracts, please check out this help article. Let us know if you have other questions. Thank you!

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Joshua:

The short answer to your question is: Never.

If the freelancer never does the work and never clicks the "Submit Work / Request Payment" button... then Upwork never "automatically releases" money to the freelancer.

In fact, due to strict escrow rules that Upwork must follow, the money would automatically be released back you to YOU if the freelancer never does anything. An escrow payment can't just stay in escrow forever. After 90 days, the money goes back to the client.

Read more about "dormant escrow funds" here:

https://www.upwork.com/legal#fp

[489189e6]

Thank you sir