When the startup I worked for was acquired, I got a retention bonus dangled in front of me as an incentive to stick around; one of the terms of the contract is

When the startup I worked for was acquired, I got a retention bonus dangled in front of me as an incentive to stick around; one of the terms of the contract is that if I am laid off or if the company has a change of control, then the entire bonus gets paid off immediately. Of course, I am confident that no matter what happens, the acquiring company will have the cash lying around to pay off my bonus. A small consulting firm... not so much. Regardless of the contract terms, the firm can always declare bankruptcy, in which case the employees expecting their $50K payout can stand in line with all the other creditors. Yeah, escrow sounds like a good idea for a case like this. (Would escrow be enough to shield the money in case of bankruptcy? My Google-fu is not helping.)