Disbursement Flow
The Full Pipeline
Section titled “The Full Pipeline”Money flows through SeedTrust in a structured pipeline:
GSA Contract Upload → parsed and reviewed by staff ↓ Compensation Schedule (per case) → drives eligible categories for ↓ Disbursement Requests (submitted by GCs, Agencies, or Admin) ↓ Approval Queue → reviewed and approved/rejected by Payments Team ↓ ACH Processing → payment sent to payee
Step 1: GSA Contract → Compensation Schedule
Section titled “Step 1: GSA Contract → Compensation Schedule”When a GSA (Gestational Surrogacy Agreement) is uploaded via the GSA Upload Wizard:
- Staff uploads the PDF contract
- The system parses the document, extracting compensation amounts per section
- A triage view shows which sections were successfully parsed (green), which failed (red), and which were optional and not found (amber)
- Staff reviews each section, correcting any parsing errors
- On save, the system compares the GSA values to the agency’s template and creates case-specific overrides where amounts differ
Step 2: Disbursement Request Submission
Section titled “Step 2: Disbursement Request Submission”DRs can be submitted by three user types:
| Who Submits | Steps | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Admin staff | 3 steps: Payee → Dates → Expenses | Searchable category dropdown, per-expense receipt attachments, running total |
| GC or Egg Donor | 2 steps: Category/Upload → Submit | Camera-first upload, mobile carousel for line items, role-detected titles |
| Agency | 4 steps: Case → Payee → Items → Review | Case pre-selection, approval likelihood indicator, batch line items |
All submission flows share these safeguards:
- Expense category selection tied to contract allowances and current milestone
- Receipt upload with AI-assisted parsing
- Double-payment prevention — a confirmation checkbox that must be checked before submitting
- Mobile card carousel — on small screens, line items display one card at a time instead of a list
Step 3: DR Approval
Section titled “Step 3: DR Approval”The Payments Team processes DRs from a prioritized queue:
- DR appears sorted by urgency
- Staff reviews the receipt against the contract terms
- Approve or reject with notes
- Approved DRs are batched for ACH processing
Business rules:
- Urgent requests are flagged with a “Rush” indicator
- DRs pending longer than 48 hours are auto-escalated
- Amounts above certain thresholds require supervisor approval
Step 4: Milestone Gating
Section titled “Step 4: Milestone Gating”Journey milestones control which expense categories are available when a DR is submitted:
| Milestone | What It Unlocks |
|---|---|
| Contract Signed | Journey timeline visible |
| Medical Clearance | Transfer scheduling |
| Confirmed Pregnant | Maternity allowances, monthly compensation |
| Heartbeat Confirmed | Increased payment tier |
| Birth | Final payments, closing procedures |
When a GC or Agency submits a DR, only categories unlocked by the current milestone appear in the category picker.