Question about assignments/nominations HELP!

[Aaron G]

I have a question about assignments and earnest money. When I assign a contract to another buyer, my earnest money goes along with the assignment. So, how do I protect myself if the person I assign it to screws up and back out too late to recover the earnest money:

Should I ask him for earnest money at assignment?
Should I ask him to pay the escrow company an equivalent amount of earnest money owed to me, but refundable under the same conditions as the original contract?

Also, I assume we get our assignment fee at close of escrow, and not when we assign, correct? Since this is the case, does the assignee pay the escrow company and we get paid by them at COE, or do we get paid directly from the assignee? Interested to hear what you guys are doing out there...

Thank you!