North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE BAR › Chapter 02 - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR › Section .0100 - CLIENT LAWYER RELATIONSHIP › Section 02 RULE 1.15-1 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
For purposes of this Rule 1.15, the following definitions
				  apply:
(a) "Bank" denotes a bank
				savings and loan association, or credit union chartered under North Carolina or
				federal law.
(b) "Client" denotes a
				person, firm, or other entity for whom a lawyer performs, or is engaged to
				perform, any legal services.
(c)
				"Dedicated trust account" denotes a trust account that is maintained for the
				sole benefit of a single client or with respect to a single transaction or
				series of integrated transactions.
(d) "Demand deposit" denotes any account from
				which deposited funds can be withdrawn at any time without notice to the
				depository institution.
(e)
				"Electronic transfer" denotes a paperless transfer of funds.
(f) "Entrusted property" denotes trust funds,
				fiduciary funds and other property belonging to someone other than the lawyer
				which is in the lawyer's possession or control in connection with the
				performance of legal services or professional fiduciary services.
(g) "Fiduciary account" denotes an account,
				designated as such, maintained by a lawyer solely for the deposit of fiduciary
				funds or other entrusted property of a particular person or entity.
(h) "Fiduciary funds" denotes funds belonging
				to someone other than the lawyer that are received by or placed under the
				control of the lawyer in connection with the performance of professional
				fiduciary services.
(i) "Funds"
				denotes any form of money, including cash, payment instruments such as checks,
				money orders, or sales drafts, and receipts from electronic fund
				transfers.
(j) "General trust
				account" denotes any trust account other than a dedicated trust
				account.
(k) "Item" denotes any
				means or method by which funds are credited to or debited from an account; for
				example: a check, substitute check, remotely created check, draft, withdrawal
				order, automated clearinghouse (ACH) or electronic transfer, electronic or wire
				funds transfer, electronic image of an item and/or information in electronic
				form describing an item, or instructions given in person or by telephone, mail,
				or computer.
(l) "Legal services"
				denotes services (other than professional fiduciary services) rendered by a
				lawyer in a client-lawyer relationship.
(m) "Professional fiduciary services" denotes
				compensated services (other than legal services) rendered by a lawyer as a
				trustee, guardian, personal representative of an estate, attorney-in-fact, or
				escrow agent, or in any other fiduciary role customary to the practice of
				law.
(n) "Trust account" denotes an
				account, designated as such, maintained by a lawyer for the deposit of trust
				funds.
(o) "Trust funds" denotes
				funds belonging to someone other than the lawyer that are received by or placed
				under the control of the lawyer in connection with the performance of legal
				services.
Authority
				  G.S.
				  84-23;
Adopted by the Supreme
				  Court: July 24, 1997;
Amendments Approved by the Supreme Court: May
				  4, 2000; March 1, 2003; March 6, 2008; October 8, 2009; August 23, 2012; June
				  9, 2016; April 5, 2018.