Pennsylvania Code › Title 204 - JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part V - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT › Subpart A - PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY › Chapter 81 - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT › Subchapter A - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT › CLIENT-LAWYER RELATIONSHIP › Rule 1.15 - Safekeeping Property

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) The
						following definitions are applicable to Rule
						1.15:
(1)
Eligible Institution
. An
						Eligible Institution is a Financial Institution which has been approved as a
						depository of Trust Accounts pursuant to Pa.R.D.E. 221(h).
(2)
Fiduciary
. A Fiduciary
						is a lawyer acting as a personal representative, guardian, conservator,
						receiver, trustee, agent under a durable power of attorney, or other similar
						position.
(3)
Fiduciary
						Funds
. Fiduciary Funds are Rule
						1.15 Funds which the lawyer holds
						as a Fiduciary. Fiduciary Funds may be either Qualified Funds or Nonqualified
						Funds.
(4)
Financial
						Institution
. A Financial Institution is an entity which is authorized
						by federal or state law and licensed to do business in the Commonwealth of
						Pennsylvania as one of the following: a bank, bank and trust company, trust
						company, credit union, savings bank, savings and loan association or foreign
						banking corporation, the deposits of which are insured by an agency of the
						federal government, or as an investment adviser registered under the Investment
						Advisers Act of 1940 or with the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, an
						investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or a
						broker dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
(5)
Interest On Lawyer Trust Account
						(IOLTA) Account
. An IOLTA Account is an income producing Trust Account
						from which funds may be withdrawn upon request as soon as permitted by law.
						Qualified Funds are to be held or deposited in an IOLTA Account.
(6)
IOLTA Board
. The IOLTA
						Board is the Pennsylvania Interest On Lawyers Trust Account Board.
(7)
Non-IOLTA Account
. A
						Non-IOLTA Account is an income producing Trust Account from which funds may be
						withdrawn upon request as soon as permitted by law in which a lawyer deposits
						Rule 1.15 Funds. Only Nonqualified
						Funds are to be held or deposited in a Non-IOLTA Account. A Non-IOLTA Account
						shall be established only as:
(i) a separate
						client Trust Account for the particular client or matter on which the net
						income will be paid to the client or third person; or
(ii) a pooled client Trust Account with
						subaccounting by the Eligible Institution or by the lawyer, which will provide
						for computation of net income earned by each client's or third person's funds
						and the payment thereof to the client or third person.
(8)
Nonqualified Funds
.
						Nonqualified Funds are Rule
						1.15 Funds, whether cash, check,
						money order or other negotiable instrument, which are not Qualified
						Funds.
(9)
Qualified
						Funds
. Qualified Funds are Rule
						1.15 Funds which are nominal in
						amount or are reasonably expected to be held for such a short period of time
						that sufficient income will not be generated to justify the expense of
						administering a segregated account.
(10)
Rule
						1.15 Funds
. Rule 1.15
						Funds are funds which the lawyer receives from a client or third person in
						connection with a client-lawyer relationship, or as an escrow agent, settlement
						agent or representative payee, or as a Fiduciary, or receives as an agent,
						having been designated as such by a client or having been so selected as a
						result of a client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer's status as such. When the
						term "property" appears with "Rule
						1.15 Funds," it means property of
						a client or third person which the lawyer receives in any of the foregoing
						capacities.
(11)
Trust
						Account
. A Trust Account is an account in an Eligible Institution in
						which a lawyer holds Rule 1.15 Funds. A Trust Account must be maintained either
						as an IOLTA Account or as a Non-IOLTA Account.