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 C - MINOR JUDICIARY INTEREST ON TRUST ACCOUNTS › Section 81.307 - Exemptions from MJ-IOTA Participation

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) The IOLTA Board may grant exemptions from
					 participation in the MJ-IOTA Program. Exemptions are not automatic. The IOLTA
					 Board may declare a Judicial Official exempt from the requirements of
					 maintaining an MJ-IOTA Account. Alternatively, a Judicial Official may submit a
					 written request for exemption. All requests by a Judicial Official must be made
					 on the Judicial Official's official letterhead, and all requests must set forth
					 in reasonable detail the basis for the requested exemption.
(b) Exemptions may be granted only with
					 respect to the maintenance of an MJ-IOTA Account for Qualified Funds. The IOLTA
					 Board is not empowered to handle other types of exemptions. Judicial Officials
					 exempt from maintenance of an MJ-IOTA Account are reminded that the Judicial
					 Official remains subject to other requirements pertaining to Custodial
					 Funds.
(c) Exemptions will be
					 routinely granted in the following situations:
(1) Low balance account: Any Custodial
					 Account which historically, generally based upon 12 consecutive months of
					 activity, has an average daily balance of three thousand five hundred ($3,500)
					 Dollars or less will be exempt from being an MJ-IOTA Account. The IOLTA Board
					 may exempt from the MJ-IOTA Program, without application, a low balance
					 account. A Judicial Official requesting an exemption based on a low balance
					 account must, as a part of the written request for exemption, include an
					 account analysis or written statement that demonstrates the amount of the
					 average daily balance.
(2) Account
					 service charges routinely exceed income: Some Custodial Accounts may have an
					 average daily balance of more than $3,500, but account service charges
					 routinely exceed the income earned on the account. A Judicial Official
					 requesting an exemption under this subsection, as part of the written request
					 for exemption, must include an account analysis or written statement that
					 clearly shows the income earned, or the income that would have been earned, on
					 the account each month for the past 12 months, plus the account service charges
					 imposed on the account for each of the last 12 months. Only account-related
					 service charges will be considered for the purpose of whether an exemption will
					 be granted.
(3) Extreme
					 impracticality: Under limited circumstances it may be unduly burdensome for a
					 Judicial Official to maintain an MJ-IOTA Account. When claiming undue hardship,
					 the Judicial Official should provide appropriate detail demonstrating undue
					 hardship. An example includes the lack of a Depository Institution that offers
					 MJ-IOTA Accounts in the Judicial Official's geographical location.
(4) Other compelling and necessitous reasons:
					 A Judicial Official who demonstrates a compelling and necessitous reason for
					 not complying with the MJ-IOTA Program may request an exemption. A
					 philosophical objection to the MJ-IOTA Program does not constitute a compelling
					 and necessitous reason for an exemption.