Letter · Trust accounting & handling client money
Written direction to pay trust money to a third party
Client direction to pay a stated sum of trust money to a named third party, with the cheque or electronic-transfer particulars in rule 43. It is not an authority to take costs.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- New South Wales, Western Australia
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 6 authorities it cites, for New South Wales and Western Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when the person for whom trust money is held directs a payment to someone else, such as a settlement payee or an expert. Use the costs authority, not this direction, to withdraw money for the practice's legal costs.
Used for these tasks
- Draft a trust receipt or disbursement instruction from the authority
- Check a trust-to-office transfer against the bill and the authority
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may prepare the direction from a signed instruction and the ledger balance. A principal checks the payee, the balance and who will authorise the payment.
AI may
- Insert the payee, amount and matter reference from the client's signed instruction
- Compare the amount with the balance of that trust ledger and flag if the payment would exceed it
AI must not
- Must not treat an email that has not been confirmed as the client's direction
- Must not use this form to pay the practice's own costs or to move money to the office account
- Must not choose the authorised signatory
The lawyer checks
- The direction is given by the person on whose behalf the money is held, and the ledger will not go into debit
- Payee name, BSB and account number match a confirmation that is not an unverified email
- An authorised principal effects the transfer, or if no principal is available a person rule 43(2)(b) permits, and that choice is recorded
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Trust accounting & handling client money
- Client authority to withdraw trust money for legal costs, with notice of withdrawal and pre-transfer checklist (Uniform Law)
- Direction to pay money into the law practice trust account
- Client direction for an IOLTA or separate trust deposit (United States)
- Payment-redirection and deepfake call-back verification protocol for trust disbursements
- Check before a trust-to-operating transfer (United States)
- Review checklist for AI-assisted monthly trust reconciliation (Uniform General Rules r 48)
- Unidentified trust money register and enquiry
- Notice that funds were received into trust (United States)
- Client notice: our bank details will never change by email (payment fraud and deepfake warning)
- Trust account statement to the person for whom money is held
- File note when trust funds are disputed (United States)
- Controls standard: AI tools and trust records (read-only access, no payment functions, audit trail)
- Trust irregularity briefing note for the principal
- Index for a trust investigation or external examination
All precedents for Trust accounting & handling client money · Tasks and AI use in this area