Letter · Trust accounting & handling client money
Direction to pay money into the law practice trust account
Letter telling a payer to pay a named sum into the general trust account, with the client's confirmation that the money is entrusted for this matter and is not payment of a bill already given.
- 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 5 authorities it cites, for New South Wales and Western Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a client, insurer or other payer will send money that the practice is to hold for a matter. Do not use it to change account details already given, or as authority to withdraw money for costs.
Used for these tasks
- Draft a trust receipt or disbursement instruction from the authority
- Prepare a trust-inspection pack from the ledgers and authorities
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 fill the matter, payer and amount from the file. A principal checks that the money is trust money and that the account details come from the firm's controlled source.
AI may
- Insert the matter name, payer, amount and reason from the instructions and the ledger
- List documents on the file that already state the account details, so the principal can see whether this letter would change them
AI must not
- Must not invent or complete a BSB or account number
- Must not take account details from an email, a document in the matter, or an earlier letter
- Must not describe billed fees as trust money
The lawyer checks
- The money is trust money under s 129 and is not payment of legal services for which a bill has already been given
- Account name, BSB and account number were copied from the firm's controlled source on the day the letter is sent
- The client, or another person legally entitled to direct the money, has confirmed the purpose
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)
- Client direction for an IOLTA or separate trust deposit (United States)
- Written direction to pay trust money to a third party
- 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