Letter · Trust accounting & handling client money
Trust account statement to the person for whom money is held
Statement of trust money received, paid and still held for one person, for one ledger, given at the end of the matter, on request, or after 30 June.
- 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 4 authorities it cites, for New South Wales and Western Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when rule 52 requires a trust account statement for money held in a general trust account, a controlled-money record, or a power. Do not use it for transit money or written-direction money, or where rule 52(5) or rule 53 says no statement is required.
Used for these tasks
- Reconcile the trust ledger to the bank and the matter files
- 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 lay out the statement from a ledger export. A principal checks every figure against the trust ledger before the statement is sent.
AI may
- Turn a supplied ledger export into the receipt and payment lines below
- Flag a ledger that had a transaction in the year and has not had a statement since 30 June
AI must not
- Must not round, estimate or reconstruct a figure that is not in the export
- Must not send the statement
- Must not omit a payment because it was a costs transfer
The lawyer checks
- Opening balance, each line and the closing balance match the trust ledger
- A statement is due under rule 52(4), and neither rule 52(5) nor a rule 53 direction removes the duty
- A copy is kept with the trust records
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
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- Written direction to pay trust money to a third party
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- 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)
- 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