Letter · Trust accounting & handling client money
Client direction for an IOLTA or separate trust deposit (United States)
Client direction naming the trust account for a deposit, and the limits on a later withdrawal of earned fees or incurred expenses. The lawyer decides whether the funds are nominal or short-term.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- United States
- AI use
- Red You write the text. The tool writes nothing into the document. Where permitted, it may check, clarify or collect data, and anything it checks or collects is verified.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a US lawyer or firm is about to receive client or third-person funds into a trust account and needs a written agreement for the deposit and for any later withdrawal of earned fees or incurred expenses. Do not use it to decide a dispute about who owns the funds.
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
The lawyer writes the account decision and any amount that may later be withdrawn. A tool may list figures the lawyer has already written so they can be compared. It writes nothing that goes into the signed direction.
AI may
- List, beside the draft, the amount, bank and account name the lawyer has already typed, so the lawyer can compare them
- Flag blank placeholders and a row in the decision table that has not been completed
- Point to the sentences in Model Rule 1.15(c), (d) and (e) that the direction relies on
AI must not
- Must not decide whether funds are nominal or short-term, or choose IOLTA rather than a separate account
- Must not state that a fee has been earned or that an expense has been incurred
- Must not insert an account number, amount or payee from an email or a tool output into the direction
- Must not describe Indiana Rule 1.15 as if it applied in another state
The lawyer checks
- The jurisdiction's own trust-account and IOLTA rule has been read, not only Model Rule 1.15
- One decision row is complete, and it matches that rule's test for nominal or short-term funds
- Any flat fee or retainer is left in trust unless the jurisdiction's rule, as checked, allows withdrawal
- The signed direction is not treated as authority to pay a new account requested by email, phone or message
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
- 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