Letter · Trust accounting & handling client money
Notice that funds were received into trust (United States)
A short notice that funds in which the client or a third person has an interest have been received and placed in a named trust account, as Model Rule 1.15(d) requires prompt notice.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- United States
- 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 2 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Send promptly after funds are received into a client trust account. Do not use it to claim that a fee has been earned or to pay anyone.
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
A tool may fill the date, amount and account from the ledger entry the lawyer identifies. The lawyer confirms whose money it is before the notice goes out.
AI may
- Insert the date, amount and trust account name from the ledger line the lawyer points to
- Flag a notice that names an operating account or leaves the amount blank
AI must not
- Must not decide who owns the funds or that a fee has been earned
- Must not send the notice, or attach it to an email that changes the destination account
The lawyer checks
- The amount and the account match the bank credit and the ledger
- The recipient is the person Rule 1.15(d) requires to be notified
- The notice does not promise a payment date the jurisdiction's rule does not allow
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)
- 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
- 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