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#1893325 - 02/04/14 04:09 PM Attorney Deceased-IOLTA acct
Bec Offline
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Bec
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,115
The Great White North
Have an interesting situation. We have an IOLTA account that is in the name of an individual attorney. The attorney is a member of a law firm, but apparently they arrange their IOLTAs under the individual attorneys in the firm for recordkeeping, etc. The attorney for this particular account has passed away. What happens to the account/monies in the account?
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#1893491 - 02/04/14 07:09 PM Re: Attorney Deceased-IOLTA acct Bec
RayLynch Offline
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RayLynch
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 544
You should contact the State Bar in your state. State bar organizations have procedures to deal with this situation (and quite often they will appoint an attorney to take control of the decedent attorney's client trust accounts). The State Bar can advise you on what should be done with the IOLTA account in the meantime.

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#1893567 - 02/04/14 08:24 PM Re: Attorney Deceased-IOLTA acct Bec
Bec Offline
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Bec
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,115
The Great White North
Could the office that the attorney worked for do this? Even thought the account is titled in the name of the deceased attorney?
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#1893579 - 02/04/14 08:39 PM Re: Attorney Deceased-IOLTA acct Bec
RayLynch Offline
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RayLynch
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 544
It is up to the State Bar to decide who should take control of a decedent's attorney client trust account. If the account stood in the decedent's attorney individual name, as opposed to a law firm name, then by what right does any other attorney have to take control of the decedent's account?

Information in the bank account records could reveal privileged information. State Bar organizations act carefully with decedent attorney's client-trust accounts and you shouldn't act without first consulting the State Bar (otherwise you may be creating a problem for your bank).

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