So, in June we opened our very first IOLTA/Attorney Client Trust checking account. Unfortunately, it wasn't set up right and nobody caught it. The short story is that it has accrued interest since the account was opened, but it has never credited the account, nor have we sent any interest to the Bar Association. We have coded the account properly now and at the end of October, all of the accrued interest will credit to the account and we will send it to the Bar. My question is how to report this to the Bar and how to ensure that we, as the Bank, don't "get in trouble" for not sending it to them before. Help.

We have 10 IOLTA accounts. We send the interest in quarterly. I would go to this website and see what the regulations are regarding your state. http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/iolta/ioltdir.html

Why not contact your state bar organization and tell them of the one time mistake, how you have corrected it and let them know that at the next remittance date you will include the interest which should have been previously submitted.

My experience is that State Bar organizations are interested in getting money and not interested in playing the role of enforcer. Your post seems to suggest you are trying to find a way to "cover up" your mistake when it seems to me that being up front about the issue will probably clear the air and avoid your bank getting "in trouble".

My experience with the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee (the designated recipient in MA) was much as Ray suggests. They worked with us to make reporting easy and never gave us trouble when we made the occasional slip, as long as we took care of it at the next opportunity.

The only hassle they ever gave us was to repeatedly beg us to up the rate we paid on IOLTA accounts. We paid our NOW rate, and it was pretty dismal a couple of years back (come to think of it, NOWs still don't set the world on fire!)