Section 81.101. Definitions

The following words and phrases when used in these regulations shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

Eligible Institution.—An Eligible Institution is a Financial Institution which has been approved as a depository of Trust Accounts pursuant to Pa.R.D.E. 221(h).

Fiduciary.—A Fiduciary is a lawyer acting as a personal representative, guardian, conservator, receiver, trustee, agent under a durable power of attorney, or other similar position. A lawyer acting as a settlement agent, escrow agent, common law agent (other than agent under a durable power of attorney), or representative payee is not acting as a Fiduciary.

Fiduciary Funds.—Fiduciary Funds are Rule 1.15 Funds which the lawyer holds as a Fiduciary. Fiduciary Funds may be either Qualified Funds or Nonqualified Funds. Funds held by a lawyer acting as a settlement agent, escrow agent, common law agent (other than as an agent under a durable power of attorney) or in a similar capacity are not Fiduciary Funds.

Financial Institution.—A Financial Institution is an entity which is authorized by federal or state law and licensed to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as one of the following: a bank, bank and trust company, trust company, credit union, savings bank, savings and loan association or foreign banking corporation, the deposits of which are insured by an agency of the federal government, or as an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or with the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or a broker dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Good faith.—Honesty in fact in the conduct or transaction concerned.

Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) Account.—An IOLTA Account is an income producing Trust Account from which funds may be withdrawn upon request as soon as permitted by law. Qualified Funds are to be held or deposited in an IOLTA Account.

IOLTA Board.—The IOLTA Board is the Pennsylvania Interest On Lawyers Trust Account Board.

Lawyer.—A member in good standing of the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, who is not an active or senior member of the judiciary. The term ‘‘lawyer’’ also includes a partnership of lawyers, a professional association of lawyers, and a professional corporation or other organization whose members or shareholders are engaged in the practice of law.

Member of the Judiciary.—An individual who has been admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar and who has been appointed or elected and is serving as a judicial official of any state or of the United States of America and whose position prohibits the individual from the practice of law within the territorial jurisdiction when the individual serves as a judge. This term shall not include a lawyer who is permitted to and who voluntarily chooses to maintain active lawyer status in Pennsylvania so long as the judicial position does not prevent him or her from practicing law in Pennsylvania.

Non-IOLTA Account.—A Non-IOLTA Account is an income producing Trust Account from which funds may be withdrawn upon request as soon as permitted by law in which a lawyer deposits Rule 1.15 Funds. Only Nonqualified Funds are to be held or deposited in a Non-IOLTA Account. A Non-IOLTA Account shall be established only as:

(i) a separate client Trust Account for the particular client or matter on which the net income will be paid to the client or third person; or

(ii) a pooled client Trust Account with sub-accounting by the Eligible Institution or by the lawyer which will provide for computation of net income earned by each client’s or third person’s funds and the payment thereof to the client or third person.

Nonqualified Funds.—Nonqualified Funds are Rule 1.15 Funds, whether cash, check, money order or other negotiable instrument, which are not Qualified Funds.

Qualified Funds.—Qualified Funds are Rule 1.15 Funds which are nominal in amount or are reasonably expected to be held for such a short period of time that sufficient income will not be generated to justify the expense of administering a segregated account or separately accounting for the income earned on the Rule 1.15 Funds.

Regulations.—These regulations adopted by the IOLTA Board, and approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, as they may be amended from time to time.

Rule 1.15 Funds.—Rule 1.15 Funds are funds which the lawyer receives from a client or third person in connection with a client-lawyer relationship, or as an escrow agent, settlement agent or representative payee, or as a Fiduciary, or receives as an agent, having been designated as such by a client or having been so selected as a result of a client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer’s status as such.

Third Party Owner.—The client or third person whose funds are in the custody of a lawyer.

Trust Account.—A Trust Account is an account in an Eligible Institution in which a lawyer holds Rule 1.15 Funds. A Trust Account must be maintained either as an IOLTA Account or as a Non-IOLTA Account.