I once heard it said, “Where there’s a will, there’s relatives.” If you’re the attorney managing a trust account, it’s important that you be fully knowledgeable about Trust Account Rules to handle family finances at sensitive times.
Last year, the Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s Office (CDC) created A Lawyer’s Guide to Client Trust Accounts, a publication to educate Texas lawyers about specific ethical requirements for the safekeeping of property. The publication includes proper handling of monetary funds that belong entirely or partially to a client and the need to keep such funds separate from the lawyer’s account. In the absence of a full understanding of the rules, a lawyer can unknowingly put themselves in a position of committing disciplinary infractions.