On October 1, 2020, the Supreme Judicial Court issued its opinion In the Matter of Olchowski, 485 Mass. 807 (2020). The Court held that client funds on deposit in IOLTA accounts whose owners cannot be identified do not fall within the statutory definition of “abandoned property” under G.L. c. 200A, and therefore such funds should be remitted to the IOLTA Committee rather than escheated to the treasury. The court directed that Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.15 be amended accordingly, including to require that banks notify the Board of Bar Overseers when there is no activity in an IOLTA account for more than three years, and to provide for the transfer and disposition of unidentified funds. The Board of Bar Overseers, in collaboration with the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee, is currently working on implementation of the Court's decision.

In an article available here, Assistant Bar Counsels Alison Mills Cloutier and Robert Daniszewski discuss the decision and the administration of IOLTA accounts in the Commonwealth.