Under the amendments to effective September 1, 2024, Massachusetts lawyers must transfer unidentified and unclaimed funds in IOLTA accounts to the IOLTA Committee. The IOLTA Committee will use the transferred funds to support legal help for Massachusetts residents who cannot afford a lawyer and to improve the administration of justice in the Commonwealth. More information and the affidavits necessary to transfer funds is available at this webpage: Unclaimed and Unidentified Funds.
Why was Rule 1.15 amended?
The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) approved amendments to Rule 1.15 and 1.15A of the Rules of Professional Conduct in response to the decision in Matter of Olchowski, 485 Mass. 807 (2020), in which the SJC concluded that undistributable IOLTA funds are not governed by the state’s abandoned property rule and that such funds should be transferred to the IOLTA Committee.
Under the amended Rule 1.15, subsections (h) and (i) establish procedures for lawyers to follow when they discover that the owner of funds in an IOLTA account cannot be identified or located and for financial institutions to follow when an IOLTA account has been inactive for at least two-and-a-half years. The amendments also provide for the transfer of those funds to the IOLTA Committee. For more details about the amendments, please review our earlier blog post.
What do the amendments require lawyers to do?
When a lawyer learns they have unclaimed or unidentified finds in their IOLTA account, he or she must undertake reasonable and diligent efforts to reunite the funds with their owner.
What constitutes reasonable and diligent efforts will depend on the circumstances, but may include, in the case of funds whose owners are not known (unidentified funds), a thorough review of bank records, accounting records, and client files. In the case of funds whose owners are known (unclaimed funds), reasonable and diligent efforts may include making inquiries of the client’s family and acquaintances, examining public records, and conducting internet-based research. See Rule 1.15, Comment 15. If the owner of the funds can be located but is not accepting the funds, the lawyer should contact the owner to determine whether they will accept the funds and if not, why not.
Once a lawyer has made duly diligent efforts to return the funds to the owner, the lawyer may remit the funds to the IOLTA Committee at any time. Three years from the date of discovery of undistributable funds, a lawyer must remit the funds to the IOLTA Committee. In either case, the funds must be accompanied by an affidavit completed by the lawyer or the lawyer’s authorized agent under the pains and penalties of perjury.
Under , lawyers who transfer unclaimed or unidentified funds to the IOLTA Committee must maintain the related client file or files for at least 10 years.
How do lawyers submit the affidavits and transfer the funds to the IOLTA Committee?
It is all done online via this webpage: Unclaimed and Unidentified Funds. Lawyers (or their authorized agent) must complete an online affidavit and make an electronic transfer of funds to the IOLTA Committee. As set forth in Rule 1.15, there are two affidavits: an affidavit for lawyers remitting $500 or less to the IOLTA Committee within a twelve-month period (“Safe Harbor Affidavit”) and a different affidavit for transfers of more than $500 (“Over $500 Affidavit”). Among other things, the affidavits require lawyers to identify the owners of any unclaimed funds being transferred to the IOLTA Committee. Information regarding those owners will be published on a maintained by the Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) to allow the owners to reclaim their funds from the IOLTA Committee. In addition, as required by Rule 1.15(i)(4), a copy of each Over $500 Affidavit will be provided to the BBO.
After submitting an affidavit, a lawyer will receive a confirmation email and be directed to a secure payment portal to transfer the funds electronically from their IOLTA account to the IOLTA Committee.
As of September 1, 2024, lawyers may no longer utilize the Application to Transfer Funds provided by the BBO.
What role do financial institutions play in the new process?
New Rule 1.15 subsection (h)(5) requires that financial institutions give notice to lawyers of inactive IOLTA accounts. An inactive IOLTA account is an account with no transactions other than the automatic accrual and disbursement of interest to the IOLTA Committee for at least two-and-a-half years. Lawyers should review these inactivity notices carefully and either disburse the funds and close the account if it is no longer needed or follow the financial institution’s instructions for reactivating the account.
If an inactive IOLTA account is not closed or reactivated within six months after the two-and-a-half-year notice to the lawyer, the bank or credit union will send a three-year notice to the lawyer and to the BBO. The lawyer must either disburse the funds and close the account if it is no longer needed or notify the financial institution that the account should remain open. Under Rule 1.15(h)(7), the lawyer must notify the BBO of the action taken after the three-year notice. Correspondence to the BBO should be sent to by secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by mail to:
Office of Bar Counsel
1 Beacon Street, 10th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Attn: Inactive IOLTA Account
If the account remains inactive for more than a year after the financial institution sends the notification to the BBO, the financial institution will remit the balance of the IOLTA account to the IOLTA Committee and close the account.
Lawyers should ensure their financial institution has their current contact information for these and other important notices.
For more information, see the IOLTA Committee’s Attorney FAQs. Additional resources are available on the .
Questions may be directed to the IOLTA Committee at 617-723-9093 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..