Supreme Court offices
Office of Lawyer Regulation
Information for financial institutions
Wisconsin's financial institutions play a key role in the maintenance of lawyer trust accounts and fiduciary accounts by enabling lawyers to comply with the Wisconsin Supreme Court's overdraft notification and IOLTA requirements. To assist financial institutions in understanding the requirements that lawyers must meet in connection with trust and fiduciary accounts, the OLR has developed the following informational materials:
- The agreement
to notify the Office of Lawyer Regulation of overdrafts on lawyer trust accounts and fiduciary accounts
While the agreement and the instructions for completing it can be accessed from this site, the agreement must be printed out, completed, and signed.
A copy of the signed agreement, with a voided trust account check attached, should be filed with the OLR by regular/first class mail. Please be advised that "starter checks" are not acceptable unless they are identical to the pre-printed checks that the lawyer will be using.
Note: It is the lawyer's responsibility, not that of the financial institution, to file an overdraft notification agreement and voided check with the OLR.
- An overview of accounts that are subject to overdraft notification requirements
- A summary of the trust account rules that relate to the lawyer's financial institution: A guide for financial institutions
- Guidelines regarding proper identification of trust accounts
- Guidelines regarding proper format for trust account checks
- The form letter that OLR routinely sends to a financial institution after receiving notice of an overdraft
- Supreme Court Rule 20:1.15 , effective January 1, 2011
If you have any questions about the overdraft notification program or OLR's forms, please feel free to contact the OLR Trust Account Program at: (608) 261-8296 or or toll free at (877) 315-6941 (Option 2).