The Interest on Lawyer Trust Account Program (IOLTA) In 2008, the Supreme Court of Missouri adopted substantial changes to Rule 4-1.15, which governs lawyers' trust accounts.  Trust accounts must now be established as interest-bearing IOLTA accounts, or non-IOLTA accounts. IOLTA accounts are pooled accounts where the interest earned on funds would not be sufficient to generate any net income to the client. This interest income is collected by the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation ("Foundation") and distributed in the form of grants to provide legal services to the poor and other law related services. An additional change to the Rule requires that IOLTA accounts only be held at "eligible financial institutions" as determined by the Foundation. The main requirement for an institution to be eligible is that it pays "comparable" interest rates on IOLTA accounts to the interest rates it pays on the same type of account of non-IOLTA customers.  The institution must also structure fees and costs fairly so IOLTA accounts do not suffer extraordinary costs.  Many institutions have proudly become part of the justice team by assisting in the creation and maintenance of these accounts and by waiving all fees on IOLTAs. Our mission is to expand public education about our legal system and to provide assistance to those who wish to access the legal system, but do not have the financial resources to do so.  The funds created by Missouri IOLTA accounts advance these goals by obtaining a fair return on otherwise idle funds.

Lawyer Trust Account Handbook now available  News of Interest FDIC announces program to fully insure IOLTA deposits.  See "Financial Institutions" James Frickleton, James McDaniel and Kurt Williams elected to Board of Directors  Missouri Supreme Court to require overdraft notification on all attorney trust accounts as of January 1, 2010.  To learn more, click here.