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Vol. 73, No. 9, September 2000
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Letters
The Wisconsin Lawyer publishes as many letters
in each issue as space permits. Please limit letters to 500 words;
letters may be edited for length and clarity. Letters should address
the issues, and not be a personal attack on others.
Letters endorsing
political candidates cannot be accepted. Please mail letters to "Letters
to the Editor," Wisconsin Lawyer, P.O. Box 7158, Madison,
WI 53707-7158, fax them to (608) 257-5502, or email
them.
Trust Account Overdraft Rules
 I am a sole practitioner who is
asked from time to time by our probate court to act as personal representative,
guardian, conservator, or trustee. It's taken me a good half day to
hopefully come into compliance with the "broad interpretation" of
the overdraft notice requirement of SCR 20.1.15 for these fiduciary
accounts. Not that I have better things to do. (Editor's Note: Please
see the practice tips columns in the May and June issues.)
I would have thought that because I am under continuous
court supervision in these fiduciary accounts that our probate court,
being more qualified than the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility,
could handle any problems. Why isn't this the case?
I have always tried to keep every last dollar of the
cash in my fiduciary accounts invested at money market rates. Although
I have never experienced an overdraft, I will be taking extra care
to assure that I don't experience one through an inadvertent error
or unexpected bank charges, even if this results in loss of interest.
And the additional time required to stay in compliance is yet another
item of overhead that I need to consider in my hourly fees.
Both of my parents died last year and I was appointed
personal representative of their estates. I am not being compensated
as attorney; in fact I am not even acting as such. But since I am
serving in a fiduciary capacity, I supposedly come under the safekeeping
rules of SCR 20.1.15(a). My two brothers will be happy indeed that
they are somehow being protected. After all, what do they know? They're
only lawyers.
Richard W. Nuernberg, Madison
The points Mr. Nuernberg raises are being considered
by a special committee comprised of representatives from the State
Bar and the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility/Office
of Lawyer Regulation (BAPR/OLR) staff to address some of the more
common issues with the overdraft report requirements of SCR 20:1.15.
We hope to have recommendations for consideration by the Board of
Governors and BAPR/OLR within the next several months so there is
timely action taken to respond to the many areas of confusion about
the applicability of this rule to many different types of fiduciary
accounts.
Dean R. Dietrich, Chair, State Bar Professional Ethics
Committee
James L. Martin, Interim Administrator, BAPR/OLR
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