Rule 15.4 Trust Account Overdraft Notification

(a) Overdraft Notification Agreement Required. To be authorized as a depository for LLLT trust accounts, a bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or qualified public depository must file with the Legal Foundation of Washington (Legal Foundation) an agreement as provided for under ELC 15.4(a) and (b). The Legal Foundation maintains a list of financial institutions authorized to establish LLLT trust accounts and publishes the list on a website maintained by the Legal Foundation for public information.

(b) Costs. Nothing in these rules precludes a financial institution from charging a particular LLLT or Firm for the reasonable cost of producing the reports and records required by this rule, but those charges may not be a transaction cost charged against funds payable to the Legal Foundation under LLLT RPC 1.15A(i)(1).

(c) Notification by LLLT. Every LLLT or Firm who receives notification that any instrument presented against the LLLT’s or Firm’s trust account was presented against insufficient funds, whether or not the instrument was honored, must promptly notify the Clerk of the Board of the following information:

(1) the identity of the financial institution;

(2) the identity of the LLLT or Firm;

(3) the account number; and

(4) either:

(A) the amount of overdraft and date created; or

(B) the amount of the returned instrument(s) and the date returned.

The LLLT or Firm must include a full explanation of the cause of the overdraft.

[Adopted effective January 7, 2016 as an interim rule; Adopted effective October 28, 2025 as a permanent rule]