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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    September 01, 2000

    Wisconsin Lawyer September 2000: Letters to the Editor

    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

    Adding Machine 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

    Wisconsin Lawyer


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