Rule 1.15 - Safekeeping Property(a) A lawyer shall hold funds or other property of clients or third persons that is in a lawyer's possession in connection with a representation separate from the lawyer's own property. All funds received or held for the benefit of clients by a lawyer or firm, including advances for costs and expenses, shall be deposited in one or more identifiable bank accounts designated as a trust account maintained in the state where the lawyer's office is situated, or elsewhere with the consent of the client or third person. Other property in which clients or third persons hold an interest shall be identified as such and appropriately safeguarded. Complete records of such account funds and other property shall be kept by the lawyer and shall be preserved for a period of seven years after termination of the representation.(b) A lawyer may deposit the lawyer's own funds in a client trust account for the sole purpose of paying bank service charges on that account, but only in an amount necessary for that purpose.(c) A lawyer shall deposit into a client trust account legal fees and expenses that have been paid in advance, to be withdrawn by the lawyer only as fees are earned or expenses incurred.(d) Upon receiving funds or other property in which a client or third person has an interest, a lawyer shall promptly notify the client or third person. Except as stated in this Rule or otherwise permitted by law or by agreement with the client, a lawyer shall promptly deliver to the client or third person any funds or other property that the client or third person is entitled to receive and, upon request by the client or third person, shall promptly render a full accounting regarding such property.(e) When in the course of representation a lawyer is in possession of funds or other property in which two or more persons (one of whom may be the lawyer) claim interests, the property shall be kept separate by the lawyer until the dispute is resolved. The lawyer shall promptly distribute all portions of the funds or other property as to which the interests are not in dispute.(f) A lawyer or law firm with unclaimed or unidentified funds in a client trust account shall take reasonable efforts to locate and to distribute the funds to the owner. If the lawyer or firm cannot after reasonable efforts locate or distribute the unclaimed or unidentified funds to an owner within five years of receipt of the property, then the lawyer or firm may remit the funds to the Clients Security Fund except as otherwise provided by law. The Clients Security Fund shall grant remitted funds and shall not hold funds for future recovery.(1) Unclaimed funds" are monies that a lawyer or firm is holding in a client trust account that should be distributed to a client or third party. (2) "Unidentified funds" are monies for which the lawyer or firm cannot identify an owner.(3) Reasonable efforts to locate the owner of unclaimed funds shall include, but not be limited to, no less than regular and certified mail to the owner's last known address, telephone, and email. The board of governors may establish additional requirements for client contact or identification of funds. A lawyer or firm must certify and provide supporting documentary evidence of the lawyer's or firm's reasonable efforts to locate the owner before remitting such funds to the Clients Security Fund.(4) A lawyer's or firm's remittance to the Clients Security Fund under this paragraph (f) shall not constitute misconduct or grounds for discipline if the member or firm exercised reasonable efforts to locate and distribute the property and remitted the property to the Clients Security Fund in good faith.(g) An attorney appointed pursuant to Rule 118 may, after due diligence to identify client funds and locate clients, remit any amount of funds in the lawyer's trust account to the Clients Security Fund.Added effective 5/1/2006; as amended; effective 4/19/2021.