IOLTA Staff and Board Area

The Michigan Supreme Court has adopted an amended IOLTA rule (and approved an Attorney Guidelines Brochure - court approval of this was important since it contains some of the technical requirements regarding rate parity).

The changes include the following revenue enhancement items:
1) interest/dividend rate parity;
2) no negative netting;
3) defining allowable fees;
4) specific remittance reporting requirements (that help monitor rate parity compliance); and
5) allowing lawyers to place so much of their own funds into the IOLTA account as needed to pay - or permit a waiver of - service charges.

Change #6 replaced Michigan's old $50 benchmark (expected interest threshold under which deposits could go into an IOLTA account) with the eligible funds language recommended by the Joint Rules Task Force in light of the Brown decision.

The new rule will strengthen Michigan's IOLTA program by conforming our rule to the Brown decision and through increased revenue.