Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

Immigration law comes with more challenges for trust money than others

5 Jan 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief dialogue, two legal professionals discuss the unique challenges of managing client trust money in immigration law compared to other practice areas. They outline a systematic approach: documenting each client’s initial deposit and payment plan, maintaining a monthly overview of case status, and performing at least quarterly reconciliations to know precisely where each case stands. When a case’s court date shifts outside its original window, the associated funds must be moved into a trust account. The conversation emphasizes the importance of a clear accountability trail for all transactions and the procedural triggers that dictate when money should be transferred to trust.

So with that said, you know, we've run across lots of challenges with trust money in just your generic, let's say, corporate firm or what have you. And so what's the accountability trail for transactions like these?
So what we do is, so you have this payment, you know where every engagement is, you know what the first initial deposit is and what the payment plans are. And then inside of that, from there, on a monthly basis, essentially, as best you can, depending on your caseload. But the idea is to ensure that at minimum quarterly, you exactly know where these cases might be. Now, if these cases fall outside of a particular window, they do need to move in trust. And the funds that come in, we basically have to come in and they move over, essentially.
So the court date gets moved. And so then that might trigger the money going over to trust or whatever.
Exactly.