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Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006

Complaints and discipline - Intervention in practice

164: Intervention in relation to regulated trust accounts

You could also call this:

"When a lawyer or conveyancer does something wrong, a committee can take control of their clients' money."

Illustration for Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006

You can have your money in a special account called a regulated trust account. A Standards Committee can ask a banker to give them the money in this account. The banker must give the money to the Standards Committee when they ask for it. You might be wondering why the Standards Committee can ask for the money. They can do this if they think something is wrong with a practitioner or former practitioner, as stated in section 163. The banker is not liable for the money once they give it to the Standards Committee. When the banker gets the notice, they must pay the money right away. The Standards Committee will then make sure the money is safe. The receipt from the Standards Committee means the banker is not responsible for the money anymore.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM366707.

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163: Circumstances justifying intervention, or

"When a lawyer does something wrong with someone's money or property"

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165: Administration of funds obtained from regulated trust accounts, or

"Looking after money from trust accounts"

Part 7Complaints and discipline
Intervention in practice

164Intervention in relation to regulated trust accounts

  1. A Standards Committee, if satisfied that any of the circumstances specified in section 163 exist in respect of a practitioner or former practitioner, may serve on any banker a notice, signed by 2 members of the Standards Committee, requiring the banker to pay to the Standards Committee or the New Zealand Law Society or the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers all money held in any account that is, in relation to that practitioner or former practitioner, a regulated trust account.

  2. On receipt of the notice, the banker must forthwith pay to the Standards Committee or the New Zealand Law Society or the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers all money held by the banker in any such account; and the receipt of the Standards Committee (or the New Zealand Law Society or the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers) is a complete discharge to the banker from all liability in respect of the money.

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