I wrote a $2500 check today and accidentally used one of my trust checks. When I realized I quickly replaced the money in the trust account. Could I get in trouble for this? It was an honest mistake because the different accounts on the check are so small.

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As a practical matter, in my state, you wouldn’t. They don’t care about isolated, honest mistakes that don’t harm the client, and the fact that you immediately took corrective action works in your favor.

Personally I use different colored checks to minimize the chances of this happening. (I got the idea from Jay Foonberg’s classic book.)

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I would look at your state bar rules re: any duty to self-report ethical misconduct.

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I was just in an ethics CLE about this kind of thing. An isolated event shouldn’t be a big deal but they’re advice was to go ahead and notify your malpractice carrier.

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Why not just cancel the trust check with your bank and reissue?

*cashed

In California, it's a deal.

if a check is cancelled they have to report it to the bar, resulting in a reprimand/disciplinary hearing to explain themselves. If a problem arises, it could stay on their public record for 10 years

I didn’t have to cancel the check. And I also moved the money back to my trust from operating.

If you overdrew your account, it will get reported automatically, at least in my state.

This is a huge issue in my state and I have screwed it up, big, a few times. But I caught it before anyone else did. And I’m leaving it at that. If I catch a bar complaint, I know they’ll audit my trust account for the last five years. But I’m hedging my bets on not getting that complaint. Plus, once your issue gets past the disciplinary people, out into the light of day where reasonable lawyers are reviewing it, they’re likely to focus on the primary issue and not the innocuous results of a witch hunt. Unless of course the results aren’t innocuous. Good luck!!

In my state I believe it’s required to report. Do you have an ethics hotline you can call? That would be best bet.

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