§ 81.101. Definitions.

 The following words and phrases when used in these regulations shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

   Board—The Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyer Trust Account Board.

   Financial institution—A financial institution approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania pursuant to Rule 221 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement (‘‘Pa.R.D.E.’’). A financial institution will be a bank, bank and trust company, trust company, savings and loan association, credit union, savings bank or foreign banking institution authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or an alternate share insurer, and who has been specifically approved as a financial institution within the meaning of Pa.R.D.E. 221.

   Good faith—Honesty in fact in the conduct or transaction concerned.

   Interest on Lawyer Trust Account or IOLTA Account—An unsegregated Trust Account with an approved financial institution for the deposit of Qualified Funds by a lawyer.

   Lawyer—A member in good standing of the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, who is not an active or senior member of the judiciary. The term ‘‘lawyer’’ also includes a partnership of lawyers, a professional association of lawyers, and a professional corporation or other organization whose members or shareholders are engaged in the practice of law.

   Member of the Judiciary—An individual who has been admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar and who has been appointed or elected and is serving as a judicial official of any state or of the United States of America and whose position prohibits the individual from the practice of law within the territorial jurisdiction when the individual serves as a judge. This term shall not include a lawyer who is permitted to and who voluntarily chooses to maintain active lawyer status in Pennsylvania so long as the judicial position does not prevent him or her from practicing law in Pennsylvania.

   Nonqualified Funds—Rule 1.15 Funds, whether cash, check, money order, or other negotiable instrument received by a lawyer in a representative capacity, and which are not Qualified Funds.

   Qualified Funds—Rule 1.15 Funds, whether cash, check, money order, or other negotiable instrument received by a lawyer in a representative capacity which, in the good faith judgment of the lawyer, are nominal in amount or are reasonably expected to be held for such a short period of time that sufficient interest income will not be generated to justify the expense of earning interest to benefit the client or third person owner of the funds. See Regulation Section 81.104(c) for further guidance.

   Regulations—These regulations adopted by the Board, and approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, as they may be amended from time to time.

   Representative capacity—Received by a lawyer in connection with a client-lawyer relationship, or under circumstances such that the lawyer is subject to the obligations of Rule 1.15 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct and these Regulations as if a client-lawyer relationship existed. See Regulation Section 81.104. A lawyer who receives funds while acting as a fiduciary for an estate, trust, guardianship, or conservatorship does not receive those funds in a representative capacity.

   Rule 1.15 Funds—Funds which the lawyer receives in connection with a client-lawyer relationship, or under circumstances described in Pa.R.P.C. 5.7(a), (b), or (c), excluding funds which the lawyer receives while acting as fiduciary for an estate, trust, guardianship or conservatorship. Rule 1.15 Funds include all funds of a client or third person received by a lawyer, in a representative capacity, from any person.

   Third Party Owner—The client or third person whose funds are in the custody of a lawyer.

   Trust Account—An interest-bearing account maintained in a financial institution, as defined in Rule of Disciplinary Enforcement 221, in which or with respect to which a lawyer holds Rule 1.15 Funds, including but not limited to an IOLTA Account.