New Mexico · Trust Accounting
What New Mexico attorneys must do to keep client trust funds compliant — the governing rule, how often you must reconcile, and how long records must be kept.
Rule 16-115 NMRA (Safekeeping Property); trust accounting under Rule 17-204 NMRA
Monthly
5 years
Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of New Mexico
New Mexico IOLTA Program (New Mexico State Bar Foundation)
Required — banks must notify the regulator
Source: Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of New Mexico . Rules change — always confirm against the current text before relying on it.
New Mexico requires attorneys to reconcile trust accounts monthly. A three-way reconciliation compares three totals that must all agree. If they do not, the difference has to be found and resolved before the reconciliation is complete.
Bank statement balance, adjusted for outstanding checks and deposits in transit.
Your internal trust account register as of the same date.
The total of every individual client ledger balance on that date.
For a full walkthrough of the procedure, common violations, and what examiners look for, see our IOLTA compliance guide.
New Mexico requires trust account records to be retained for 5 years. In practice that means keeping:
IOLTA Guard automates three-way reconciliation, blocks negative client ledgers, and keeps the audit trail New Mexico attorneys are expected to maintain.