Virginia · Trust Accounting
What Virginia attorneys must do to keep client trust funds compliant — the governing rule, how often you must reconcile, and how long records must be kept.
Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct 1.15 (Safekeeping Property), Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, Part 6, Section II
Monthly (three-way)
5 years
Virginia State Bar
Legal Services Corporation of Virginia
Required — banks must notify the regulator
Source: Virginia State Bar . Rules change — always confirm against the current text before relying on it.
Virginia's stated reconciliation requirement is: Monthly (three-way). 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.
Virginia 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 Virginia attorneys are expected to maintain.