WHAT IS AN IOLTA ACCOUNT?
Real estate attorneys have a separate IOLTA escrow account to receive and disburse all funds involved with a real estate closing.
IOLTA stands for Interest on Lawyers Trust Account and it means that the money in that account does not belong to the attorney. Interest earned on the account also does not belong to the attorney. The interest earned, minus bank fees, goes to fund legal aid programs in the state of Georgia. The Tax ID number on the account is the Georgia Bar Association’s, not Origin Title’s. I account for every penny in the account for each file on a daily basis.
With wire fraud cases and check forgery on the rise, real estate agents want to know a real estate closing attorney who has stringent safeguards in place to protect the funds held in escrow for closing.