Unclaimed Money Fund
Contents
The Unclaimed Money Fund (the “Fund”) is a fund that will be administered by the Law Society of Singapore to help solicitors and law practices deal with the problem of unclaimed client money. The Fund comes into force on 1 November 2019.
During the course of client engagements, solicitors and Singapore law practices will receive money in their client accounts, where the money is held until it is paid out on the client’s instructions or returned to the client. However, money may sometimes be left unclaimed in a client account, such as when the client becomes uncontactable or untraceable. When this happens, solicitors and law practices may apply to the Law Society to transfer this unclaimed money to the Fund.
Owners of the unclaimed client money who wish to claim the money that was transferred to the Fund may then apply to the Law Society within 6 years of the transfer date to have the money returned to them. Information for claimants can be found here.
Legislative Framework
The Fund is governed by:
Other Information on the Fund
For more information, please refer to the following additional resources on the Fund:
Application Forms
The following application forms are available for download from the Members Library (click ‘For Lawyers’ > ‘Members Library‘ > [Log in with your ID and Password] > ‘Unclaimed Money Fund’).
The Application Form for Transfer of Legacy Amounts During Initial Period is used for the transfer of legacy amounts only during the period from 1 November 2019 to 31 October 2021 (both dates inclusive).
The Application Form for Transfer of Small Amounts Only is used for the transfer of amounts of $200 or less.
The Application Form for Transfer of Legacy Amounts after Initial Period and All Other Amounts is used for the transfer of legacy amounts on or after 1 November 2021, and transfer of all other amounts.
