Adam Wolk, left, and Barbara Goodstein, right, of Mayer Brown. Courtesy photos Adam Wolk, left, and Barbara Goodstein, right, of Mayer Brown. Courtesy photos

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Introduction

Last June this column discussed two federal court cases showing the challenges faced by lawyers in structuring bank deposit arrangements, such as trusts and escrows, free of bankruptcy risk of the depositor. ("Trusts, Escrows and Property of the Estate (or Not)," 269 N.Y.L.J. 109 (June 8, 2023)). These two decisions, one by a bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York involving an attorney escrow account, and the other by a federal district court in the Northern District of Texas involving a trust arrangement, reached the same conclusion—namely that the cash at issue was subject to claims of the depositor's creditors. These cases emphasize the continuing uncertainty across states of treatment of different structures intended to insulate cash from the risk of bankruptcy of its depositor. Fortunately, this uncertainty may soon be resolved by a uniform state statute proposed by the Uniform Law Commission.