New Zealand Legislation: Regulations

9 Restriction on debiting trust accounts with fees

• (1) No trust account may be debited with any fees of a practice (except commission properly chargeable on the collection of money and disbursements) unless—

  • (a) a dated invoice has been issued in respect of those fees, and a copy of the invoice is available for inspection by the inspectorate; or

  • (b) an authority in writing in that behalf, signed and dated by the client, specifying the sum to be so applied and the particular purpose to which it is to be applied has been obtained and is available for inspection by the inspectorate.

  (2) If fees are debited under subclause (1)(a), an invoice must be delivered or posted to the person who has a legal or beneficial interest in the trust account to be debited before or immediately after the fees are debited.

  (3) For the purposes of subclause (2), a practitioner or partner in the practice is not to be treated as having a legal or beneficial interest in the trust account to be debited, solely because the practitioner or partner issues the invoice in respect of that trust account.