The Office of Public Guardian may utilize an organizational collective account at a bank for individuals for whom the Office of Public Guardian has been appointed as guardian and/or conservator.
§ 6-1433.03.Office of Public Guardian Organizational Collective Account and document requirements for annual filing.
Article 14: Uniform County Court Rules of Practice and Procedure · Last amended June 15, 2016 · Last verified July 22, 2026
In one sentenceLets the Office of Public Guardian pool the funds of the wards and protected persons it serves into one collective bank account, but only if it keeps the account titled as a fiduciary holding, maintains a separate ledger and internal controls for every individual, and tracks everything through case management software.
Full Text of § 6-1433.03
(A) When an organizational collective account is utilized by the Office of Public Guardian, the account shall:
(1) be appropriately titled to represent that the Office of Public Guardian holds the account in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of wards, incapacitated persons, protected persons, and/or minors who own the funds, but who shall have no access to the account;
(2) hold only the funds of wards, incapacitated persons, protected persons, and/or minors, which funds shall not be commingled with any other Office of Public Guardian funds and shall be separate and distinct from any other Office of Public Guardian accounts.
(B) The interest earned on an organizational collective account shall be credited pro rata, net of pro rata bank fees and account costs, to the ward's, incapacitated person's, protected person's, and/or minor's individual ledger.
(C) When an organizational collective account is utilized, the Office of Public Guardian shall develop financial policies and procedures to include:
(1) an individual ledger for each ward, incapacitated person, protected person, and/or minor for which the Public Guardian holds funds. This ledger shall:
(a) give the name of the ward, incapacitated person, protected person, and/or minor,
(b) detail all money received and paid out on behalf of the ward, incapacitated person, protected person, and/or minor, and
(c) show the ward's, incapacitated person's, protected person's, and/or minor's balance following every receipt or payment;
(2) disbursements from the ward's, incapacitated person's, protected person's, and/or minor's individual ledger shall not exceed the funds received from, or on behalf of, that individual;
(3) documentation comparing, and reconciling if necessary, the monthly prospective budget of the ward, incapacitated person, protected person, and/or minor, managed by the Associate Public Guardian, to the individual ledger of the actual monthly expenditures administrated by the business manager and disbursed from the ward's, incapacitated person's, protected person's, and/or minor's funds, which shall be attached to the annual report for the ward, incapacitated person, protected person, and/or minor;
(4) the business manager will complete the certificate of proof of possession form certifying the balance on deposit, in accordance with the organizational collective account individual ledger for the ward, incapacitated person, protected person, and/or minor; the certified balance on deposit shall be verified by the documentation in (C)(3); and
(5) the account shall be tracked electronically through a case management software accounting system maintained by the Office of Public Guardian. The software system shall be able to produce all financial reporting in a form that can be reproduced in printed hard copy for annual reporting to the court.
(D) When an organizational collective account is utilized by the Office of Public Guardian, job functions within the Office of Public Guardian shall be structured to require segregation of duties relating to the handling of account funds.
(E) The use of the organizational collective account, in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall not be deemed as a violation of Neb. Ct. R. of Prof. Cond. § 3-501.15.
Amendment History
§ 6-1433.03 adopted June 15, 2016.
Plain-English Summary
Managing money for hundreds of individual wards through hundreds of individual bank accounts is impractical, so § 6-1433.03 lets the Office of Public Guardian use one organizational collective account instead — as long as it comes with real safeguards. The account has to be titled to show it’s held in a fiduciary capacity for the wards, incapacitated persons, protected persons, and minors who own the funds, who themselves get no direct access to it, and it can’t hold anything but their money, kept apart from any other Office of Public Guardian accounts.
Pooling money doesn’t mean losing track of whose money it is. The Office has to maintain an individual ledger for every person it serves, showing that person’s name, every receipt and payment made on their behalf, and their running balance after each transaction. Disbursements from any one ledger can’t exceed what that individual has coming in. A business manager has to certify the balance on deposit for each individual against that documentation, reconciling it with the monthly budget the Associate Public Guardian manages for that person, and the whole system has to run through case management software capable of producing printed reports for the court.
The rule also insists on segregation of duties — structuring job functions within the Office of Public Guardian so that no single person controls a ward’s money from start to finish, a basic internal control against error or misuse. And it closes with reassurance for the lawyers involved: using such a collective account, done according to the rule, doesn’t run afoul of the professional conduct rule on safekeeping client property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the Office of Public Guardian combine multiple wards’ money into one account?
Yes, through an organizational collective account, provided the account is titled to reflect its fiduciary purpose and holds only the funds of the individuals it serves, kept separate from any other Office of Public Guardian funds.
Does a ward have direct access to the collective account?
No. The rule specifically requires that the wards, incapacitated persons, protected persons, and minors whose funds are held in the account have no access to it themselves.
What is an individual ledger and why does each person need one?
It’s a running record — name, all money received and paid out, and the resulting balance after every transaction — kept for each individual whose funds sit in the collective account, so pooling the money doesn’t blur whose funds are whose.
How does someone earn interest on funds in a collective account?
Interest earned on the account is credited pro rata, after deducting a pro rata share of bank fees and account costs, to each individual’s own ledger.
What internal controls does the Office of Public Guardian have to build around this account?
Job functions have to be structured with segregation of duties over handling the account’s funds, and a business manager must certify balances against ledger and budget documentation.
Does using a collective account violate the rules on safeguarding client funds?
No. Section 6-1433.03 states that using the account as the rule describes isn’t treated as a violation of Neb. Ct. R. of Prof. Cond. § 3-501.15.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Nebraska Judicial Branch, adopted by the
Supreme Court of Nebraska. Last verified July 22, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: office of public guardian collective accountpooled trust account wards nebraskaindividual ledger public guardianpublic guardian fund segregation ruleguardian conservator account requirements