(a) Every licensed adjuster shall have the responsibilities of a trustee for all funds and return funds received or collected under this article.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:9-230

  • Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. Source: OCC
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(b) The licensee, upon receipt of the funds, shall either:

(1) Remit the funds and return funds received or held by the licensee to the persons entitled to the funds; or
(2) Maintain the funds at all times in a federally insured account with a bank, savings and loan association, or financial services loan company situated in Hawaii, separate from the licensee’s own funds or funds held by the licensee in any other capacity, and return funds received by the licensee and unpaid to the insurers or persons entitled to the funds. Return funds shall be returned within thirty days, unless directed otherwise in writing by the person entitled to the funds.

The licensee shall not be required to maintain a separate bank account or other account for the funds of each person entitled to the funds, so long as the funds held for the person entitled to the funds are reasonably ascertainable from the books of account and records of the licensee. Only additional funds reasonably necessary to pay bank, savings and loan association, or financial services loan company charges may be commingled with the funds. In the event the bank, savings and loan association, or financial services loan company account is an interest earning account, the licensee may not retain the interest earned on the funds to the licensee’s own use or benefit without the prior written consent of the person entitled to the funds. A trustee account shall be designated on the records of the bank, savings and loan association, or financial services loan company as a “trustee account established pursuant to section 431:9-230, Hawaii Revised Statutes”, or words of similar import.

(c) Any licensee who, not being lawfully entitled to the funds, diverts or appropriates the funds or any portion of them for the licensee’s own use, shall be guilty of embezzlement and shall be punished as provided in the criminal statutes of this State.

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