Uniform Special Deposits Act of 2025
The Uniform Special Deposits Act of 2025 creates a new chapter in the District of Columbia Official Code governing “special deposits,” which are bank deposits held under an account agreement for a stated permissible purpose and subject to a contingency. The bill sets out detailed definitions and rules for when a deposit qualifies, how banks may pay beneficiaries, how account agreements may be amended, and when a special deposit terminates. It also allows parties to opt into the act by agreement and applies the law to both new and certain existing deposits that are amended to comply with the act.
The measure is designed to provide a uniform legal framework for arrangements such as escrow accounts, security deposits, earnest money, funds held for benefits or judgments, and certain financial-market collateral arrangements. It specifies that neither the depositor nor the beneficiary has a property interest in the special deposit itself, limits creditor process against the bank except in defined circumstances, restricts injunctions to cases involving material fraud, and generally bars bank setoff or recoupment except as authorized. The act also establishes a default five-year term for special deposits unless the agreement provides otherwise and directs courts to interpret the law consistently with other jurisdictions adopting the uniform act.
This bill amends Title 28 of the D.C. Official Code by adding Chapter 29A, thereby creating a comprehensive statutory regime for special deposits and related bank obligations. It affects banks, depositors, beneficiaries, creditors, and parties using escrow-like or contingent payment arrangements, while also interacting with existing law on deposits, fraud, bankruptcy, and abandoned property. By clarifying ownership, creditor rights, payment duties, and termination rules, the act is intended to reduce uncertainty in commercial and financial transactions and to harmonize District law with the uniform act adopted elsewhere.
The bill appears to have been received favorably and without recorded opposition. It passed both first and final reading in the Council unanimously, 13-0 on October 21, 2025 and again 13-0 on November 4, 2025. The absence of committee transcript material suggests there was little public controversy in the available record, and the voting history indicates broad support for the measure’s technical, uniform-law approach.
No major points of contention are reflected in the provided record. The main policy choices embedded in the bill are the limits on creditor process, the rule that neither depositor nor beneficiary has a property interest in the special deposit itself, and the restrictions on bank setoff and recoupment, but there is no evidence in the available materials of organized opposition to those provisions. The bill’s detailed default rules and its ability to override some terms by agreement may have been the principal drafting issues, but the unanimous votes suggest those issues were not divisive.