Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

If there is money in a trust account, you'd better determine with certainty why it is there, and who it belongs to. Even though 5 years is past the statute of limitations on being sued, and no one seems to have made any claim on it, you still have a DRE ethical obligation to account for and disburse correctly.

Why would there be money in the trust account if everyone's been paid? By "close the account," I assume you mean "take the money." You can do so with clean hands only if, after a diligent review of the trust fund account, you determine that the money belongs to you because it was deposited to open the account or because, although it was client money at the time of deposit, it has been earned by the brokerage. Basically, there shouldn't be money in a trust account for which there are no records of ownership or entitlement; however, the statutory records-retention time is three years. If there is money left, and you have no records to establish that it is yours or a particular client's, the money probably escheats to the state (but I know little about escheat). If you are still a licensee, I'd ask the DRE their opinion.

If that money is in the trust account, it most likely belongs to someone else. If it is unclaimed, it does not become yours, but must rather be transferred to the unclaimed properties fund of the State of California.