N.D. Cent. Code § 47-34-01 Definitions
47-34-01. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
1. "Closing agent" means a person that closes a real estate transaction in connection
with the purchase, sale, or financing of an interest in real estate. The term does not
include a lender or an employee of a lender that conducts a settlement or closing of a
real estate secured loan provided by the lender in the office of the lender.
2. "Collected funds" means a cash deposit or a check that has been presented for
payment and for which payment has been irrevocably credited to the closing agent's
escrow account.
3. "Escrow account" means:
a. A checking account established by a closing agent with a bank, savings and loan
association, credit union, or savings bank that is chartered under the laws of a
state or the United States and which is used exclusively for the deposit and
disbursement of funds for a real estate transaction; or
b. A trust account maintained by an attorney under the North Dakota Rules of
Professional Conduct.
4. "Good funds" means funds in any one or more of the following forms:
a. United States currency.
b. Wired funds unconditionally held by and irrevocably credited to the escrow
account of the closing agent.
c. A check that has been presented for payment and for which payment has been
collected. As used in this subdivision, the term check includes a certified check
and a cashier's check.
d. A check that is drawn on the trust account of a real estate broker licensed under
chapter 43-23 or on the trust account maintained by an attorney under the North
Dakota Rules of Professional Conduct, for which funds are collected funds by the
real estate broker or the attorney's trust account.
e. A cashier's check not to exceed fifty thousand dollars in the aggregate which is
received by the closing agent and which is drawn on an existing account at a
bank, savings and loan association, credit union, or savings bank chartered under
the laws of a state or the United States located in this state, Minnesota, Montana,
or South Dakota.
f. A check drawn on the escrow account of another closing agent in this state,
Minnesota, Montana, or South Dakota.
g. Funds transferred to the closing agent's escrow account by the bank, savings and
loan association, credit union, or savings bank that is the host institution of the
closing agent's escrow account.
5. "Real estate transaction" means a transaction in which a person deposits with a
closing agent funds that are to be held until a specified event occurs or the
performance of a prescribed condition in connection with the purchase, sale, or
financing of an interest in real estate; or a settlement or closing conducted in
connection with the purchase, sale, or financing of an interest in real estate. The term
does not include a loan financing if the only parties to the loan transaction are the
lender and the borrower, and the lender is responsible for disbursing all of the funds to
the borrower or to a third party in order to pay fees and charges associated with the
loan transaction.