Settlement Disbursement

Smokeball can easily facilitate the disbursement of settlement funds for personal injury matters or any other matters involving a lawsuit where you need to disburse funds to multiple parties. The example below is for a Personal Injury-Plaintiff matter, but these steps are applicable to any disbursement process once the client has signed off on a settlement statement. 

1. Make sure all of the relevant providers who are to receive the funds are included under Medicals & Settlement Details section under Matter information. So long as these providers are entered into Smokeball, you will be able to issue checks to them through our billing platform. If you are working on a matter which does not include Medicals & Settlement Details, it is fine to just enter the provider/intended recipient as another party (e.g., authorized contact). 
2. Once the settlement checks are available, click on the Trust Balance hyperlink in the Billing widget. Alternatively, you can also access our billing features by navigating to app.smokeball.com in your web browser, opening the matter on the web app, and then selecting the relevant trust account under the Transactions tab.
    
3. Select the Deposit Funds button and enter the settlement amount. 
4. Make sure you enter the date you received the settlement funds, backdating if necessary. 
5. Enter the insurance company who issued the funds in the Received From field.
6. Enter the amount. 
7. Select Check under the Type field and enter the check number into the Reference field.
   • Optional: You can also choose to generate a PDF receipt by selecting the checkbox. 
8. Select Process. 
   • Note: If you have multiple settlement checks, you can deposit multiple funds and change it into another amount by using the Received From, Amount Fields, and Reference fields.

Tracking settlement disbursements  

1. Navigate to the Transactions tab of your matter and select Trust Account.
2. View the disbursement transactions and their amount.

Cut a disbursement check to a medical provider

1. Verify that check printing is turned on in Firm Settings.
2. Navigate to the Transactions tab of your matter and select the Trust Payment button. 
3. Use the Trust Payment window to select the recipient of the payment.
4. Note: You can also divide payment using the fields below.
5. Select the type of payment and check printing method (if applicable).
6. Select Process.
7. The payment will also appear on the matter's Transactions tab as "Payment to _____."
8. Repeat steps 1-7 as needed for each provider.

Note: If you selected print now or decide to print later, you will need to utilize the Print Checks window after selecting Process. This window automatically appears if you select print now. Use the checkboxes to select the disbursement checks you need to print in the pop-up window. You can also enter any necessary memos in the pop-up window before processing the checks.  

The screenshot below shows how to open the Print Checks window if you opt to print later. 

Issue a payment to the client and your firm

It is best to avoid using the Trust Payment button to pay your firm, as it may complicate any expenses you have for the matter (e.g., ordering medical records).

Instead, you should create an invoice for your client including the expenses to ensure that they are marked off as paid. This invoice will not actually be sent to the client, as they will have already signed off on the settlement statement. You can also use this invoice to create a time/fee entry for your portion of the settlement using Attorney Fee's portion of settlement as the Subject. 

1. When finalizing the invoice, select Auto-allocate payments to take your share out of trust. You can also choose a Print Checking Method when finalizing the invoice. 
2. Your portion of the settlement and any applicable expenses will appear as "Transfer to Operating..." under the description column.
3. To send the remainder of the funds to your client, select the Trust Payment button. 
4. Enter the client and the remainder of the balance as the amount, choose the printing method, and select Process. 

The matter's Transactions tab will now show a complete ledger of all disbursements with the balance down to $0.

Print out a ledger

If you want a record of the disbursements, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Reports view and select the Account Statement report. 
2. You can choose This Month or All-Time as date filters.
3. Select the matter you issued disbursement checks for using the dropdown menu.
4. To make the report cleaner, toggle off all the optional views except for Show account summary, Show transaction history, Show timekeeper initials, and Show trust account name.
5. Select Generate.

You can print the Account Statement report or save it as a PDF.

Additional Resources

You can learn more about settlement disbursements by watching the webinar recorded by one of our expert trainers. Note: This video utilizes older versions of the Smokeball desktop and web apps.