Set up Billing for Probate & Estate Administration

There are a variety of factors that determine how your firm may charge for Probate and Estate Administration matters. It may be time-based, fixed fee, contingent, or pro bono. Regardless of how you choose to bill for a matter, it is important that you choose the correct billing type.

The billing type can filter what matters show when creating invoices in bulk. The billing type is also very important for creating time entries. Whether you are using AutoTime, Time Finder, or manually entering time, Smokeball will look at the billing type set on the matter and then make the time entry to billable or non-billable by default.

For time-based matters or matters that have no billing type set, the time entry will default to billable. Otherwise, the time entry will default to non-billable, as it should be included in the contingent fee, fixed fee, or is pro bono.

To set the billing type in Smokeball Desktop go to the Billing tab in the Info section of the matter.

To set the billing type in Smokeball’s Web App, open the matter and choose the Edit Matter button. In the Billing Fees and Rates section, select the billing type.

Especially for Probate matters, you may want to also set the Billing Frequency to Hold. This will allow you to filter out this matter when doing your bulk monthly billing so that you can hold all entries until Probate is closed. Billing Frequency is found just below the billing type.

If your rate changes on a matter-by-matter basis, you can override your default hourly rate on a matter basis under the Billing tab in matter info or in the Billing Fees and Rates section of the web app.

How to best utilize AutoTime for Probate and Estate Administration Law Firms

If you are using AutoTime, be aware that there is a grouped and non-grouped option. Please make sure that the correct setting for your jurisdiction is set. Some do not accept grouped (block) billing.

AutoTime is an incredibly powerful tool, but there are some activities Smokeball does not track, such as reviewing printed out documents, research in law books, and anything else done outside of Smokeball. There are a few options to add manual time to Smokeball:

1. You can use Smokeball’s manual timer that is found in the upper right of the main Smokeball window or any matter/lead in Smokeball desktop.
2. You can create a Time Entry in Smokeball manually.
3. If you are using Grouped AutoTime entries, you should add an Activity for any activity not captured by Smokeball on the same day it happened. This will allow the activity to be captured by AutoTime and added to your daily entry. You can add activities on the mobile app as well. Note: Any activities manually added for a prior day will not be captured by AutoTime.