Set up an Evergreen Retainer

Evergreen Retainers are helpful when setting up a minimum balance for clients to maintain in their trust accounts.

You will first need to activate Evergreen Retainers in Billing settings before using this feature. Once activated, you can set an overall default for matters, activate and edit requirements for an Evergreen Retainer on a matter basis, and send retainer trust deposit requests by email to clients.

How to activate Evergreen Retainers

1. Navigate to Accounts in Billing Settings and then select Evergreen Retainer.
2. Toggle the Evergreen Retainer Activated checkbox.
3. Enter the Minimum Threshold and Replenish Up To amounts and then select save.

Next, review your Evergreen Retainer email template.

1. Access the template by navigating to Firm Settings and then selecting Email Templates.
2. Edit the email if you do not wish to use the default language.
   • Learn more about email templates in Smokeball.

How to activate, edit, and change Evergreen Retainer settings in a matter

Once you've activated the Evergreen Retainer, you can apply it to select matters.

1. From a matter, select the Edit Matter link to edit the Trust Retainer settings.
2. Toggle the Activate Minimum Trust Retainer checkbox.
3. Enter the Minimum Threshold and Replenish Up To amounts and then select Save.
   • If your firm has multiple trust accounts, use the Default Account for Trust Payments drop-down menu to select the trust account you wish to use.

If the balance of a trust account goes below the minimum limit, you will receive a warning and their trust balance will turn red.

How to email trust deposit requests for Evergreen Retainer

Access all your matters that have a trust balance below your minimum limit by navigating to the Accounts page.

Filter your list and select the checkboxes for any Evergreen Request needing to be sent.

After selecting the checkboxes, select the Email Requests button to send requests for the selected Matters.

A confirmation message will appear. You can check the status of an Evergreen Request or organize it by the last requested date.

Below is a sample Evergreen Retainer Request email.

Next Steps