Deposit funds in Trust or Operating Retainer accounts

Smokeball makes it easy to manage funds in Trust and Operating Retainer Accounts. Smokeball offers the ability utilize Trust accounting, where a client's funds are deposited into the firm's Trust account until the fee is earned, and Operating Retainer accounting, where a client's funds are deposited into the firm's operating account and not held separately. 

This article will walk through the various ways to make deposits into Trust and Operating Retainer.

Make a Deposit to a Trust Account or Operating Retainer

Follow these steps to deposit funds from a Matter:

• Navigate to the Matter's transactions tab. From the transactions tab, select Trust or Operating Retainer tab and then select Deposit funds.

• Whether you are depositing into Trust or Operating Retainer, work through the: 
  • Date: Date will default to current date
  • Account: The account will default to trust if selecting from the trust tab or operating retainer if selecting from the operating retainer tab
  • Matter: If you are depositing funds from within a matter, this field will default to that matter
  • Contact: This will default to the debtor on the matter if depositing funds from that matter
    • If changing the contact, select the 'x' to remove the contact.  If choosing an existing contact, type the contact's name and select from the drop down.  If a new contact, select '+' and add contact.
  • Enter the Amount and Type
  • Select Process to complete the transaction

Note: There is an option to print a PDF receipt of the deposit. Learn more about Trust Deposits and Payment Receipts.

You can add a trust deposit from the Create New menu as well.  This will not auto-populate the matter and contact.

The Trust and Operating Retainer Accounts for all Matters can be managed in the Accounts View on the left side of Smokeball.

Did You Know

• You can protect funds in a client's trust account to ensure money earmarked for a specific purpose does not get applied to invoices. 
  • Learn more about Protected Trust Funds.
• Smokeball can accept credit card deposits through Smokeball Payments or LawPay. Both Smokeball Payments and LawPay can request a credit card deposit directly into the Matter.
  • Learn more about Smokeball Payments.  
  • Learn more about Smokeball's LawPay Integration.