Review Time & Expenses: Activity Codes for more information on how to create activity codes. If you have used activity codes in the past, you can create those to use in Smokeball (Note: there is a 5 character limit that can include numbers, symbols, letters, etc.).
If you are new to Smokeball and ready to start billing, review the Family Law Billing article for some best practices on how to bill. Using AutoTime may be a better feature to use than creating activity codes to manually enter your time.
If you are not sure which activity codes to use or how to get started with billing in Smokeball, reach out to your Account Manager.
Activity Code Examples for Family Law
- Time Based
- PRVUP: Prove Up Hearing - This time based activity code can be created to use for court appearances. You can also set up default rates based on staff hourly fees.
- TCFCL: Telephone Call From Client - Each time entry has a place to log detailed notes under the description.
- TCTCL: Telephone Call To Client - Each time entry has a place to log detailed notes under the description.
- RRD: Received and Reviewed Discovery.
- SETTC: Settlement Conference
- PRETC: Pre-Trial Conference
- COURT: Appeared in Court - description can be used for more detailed information
- PPLAN: Drafted Parenting Plan
- MSA: Drafted Marital Settlement Agreement - This code can be used multiple times for new-draft, edits, or reviews
- Fee
- UNCTD: Uncontested Divorce Flat Fee - This example can be used if you charge a common rate for uncontested divorces without children, property disputes, etc. If needed, you can set up additional codes for other flat rate fees to make these codes more specific.
- Expense
- FILE: Filing Fee - If you file in multiple counties, you can leave the default rate as $0.00 for manual entry. You can also set up specific codes for each county if there is a standard fee (Example: FILEC = "File Cook," FILEW = "File Will," etc.)
- SERVE: Service Fee - This is a generic example. Similar to FILE, you can set up specific activity codes for more specific service fees (Example: SHER ="sheriff's service fee," PSERV = "process server service see," etc.).
- FEDEX: Federal Express Shipping - Use the description to include additional details.
- COPY: Copying Expense