Entering a Trust Payment can be done using the information below.
Alternatively, watch the video by clicking here > How to enter a Trust Payment
On this page:
Trust Accounting - New Trust Payment#Fields
Entering a Trust Payment
Step 1: Go to your Trust Accounting Register by clicking on the red courthouse icon, from the top menu bar.
Step 2: From the Trust Accounting register, select the Trust Payment button
The Trust Payment screen will default to using a Trust Cheque. (This can be changed in the Appliance Settings)
If your firm is permitted to use EFT payments, you will see a toggle to change to an EFT payment.
Please set this first before entering any details of the trust payment.
Step 3: Fill out the fields on the Trust Payment - See information on each field below.
Fields:
TOP HALF OF TRUST PAYMENT
Account: Make sure the account selected is where the funds to be drawn are currently in.
Pay to: The recipient of the cheque.
For: The reason for the funds being paid. The 'For' field will automatically fill to the bottom half of the cheque.
The 'For' field at the top of the trust cheque is cheque specific;
The 'For (descriptions)' fields on the bottom half of the screen are specific to each matter and follow through to billing. Therefore additional information can be added in the details field at the bottom of the page, specific to each matter.
Chq #: The cheque number should align with the law firm's physical cheque book and should be manually changed. However, if funds are being paid by methods other than cheque then it is recommended that there is a second numbering series for this. For example the physical trust cheques may follow a number series from 00001 - 99999 (corresponding to the cheque numbers in the cheque book) whilst payments by EFT follow the number series of EFT1 - EFT9999.
EFT Only Fields:
EFT Payee Details: These details are the information you are using the make the EFT transfer from your bank account. Some jurisdictions require this to be mandatory and it is set up to be mandatory by default in the settings.
If your jurisdiction does not require these details to be entered, please contact the Wise Owl Help desk to change your settings
Ref #: This is the EFT Payment Reference number. It will pull the next number in your EFT Trust payment series.
Bank Txn #: This is the Bank Transaction Reference or ID. Once you have finalised your trust payment, you can enter in the Bank Transaction ID when you enter the transfer to your bank account.
This allows you to match the bank transaction to your Trust EFT payment with the number provided by the bank.
Date: The date the cheque is being written or EFT Payment is being made.
Amount (Top half of screen): This is the total amount of the cheque or EFT payment.
BOTTOM HALF OF TRUST PAYMENT
Matter: Please search and select the matter that the payment is being made for. You can enter multiple lines for different matters as needed
For (description): This will copy the 'For' down from the top half of the payment but can also be entered manually for additional information
Ext Ref #: This is for any external reference numbers applicable to the payment e.g. if you are paying an invoice of a Barrister, you can put the Invoice number in the Ext Ref #.
Amount (bottom half of screen): This is the amount of the payment that is relevant to the matter on that line.
Matter Balance: This will automatically update once you have entered the amount and will show the matter balance after this payment is finalised.
Step 4: After entering all of the relevant fields above, check your data. Then you can click on the Finalise and Print payment on the bottom left of the page.
Step 5: You will get a successful message at the top of your Trust Register. Click on the green button to open the report to print.
Click on the Trust reference number to re-open and look at your trust payment.
EFT Payments and Bank Ref #
After you have entered and finalised your transaction, you may receive a reminder message at the top of your trust account.
This message only appears for EFT Payments and is a reminder to enter in the bank transaction reference once you have compelted the transfer in your online banking.
To enter in the bank reference number, click on the Trust payment reference number. This will open the EFT Payment.
Then click on the Bank Txn # field. This will open a pop up for you to update the number.
This is the only change allowed on a finalise trust payment
If you do not wish to have this message continue to appear, it can be turned off in the Appliance Settings under the trust heading.
Overdraws
Under legislation surrounding trust accounting in Australia - matters may not be overdrawn in their own right. Therefore if a trust payment will result in a matter having a negative trust balance, an error message will appear.
If you have the authority to enter this transaction, you will be able to enter your name and password and finalise the payment.
Please only do this if you understand the consequences and legislative impacts of Overdrawing a matter or account.
A transaction is locked once entered. Any attempt to change the transaction MUST NOT change the original transaction. A request for a change must create a new transaction, that has the effect of reversing the original transaction.
You should be extremely cautious when reversing trust payments as trust accounts are a highly regulated and scrutinized aspect of law firms. Non-compliant trust accounting activities are the highest cause of lawyers being penalised or losing their practising certificates.