Trust Funds Management

In Clio Manage, you can generate trust funds requests to accept trust funds for your clients. You can create trust funds requests to collect initial trust funds deposits or retainers from your clients, or to add additional trust funds if the trust funds reach a minimum threshold.

Trust funds requests do not include any time or expense activities, and payments made on trust funds requests are always deposited into a Clio trust funds account ledger in full. You can manually record trust funds request transactions.

Create trust funds accounts

Before creating a trust funds request and accepting payment, you will need to create a trust funds account in Clio Manage that the paid trust funds will be stored in. To create a trust funds account:

1. Got to Accounts.
2. Click New account.
3. Name the account and select Trust Account for the Account type.
4. Enter the remaining details for the trust account.
5. Click Create New Bank Account.

Create trust funds requests

You can create a trust funds request from four locations in Clio Manage—client page, matter dashboard, Billing page, or the global Create new button. Additionally, trust funds can be stored at the client or matter level. You can select where to store these funds when creating the trust funds request, and you can move funds from the client level to the matter level.

Sort and filter trust funds requests

Once a trust funds request is created, you can find it in the Billing tab or the Bills subtab within a matter or contact. The trust funds request is differentiated from normal bills when viewing the bill Id. The bill Id will have the word “Trust” written in parenthesis next to the bill Id number. To view only trust requests:

1. Go to Billing.
2. Select the All subtab.
3. Click Filters.
4. Optional: select the matter or contact.
5. Under Type select Trust funds.
6. Click Apply filters.

Edit trust funds requests

You can only edit a trust funds request if it is in draft and the trust funds approval process has not been skipped. Generated trust funds requests in draft have limited edit functionality compared to generated bills in draft. To edit a generated trust funds request:

1. Go to Billing or the Bills tab in a contact or matter.
2. Click the Draft subtab.
3. Click Edit.
4. Make your changes.
5. Click Save trust funds request.

Approve trust funds requests

When a trust funds request is created and you do not check the box to skip the trust funds approval process, the trust funds request can be found in the Draft subtab in Billing. While in draft, you can edit the trust funds request and send it for approval and approve the trust funds request. Once approved, you can accept payment for the trust funds request.

Send trust funds requests

Once a trust funds request is approved, you can send it to the client. You can also send the trust funds request to other related contacts.

1. Go to Billing or the Bills tab in a contact or matter.
2. Click the Unpaid subtab.
3. Click Send.
4. Select the trust funds bill template, make any changes, and select the send method. Learn more about sending bills and options in this article.
5. Click Send trust funds request.

Delete trust funds requests

If a trust funds request is still in draft, you can still delete the request. A trust funds request that has been approved but does not have a recorded payment can only be voided.

1. Go to Billing or the Bills tab in a contact or matter.
2. Click the Draft subtab.
3. Click the down arrow next to Edit and select Delete trust funds request. You can also view the trust funds request, click the More actions dropdown and select Delete.
4. When the warning prompt appears, click Delete trust funds request.

Void trust funds requests

Follow these steps to void an approved and unpaid trust funds request:

1. Go to Billing or the Bills tab in a contact or matter.
2. Click the Pending approval subtab.
3. Click the down arrow next to Edit and select Void trust funds request. You can also view the trust funds request, click the More actions dropdown and select Void.
4. When the warning prompt appears, click Void trust funds request.

Record payments on trust funds requests

You can record a payment as a direct payment in Clio Manage once payment is received. Follow the steps below to record a trust funds request payment.

1. Go to Billing or the Bills tab in a contact or matter.
2. Optional: Select the Unpaid subtab.
3. Click the down arrow next to Send and click Record payment. You can also click Record payment in the upper right corner.
4. Select the payment source and select the client’s trust funds account as the deposit account.
5. Complete the remaining details.
6. Click Record payment.

Record new transactions

If you need to record a new trust funds transaction without creating a trust request, you can do so from within the contact or matter's Transactions subtabs or from the main Accounts tab.

Transfer funds

If you store trust funds at the client level, the funds can be applied as payment on bills for any of the client’s matters. When these funds are recorded, a transaction is added to the client’s ledger, which can be found in the Transactions subtab of the contact card.

If you store trust funds at the matter level, the funds can ONLY be applied as payment on bills to that specific matter. When these funds are recorded, a transaction is added to both the client and matter ledgers, which can be found in the Transactions subtab of the contact card or matter screen.

You can also transfer funds from the client level to the matter level. Follow these steps to transfer funds:

1. Go to the contact’s Transactions subtab.
2. Click Transfer funds.
3. Select Between matters. Select Client Balance as the Source and the relevant matter for the Destination.
4. Complete the remaining fund transfer details.
5. Click Record transfer.

Release trust funds

If you need to return any remaining trust funds back to your client, or if you need to adjust mistakenly applied trust funds, you can disburse these funds back to the client.

1. Go to the matter or contact depending on where the trust funds are stored.
2. Click the Transactions subtab.
3. Under Transactions, click the down arrow and select the trust account for the client.
4. Click Disburse funds.
5. Enter the amount and complete the remaining details.
6. Click Record transaction.

Set up evergreen management

Evergreen management is the process of retaining and replenishing trust funds to pay for the work done on a client's case and ensuring consistent cash flow for continued work. In Clio Manage, you can send a client a trust funds request to start their retainer, receive automatic notifications when the retainer reaches a minimum threshold, and then send the client a new trust funds request to replenish their retainer.

Step 1: Send trust request to start retainer:

See Create a trust funds request to learn how to send your client a trust funds request.

Step 2: Set up trust balance notification:

The first step to managing an evergreen retainer is setting up a minimum trust funds threshold and specifying which firm users should receive a notification if the trust funds drop below the minimum threshold. Once this is set up, the minimum threshold, current matter trust funds, and indication of when the matter trust funds drop below the threshold will be visible in the Financial section of the matter's Dashboard.

1. Go to the matter for which you want to specify a minimum trust funds threshold.
2. Click Edit matter.
3. Scroll down to the Billing preference section.
4. Under Trust funds balance notification, check the box for Notify firm users when matter client funds are low.
5. Under Notify when trust funds are below... enter the minimum trust balance threshold for this matter.
6. Under Notification recipients, search for and select the firm users who will receive a notification for when the matter's trust funds balance drops below the minimum threshold.
7. Click Save matter.

Step 3: Generate trust management report:

The trust management report gives firms a view of unbilled activities, trust funds account balances, and minimum trust funds thresholds. You can use this report to perform a cashflow analysis regarding your billable work and trust fund holdings. Learn more about generating reports in Clio Manage here.

Step 4: Replenish matter trust funds:

When your client's trust funds balance drops below the minimum threshold that you specified for the matter, you can generate a new trust funds request to replenish the matter trust funds and continue billing for the matter.