Deposits and disbursements

Open the trust account ledger by clicking Trust Ledger on a trust account card. The ledger has three action buttons at the top right: Add Deposit, Add Disbursement, and Trust Statement.

Recording a deposit

A deposit is money received into trust on behalf of a client (e.g. a retainer payment, settlement funds, escrow payment).

Click + Add Deposit. The deposit modal opens with the trust account already selected. Fill in:

• Client (required): Which client this deposit belongs to
• Amount (required): How much was deposited
• Reference: The bank reference, wire ID, or other audit identifier. If left blank, CaseFlow auto-generates a reference using your firm's trust prefix and number format. If your firm has Require reference on trust transactions turned on, this field becomes mandatory.
• Check Number: Cheque number, if applicable
• Description: What the deposit is for (e.g. "Retainer for Smith v. Jones"). Mandatory if your firm has Require description on trust transactions turned on.

The transaction is dated automatically when you save; there is no separate "Date" field on the form. If you are backfilling historical entries when first setting up the firm, record them in chronological order so the running balance reads correctly.

Click Add Deposit. The account balance increases, the client's ledger shows the new entry, and — if Auto-send notification email to client on trust transactions is turned on — a deposit confirmation goes to client contacts who have Receive invoice emails ticked.

Recording a disbursement

A disbursement is money leaving trust. Common reasons: paying costs on a client's behalf, transferring earned fees to your operating account, or refunding unused funds to the client.

From the ledger, click - Add Disbursement. Fill in:

• Client (required): Which client's funds you are drawing from
• Amount (required): How much to disburse
• Payee: Who the money went to (e.g. "Smith & Associates Operating Account", "County Clerk", client name for refunds)
• Reference: Audit identifier; auto-generated if blank (subject to the same Require-reference setting as deposits)
• Check Number: Cheque number, if applicable
• Apply to Invoice: Optional. The dropdown shows the selected client's outstanding invoices (Unpaid, Partially Paid, Overdue). Picking one tells CaseFlow to record this disbursement as a payment against that invoice — using the Trust/IOLTA payment mode — and update the invoice's status accordingly. Leave at None (no invoice) for any disbursement that is not a fee transfer (e.g. paying a court filing fee).
• Description: Reason for the disbursement; mandatory if Require-description is on

Click Add Disbursement. The account balance decreases, the client's ledger reflects the withdrawal, and — if Auto-notify is on — the client receives a disbursement notification email.

Overdraft prevention

CaseFlow does not allow a disbursement that would take a client's ledger below zero. The check happens inside a transaction with a set lock against that client's balance, so concurrent disbursements cannot both succeed against the same funds. If a disbursement would cause an overdraft, the form returns an error showing the current available balance, and nothing is recorded.

This is the primary safeguard against accidentally using one client's funds for another.

Viewing the ledger

The ledger lists every deposit and disbursement for the account in chronological order, with columns for Date, Client, Type (deposit / disbursement / transfer / interest / fee), Reference, Description, Amount, Running Balance, and Reconciled status.

To see only one client's transactions, use the All Clients dropdown at the top of the ledger to filter by client. The same view then shows just that client's running balance.

You can also see a client's full trust position from their client profile: open the client and switch to the Trust tab. That tab shows the client's total trust balance across all accounts and a per-account breakdown with the same transaction list.

Editing and deleting transactions

Trust transactions cannot be edited or deleted through the UI. Once a deposit or disbursement is recorded, the entry is permanent — this is a deliberate audit-trail constraint, since most jurisdictions require trust accounting records to be tamper-evident.

If you record a transaction in error, post a corresponding reversing entry (a disbursement against an erroneous deposit, or a deposit against an erroneous disbursement) with a description explaining the correction. Both entries stay in the ledger; the net balance is correct and the audit history is complete.

For systemic corrections (e.g. fixing an opening balance during a migration), contact support.

Tips

• Record deposits and disbursements on the same day they happen in the bank. Falling behind makes reconciliation harder.
• Use Reference as your bank-statement matching key. When you reconcile, the reference is how you tie a CaseFlow entry to a bank entry.
• For fee transfers (moving earned fees from trust to operating), use the Apply to Invoice dropdown. CaseFlow records both the trust disbursement and an invoice payment in one step, with the matching TRUST-{id} transaction reference on the invoice payment so an auditor can trace the two sides.