Setting up trust accounts

Creating a trust account

Only the firm administrator can create or edit trust accounts. Other staff with the trust capability can record transactions and view ledgers, but cannot add new accounts.

Go to Trust Accounts in the sidebar and click + New at the top right of the page.

Fill in:

• Account Name: A label for your internal reference (e.g. "Firm IOLTA Account", "Real Estate Escrow")
• Bank Name: The financial institution (optional)
• Last 4 Digits: The final four digits of the bank account number; CaseFlow never stores the full number
• Account Type: Choose IOLTA, Trust, or Operating

Click Save.

Editing or deleting an account

Once a trust account is created, it cannot be edited or deleted through the UI. The cards on the Trust Accounts page only expose Trust Ledger and Reconciliation actions; there is no pencil icon, no trash icon, and no contextual menu.

This is a deliberate strict-interpretation design choice. ABA Model Rule 1.15 and most state bars require firms to keep complete records of trust activity, with any corrections documented inside the record itself. The simplest way to guarantee that is to make the records permanent. CaseFlow takes that posture: trust accounts and trust transactions, once written, are not changed.

The trade-off is that you cannot self-serve a typo fix. To retire an account (e.g. you have switched banks) or correct a setup mistake, contact support — we can deactivate the old account on our end after confirming all funds have been transferred and any open balances reconciled.

Double-check the Account Name, Bank Name, Last 4 Digits, and Account Type before clicking Save.

Multiple accounts

Some firms have more than one trust account (e.g. a general IOLTA and a separate real estate escrow account). Create one trust account in CaseFlow for each real bank account you maintain.

Linking clients

You do not need to "link" clients to a trust account upfront. When you record a deposit, you specify the client at that time. The per-client ledger builds automatically as transactions come in.

Migrating from another system

There is no "opening balance" field on the trust account form. Instead, the account balance is calculated from the deposits and disbursements you record.

If you are migrating from spreadsheets or another system, enter each client's current trust balance as an initial deposit dated the day you start using CaseFlow. The sum of those deposits becomes the account's starting balance.

For example: if your IOLTA has $15,000 total ($8,000 belonging to Client A and $7,000 to Client B), create the account, then record two initial deposits of $8,000 and $7,000. The account balance and per-client ledgers will both add up correctly.

Trust transaction settings

Under Setup > Settings > Billing & Finance > Trust Accounts you can configure firm-wide behavior for every trust transaction:

• Trust Transaction Prefix — the prefix on auto-generated reference numbers (default TRUST-)
• Trust Transaction Number Format — number-based, year-based, short year-based, or year/month-based, identical in shape to invoice numbering
• Require reference on trust transactions — yes/no; if yes, deposits and disbursements without a manually-entered reference are blocked
• Require description on trust transactions — yes/no; if yes, the description field becomes mandatory
• Auto-send notification email to client on trust transactions — yes/no; when on, every deposit or disbursement triggers an email to client contacts who have Receive invoice emails turned on
• Show client trust balance on invoice — yes/no
• Minimum trust balance warning threshold — set a dollar amount; CaseFlow flags clients whose balance dips below it. Set to 0 to disable.

If reference is not required and you leave the field blank, CaseFlow auto-generates one using the prefix and number format above.

Permissions

Trust accounting is available on all plans (Solo, Growth, Multi-Practice).

Trust access is controlled by the per-staff trust capability (View, Create, Edit, Delete), set on the staff member's profile. Granting View lets a staff member see trust accounts and ledgers; Create lets them record deposits and disbursements; Edit lets them mark transactions as reconciled.

On the Multi-Practice plan you can manage these capabilities through reusable roles (Setup > Roles). On Solo and Growth, you grant capabilities directly to each staff member.

The firm administrator always has full trust access regardless of plan or role assignment, and is the only role that can create or deactivate a trust account.