Disbursement
Pay everyone electronically. Balance the trust account.
Pay every lienholder and the client electronically, by ACH or check, from one screen. Magic-link client review and e-signature. Reconciliation that happens automatically. No trips to the bank, no manual ledger, and none of the trust-accounting errors that become bar complaints.
The work
The case settled. The money is stuck.
The client hasn't come in to sign. The lienholder check is sitting in IOLTA. The bookkeeper is reconciling by hand, and every hand-cut check and hand-kept ledger is a chance for the trust-accounting error that draws a bar complaint. The case settled three weeks ago and nothing has actually moved. This is the longest stretch of every PI case, and the part that no software has bothered to fix.
The approach
Sign. Pay. Reconcile. Close.
Closeout treats disbursement as one connected workflow. Magic-link client review and e-signature with ID verification. Electronic payment, ACH or check, to each lienholder's verified account and to the client. Automatic reconciliation of every payment against the lien it cleared.
Every payment is electronic, every disbursement balances, every action is logged. There is no hand-kept ledger to get wrong. The case closes the moment the last dollar is accounted for, not three weeks later when someone finally finds the paper trail.
Why it matters
Four reasons a PI firm should care.
Clients judge you by how fast they get paid.
The settlement number was signed off weeks ago. The client is calling. Referrals depend on this part going smoothly. Firms that disburse fast keep their reputation; firms that don't see the next case go to someone else.
Your contingency fee disburses in the same flow.
A case sitting in IOLTA for three weeks is three weeks of your money sitting too. Faster closeout means faster firm revenue recognition and a smaller, cleaner trust balance at any given time.
Trust accounting errors are a real malpractice risk.
Money in IOLTA isn't yours. Errors in trust accounting are a top driver of bar complaints and disciplinary actions. Electronic disbursement with a full, automatically generated audit trail is the safest version of this work.
The audit trail saves you when something is contested.
A lienholder claims they didn't receive payment. A client disputes the math. The bookkeeper asks where a number went. A complete electronic record, with signature, transfer, confirmation, and timestamp, beats a stack of statements every time.
Outcome
Everyone paid electronically, the trust account balanced, in days, not weeks.