Law App does allow partial receipt allocation — if a client pays less than the full amount owing, you can receipt exactly what was received and the balance stays outstanding on the invoice. The limitation only applies when a client pays more than what’s currently due.
Partial allocation — when it works
If a client pays less than the outstanding balance, just enter the amount received. Law App will allocate it to the invoice and leave the remaining balance owing. Nothing else is required.
For example, if an invoice has $3,000 outstanding and the client pays $1,500, you receipt $1,500 and the invoice shows $1,500 still due.
When the payment exceeds the outstanding balance
If a client pays more than what’s currently owing on their invoice, Law App will not let you allocate more than the outstanding amount. This is intentional — the excess is not income yet. Once a client has paid more than they’ve been billed, that surplus is considered trust money and must be handled correctly.
Money received beyond what a client owes is trust money under the Legal Profession Act. It cannot sit in your general account — it must go to trust or be refunded to the client.
How to receipt an overpayment
When you receive more than the outstanding balance, split the receipt across two lines:
- Line 1 — allocate the full outstanding billed amount to the invoice (this clears the debt).
- Line 2 — receipt the remaining amount separately. This is the surplus that needs a decision.
For the surplus on Line 2, you have two options:
- Move it to trust — if the client is likely to have more work done. See Trust money received in your general account for how to correct this in Law App.
- Refund it to the client — if the matter is closed or the client doesn’t want a trust balance held.
That’s a decision for the firm to make based on the client’s situation. If you’re unsure about the trust process, the article linked above walks through both correction methods step by step.
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