Law firm payment processing starts with a link and ends in a ledger entry.
A payment is always recorded against one invoice, so the invoice balance and the account ledger move together, and any surplus lands on the client's trust ledger instead. Clients pay from a secure link, and each payment posts once it clears.
One link per invoice, four ways to pay it
The client opens a page of their own, signs in with a link sent to the email you hold, reads the invoice, and pays by card, bank, or QR, in full, in part, or in installments.
A payment method reaches the client's page only when it is complete: a processor connected with its accounts mapped, a URL saved, or a QR image uploaded.
Payment settingsCard, bank, or QR code
Card and bank payments run through LawPay or Confido Legal.
In full, in part, or in installments
Clients pay the whole balance, a part, or a plan you set.
Posted to the right account, once it clears
Card payments clear at once, bank payments when they settle, and a reported payment when you clear it. An overpayment is parked in trust, and a cleared payment carries a receipt.
Set up how your firm gets paid.
Browse the docsFAQs
Links, methods, plans, clearing, trust transfers, overpayments, and refunds.
Can our clients pay by card?
Yes, once your firm connects LawPay or Confido Legal. Clients then pay by card or from their bank account in the processor's secure fields, the money goes to your bank under your own merchant account, and Esqase records the payment on the invoice by itself. The manual bank transfer link and the QR code stay available as self-reported methods, which the client pays through their own bank and then reports on the page.
Can clients pay in installments?
Yes. Choose firm-defined installments when you generate the payment link and set the schedule, from 2 to 120 payments. With LawPay or Confido Legal connected, a client can save a card or bank account so the remaining installments are charged on their due dates, and a declined card is tried again 3, 5, and 7 days later.
What does a client have to do to open a payment link?
Prove they are the person it was sent to. The link opens in any browser and shows no financial detail until the client enters the email address your firm holds for them and clicks through the sign-in link Esqase emails to that address. There is no Esqase account and no portal password involved.
Which account does a payment collected on a link land in?
Card and bank payments land on the Esqase account you mapped to the processor's operating account. Bank transfer and QR payments land on your firm's default deposit account, set once under payment settings. Only active operating and savings accounts are offered for either, and trust accounts never are: money collected on an invoice is earned revenue, while a trust account holds client funds you have not yet earned.
Why did recording a payment not change the invoice balance?
Because its status is not cleared. Only a cleared payment reduces an invoice balance, which is also why every bank transfer or QR payment a client reports on a link arrives as pending. Open the row's Review action, check the details and any proof of payment attached, then mark it cleared. The deposit posts to the account ledger and the invoice moves to partially paid or paid. If your firm issues official receipts, the payment takes its receipt number at that moment.
Can we pay an invoice from a retainer already held in trust?
Yes. Set the payment method to Trust / Escrow Transfer, then pick the trust account to draw from and the operating account to receive the funds. Each trust option shows that client's available balance. The amount cannot exceed the invoice's outstanding balance or the client's balance in that account, and the two accounts have to be different.
What happens when a client pays more than the invoice owes?
An overpayment notice appears in the form, naming how much goes to the invoice and how much goes to trust. You pick the trust account that will hold the surplus, and the form refuses to save until you do. The invoice is then paid in full from the applied portion, and the surplus is deposited to trust as client credit.
Can a refund be held for the client instead of paid back?
Yes. A cleared payment can be refunded in full or in part, to one of two destinations. Refund to client takes the money out of your operating account, and hold as client credit deposits it into a trust account you choose, where it stays available for future invoices. A reason is required, because it is what the audit trail carries. When the payment came through LawPay or Confido Legal, a refund to the client goes back through the processor to the card or bank account.