Trust-compliant disbursement. Automated.
Disbursely moves settlement funds from your firm's trust account to clients, medical providers, lienholders, and your firm over ACH, wire, or printed check, with matter-level records and a complete audit trail behind every action.
Fewer manual steps. Balanced distributions. Recipients paid faster.
Built for the way IOLTA trust funds are actually handled.
State bar rules are unambiguous: client trust funds cannot be commingled with operating funds, every dollar must be traceable to a client matter, and records must withstand an audit. Disbursely is structured around those requirements rather than layered on top of them.
Funds stay segregated
Settlement funds originate from your firm's IOLTA or designated trust account and are never routed through an operating account. Balances stay segregated in transit, are never commingled, and every movement is written to an immutable ledger.
Matter-level records
Every deposit, disbursement, and reimbursement is recorded against an individual client matter, and an accounting user must confirm the matter's trust balance before funds are released.
Complete audit history
Case creation, edits, approvals, and payment releases are each logged with a timestamp, and the acting user. The record is built to support bar record-keeping requirements and internal review.
Funds move from trust, never through an operating account.
Every disbursement is initiated from your trust account through your bank's payment network. No keying account numbers into a bank portal, no manual check runs.
- Standard ACH and printed check are paid by the firm
- Same-day ACH, wire, and instant payouts are available when a recipient wants funds sooner
- Check printing and mailing initiated from the same workflow
- Payment status tracked from initiation through settlement
- Returned and failed payments flagged automatically
Everything the settlement workflow needs.
From case creation through final payment, with role-based controls at every step and nothing that requires a second system to finish.
Case management
Track cases from draft through payment release. Upload the disbursement sheet and view it alongside the payments.
Line-item disbursements
Break each settlement into attorney fees, client proceeds, medical liens, and case costs, each line with its own payee, payment method, and accounting codes.
Trust reimbursements
Record transfers from trust and case expense accounts back to the operating account alongside disbursements, with full coding support.
Role-based access
Legal, accounting, accounting manager, and administrator roles, each scoped to your firm with precise permissions to create, approve, and release.
Accounting codes
Map each case and line item to your chart of accounts. Case-level and line-level codes merge automatically when the transaction is created.
Settlement reporting
Track every dollar from approval through confirmation, with disbursement detail, payment method, and current status on every settlement in the firm.
Four steps from settlement to payment.
A linear, approval-gated sequence. Every dollar is coded, reviewed, and released in order, with the required checks enforced at each transition.
Draft
Create the case, upload the settlement statement, enter line items, and assign payees, payment methods, and accounting codes.
Submit
Submit for approval. Disbursely confirms the distribution balances against the gross settlement and that required fields are complete.
Approve
Authorized reviewers approve the distribution. Transactions are staged with their accounting codes attached and ready for release.
Release
Payments are initiated from the trust account over the payment method selected on each line item. No manual check printing or bank portal work.
Fits the books your firm already keeps.
Every released settlement exports with its full coding detail, structured to match how your general ledger is organized. Post it once, mark it posted, and move on.
- Structured export of every disbursement with case-level and line-level codes
- Per-line posted flag so your team knows exactly what has hit the GL
- Chart-of-accounts values configured to match your firm's setup
- Payee and vendor records maintained in one place
- Payment status tracked from initiated through settled, with settlement dates on every export
- Reports on released settlements, coding breakdowns, and payment timelines
The case isn't closed until the money arrives.
Clients don't judge the last step of their case by the paperwork. They judge it by when the money shows up. Disbursely gives your firm a faster, clearer payment experience to hand the client, and takes the administrative weight off the people responsible for getting it right.
Locked down from login to ledger.
Trust funds deserve the same handling standards as the accounts they sit in.
Invite-only access
Users join through a secure invitation into a role that determines what they can view, submit, approve, and release.
Server-side credentials
Bank and accounting credentials are held server-side and never exposed to the browser. Payment initiation and data sync run through authenticated backend calls.
Encrypted end to end
Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. Account numbers, routing numbers, and settlement amounts carry additional field-level encryption.
Questions firms ask before they switch.
What trust administrators, accounting managers, and firm owners want to know about moving settlement disbursements onto Disbursely.
What is settlement disbursement software?
It is the system a law firm uses to take a settled case from an approved distribution to money in each recipient's hands. Disbursely handles the disbursement sheet, the approval chain, the payment itself, and the record of all three, so the work does not get split across spreadsheets, an accounting system, and a bank portal.
Does Disbursely work with IOLTA trust accounts?
Yes. Settlement funds originate from your firm's IOLTA or other designated trust account, and every disbursement is recorded against the individual client matter it belongs to. Disbursements are never routed through an operating account.
How does Disbursely keep client funds from being commingled?
Balances stay segregated in transit and are never commingled with firm operating funds. Every movement is written to an immutable ledger tied to its matter, so the trail supports both bar record-keeping requirements and internal review.
Which payment methods are supported?
Standard and same-day ACH, wire transfer for immediate large-value payments, and instant payments for real-time settlement where supported. Physical checks are printed and mailed from the same workflow, so a check run does not require separate software.
Does Disbursely take a fee out of the client's settlement?
Not for standard disbursements. Standard ACH and printed check are paid by the firm, and the recipient receives their full distribution amount. If a recipient wants funds sooner, expedited methods carry a cost that is disclosed before they choose one, so nothing comes out of a distribution without the recipient seeing it first.
What stops a distribution from being released with the wrong numbers?
Submission is gated. Disbursely confirms that the distribution balances against the gross settlement and that required fields are complete before it can move to approval, and an accounting user must confirm the matter's trust balance before funds are released.
Who in the firm can approve and release payments?
Access is invite-only, with no self-registration. Legal, accounting, accounting manager, and administrator roles are each scoped to your firm, and the assigned role determines what a user can view, submit, approve, and release.
Does it fit our existing accounting system?
Every released settlement exports with full coding detail, case-level and line-level accounting codes, payment method, status, and settlement date, structured to match how your general ledger is organized. Exports work with QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero today via structured file, with direct sync on the roadmap.
How is our data protected?
Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit, with additional field-level encryption on account numbers, routing numbers, and settlement amounts. Bank and accounting credentials are held server-side and never exposed to the browser.
Ready to modernize settlement disbursements?
Stop moving payments between spreadsheets, accounting systems, bank portals, and check printers. See how Disbursely takes a settlement from approval to recipient payment in one workflow.
Schedule a Demo