Announcing InfoGuard: Easy Soft’s Password Management Software

Technology is supposed to make things simple. But one look at the back office necessities of any lawyer or law firm, and you'd be hard pressed to think so.

You've got your law firm email and web hosting account; your bank account and credit card(s); your shared document files; your utility and other service provider accounts; subscriptions to trade journals and professional associations; social media accounts; and perhaps a portal or two you share with a corporate client. Real simple, right?

Wouldn't it be great to manage all those login details—usernames and passwords—in one fell swoop?
Now you can. With InfoGuard, Easy Soft's newest password management software, you can organize all of your login accounts—down to their categories.

Staying Organized
InfoGuard gives you the freedom to remember only one master password—and effortlessly access up to HOW MANY law firm accounts.
You can then store all of those accounts within an organized, sortable grid. You can easily view them, search through them, and make adjustments as need be.

Staying Safe
And now for InfoGuard's key feature. With our new product, you create a hacker-safe database. The password management program keeps track of all passwords for you—encrypting what's sensitive so that unauthorized parties—particularly hackers—simply can't break in.

Controlling Access
You can also control user access via InfoGuard . Assign your records to one or more groups, then set permission levels of each of these groups. In this way, you can easily track which employees and other users have access to which accounts.

For most companies, maintaining account login data, managing account security and providing employees with selected access is a daily challenge.

To download your free trial of this enterprise password management software, click here. To learn more about InfoGuard and other cutting edge law firm programs, give us a call at 800-905-7638.

Oh No! More Changes in Store for RESPA and HUD-1

The federal government is at it again. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development made a so-called "simplification" to the HUD-1 RESPA form , which involved expanding what was a relatively unfussy two-page form into three lengthier, altogether less simplified--and more stringent--pages.
Just when we've all gotten a chance to acclimate, there's another change in store. This one's a doozy: rumor has it that three pages will now become five or six. We suspect that the plan is to merge Truth in Lending disclosures along with RESPA into one even more expansive form.

While both sets of forms ultimately serve as disclosures to the borrower, the information contained in each varies widely. RESPA disclosures are typically made by lenders to provide borrowers with information about their settlement charges and the lender's mortgage servicing intentions. These take a good deal of prediction, precision (with defined accuracy rates), and conservatism.

Truth in Lending disclosures are another beast entirely. They provide an opportunity for lenders to reveal the cost of a loan--beginning to end. These figures include interest rates, additional charges (such as late fees), and total payback amounts.

These are two entirely different sets of disclosures--provided at different times, by different departments, and for different reasons. Consolidating them might simplify the paper, but it will most certainly not simplify the paperwork.

At this point, we don't know the precise details about these disclosures. But we do know that you'll need for your HUD-1 software to stay on its toes.

Here at Easy Soft, we like to do just that. We'll keep abreast of the changes, and as soon as anything definitive is revealed, our programmers will be hard at work to keep your real estate settlement software primed and rigorously up to date.

Until then, give us a call # (732)–398-1001 to learn about our HUD-1 software, and more.

Legal Time and Billing Solutions You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!

Where did the time go? Is it really 2012?!

It was just four years ago--2008--that Easy Soft launched Easy TimeBill, a platform which has since revolutionized legal time and billing procedures for thousands of small and mid-sized law firms.

Since then, our legal billing software has rapidly grown and evolved. Today, Easy TimeBill is a distinguished product of choice. Its ease, elegance, and simplicity dovetail nicely with a deep, intuitive understanding of what you need, down to the integration of everything from automated billing to payment reminders to everyone's favorite: legal trust accounting . On its fourth anniversary, our proud young software is widely employed--and celebrated!--across the nation.

And it's not just a matter of tooting our horn (although we are very proud!). To our fans and users and prospects, let it be said. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Still to come: a full suite of practice management tools, including an integrated calendar, to-do lists, and even appointment makers.

You see, our philosophy is very simple. We're intent on giving you features that make sound sense. Email functionality? That's just silly. Most of you are on Outlook, and the ones who aren't are likely on Google Apps. So we won't bother with that.

But wouldn't it be nice to tick off your tasks, view your week at a glance, and allow your clients to fill your appointment book--all from a program that you hand out in for most of the workday? We thought so. So we'll be rolling that out, among other things, in 2012.

Hold applause, please. Your patronage suits us fine. To learn more about our legal time and billing software and its integration into trust accounting and other delights of law firm administration, give us a call # (732)-398-1001.

Clearing Out the Haunted Past

A few months ago, Easy Soft introduced a service known as Lien Release Tracking. Already, it’s one of our more popular services. It’s available to real estate attorneys and other Easy HUD subscribers. For just $35 a pop, you can pass the responsibility for tracking releases after the payoffs to someone else (i.e. us). You can close the customer file, and go on your merry way.

However, what you might not have known is there is another related service which is equally valuable, especially when you need it.

Say you’re representing the buyer, seller, or bank on a HUD-1 closing. The title insurance company comes back with bad news. There’s a lien on this property, but it predates the current ownership. Or there are defects in the chain of title, and it’s unclear who owns the property, or what property they own.

We’re sure you already know this, but it happens all the time. It’s a tricky situation, since the seller - much as he/she would like to clear it - often doesn’t have access to the lienholder. Perhaps a bank holds an old mortgage. Or a public entity has an old easement. Or the lot lines are ambiguous, or inconsistent. Sometimes, the lien goes back many decades - and several generations. You can’t even tell if the holder of the lien is still alive.

If your client wants the deal to go through, you need that lien cleared and released.

We have a solution for you with our Curative Title service. For $250, our real estate title professionals will attempt to clear a title with an old lien, and provide the proof. The service isn’t guaranteed. But if we can’t do it, we don’t charge you.

As with our Lien Release Tracking Service, you can pass the cost to your client.

To learn more about our Curative Title service, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638 today.

Steps for Setting Up Your E-Billing Service (2 of 2)

Effective on November 15, 2011, Easy Soft rolled out its newest legal billing and accounting feature: the optional E-Billing module. As discussed in our last blog post, this module has the ability to produce any bill into an electronic format that’s readable for companies that use auditing software.

How do you give yourself the option to send your client an e-bill?

First, become an Easy TimeBill subscriber, and obtain the optional e-billing module. Not only will you join a class of law firms that has this relatively new capability, you’ll find that all of your law firm billing and accounting needs - including tracking time and expenses, sending invoices and invoice reminders, calculating interest on certain invoices, replenishing your retainers, collecting money through a range of electronic payment options, and transferring money between your operating and trust accounts - becomes easier.

Next, open Easy TimeBill, our popular legal accounting software.

Now go to Tools. Scroll down the pull-down menu, and open “Billing Settings.”

If you’re already an Easy TimeBill subscriber, you’ll notice a new tab entitled “electronic billing.” Enable the option and set your Law Firm’s ID. Now, you can open matters of those clients who desire electronic billing and set e-bill flag.

For these e-billing matter’s invoice tab, select the invoice and click “export invoice.”

The act of exporting your invoice into the Ledes format creates a Notepad file (the extension is “txt”). If needed, the software will prompt you for all relevant missing information, including client and matter codes.

Save the new e-bill file, and voila! You’re done! You can send it to your client, along with a regular Word or PDF invoice (if he/she needs one). The conversion is completely seamless.

To try the new e-billing feature (or view a live demonstration), call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638 today.

Easy Soft Launches New E-Billing Service (1 of 2)

If you’ve been following the advice in our blog posts, life should be hunky dory. You’re using our law firm billing and accounting software to both capture your billing and expenses, and collect on them in a systematic way - providing a cash flow that’s as steady as your workflow (or better). You’ve even been accepting credit card payments and calculating interest on overdue invoices. Your law firm is set up to thrive - and we’re glad.

Now, one of your clients tells you they need e-bills from now on. Uh-oh.

Never fear: Easy TimeBill is here! Effective today, Easy TimeBill's optional E-Billing module can produce invoice into an electronic format - while retaining the original paper format for printing / filing purposes.

E-billing itself isn’t new, of course. For years, large corporations such as insurance companies and banks have been converting to e-billing in order to maintain uniformity and institute audit controls. (Scanning isn’t enough: e-billing requires standard formats (as you’ll see below), and often contains different information than on a paper invoice).

For now, the industry standard format is known as Ledes1998B. (As more formats become necessary, we will add them to our billing software.) Once you have licensed the add-on E-Billing module, our legal accounting software takes it from there.

To add e-billing to your Easy TimeBill license (or view a live demonstration), call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638 today.

Better Cash Flow; Happier Clients (Part 4 of 4)

In the last few blog posts, we’ve been emphasizing the importance of solid cash flow management practices. If you’re looking for a tool to ease the way, look no further. Consider our Payment Acceptance Plan, a merchant accounts option for law firms.

An Internet merchant account gives your clients a full range of electronic payment options. They can pay their bill by credit card, debit card, or remote check. You can also set up recurring billing. The funds can pour into your law firm operating account - or your escrow or trust account. You can even get real-time reporting - which allows you to use your desktop, laptop, Smartphone, or tablet PC to accept a credit / debit card payment, and see where your accounts stand. Best of all, the fees are low - and to prove it, we’ll compare them against your current credit card merchant payment plan free of charge. (Just fax us a cover sheet with your latest credit card processing statement: 877.439.7638). 

What’s better for you and your cash flow is also easier for your client: rather than write out a check and wait for the proper authorized signature, he or she can simply provide you with a card or checking account number over the phone (or keep one on file). It’s a win-win scenario that simultaneously eliminates your collection frustrations (it practically prints money), and keeps clients more invested in you and your law firm.

By now, we’ve reviewed many angles of your cash flow plan, including retainer collection, billing and time tracking, expenses and expense tracking, invoice reminders, retainer replenishments, and electronic payments.

Together, these tasks would appear to require a full-time bookkeeper or accounting help. That is where law firm accounting software definitely helps. Easy TimeBill is designed to solve these issues right out of the box. It funnels your cash to the right accounts, segregates and tracks client matters, and tells you what you’ve got to work with - so you can rest easily.

Learn more about your law firm cash flow management system by calling us at 800-905-7638.

Do you have a system for Replenishing your Retainer? (Part 3 of 4)

In the past two posts, we talked about the common issues that affect law firm cash flow management. These include not collecting sufficient retainers, not recording time and expenses promptly (i.e. as incurred), and not sending prompt collection reminders.

In this post, we’re going to add one pesky, persistent issue - and that’s replenishing your existing retainer balance. Law firms - especially solo practitioners and smaller firms - commonly struggle with this. You receive your retainer, and then bill from month-to-month, and before you know it, the original retainer has dwindled to zero. The culprit? Not having a system in place to ask your clients to bring their retainers back up to level - outside of hourly billing.

As creators of efficient, easy-to-use law firm billing and accounting software, Easy Soft has a solution: Easy TimeBill. With the selection of a few choices, you can easily set up retainer replenishment invoices - and email them to your clients seamlessly with your monthly invoice.

One way to accelerate your cash flow is to sign up for our Payment Acceptance Plan, or merchant accounts for law firms. As far as cash flow management software goes, it’s crucial to be able to offer a processing service that allows your clients to authorize their corporate credit or debit card or even pay by remote check (once they’ve reviewed your invoice). Get the system, and you’ll never have to wonder if the proverbial check is in the mail.

As a one-time promotion, we’re offering a $249 rebate on Easy TimeBill when you activate on Easy Soft's Payment Acceptance Plan. We’ll tell you more about this in the next and final post on easing your law firm’s cash flow management: for good.

Find out more by calling us at 800-905-7638.

Is Your Back Office Set Up for The Ideal Cash Flow Management? (Part 2 of 4)

In our last post, we set the stage for a series of blog posts on the critical tracking, billing , and collection issues which affect law firm success rates, and impact your cash flow. This post is about putting the proper cash flow infrastructure in place form the get-go.

The first prerequisite to adequate cash flow is the creation of efficient back office systems. This includes creating a fixed schedule for activities such as time and expense tracking, and invoicing.

These procedures aren't simply in place for your staff to know and follow, but they're also necessary measures for setting client expectations. Let's face it, you've got to train your clients to meet your standards - and both anticipate and pay their bills in a regulated fashion.

For law offices, time and expense entries should get tracked as they are incurred. Wait too long, and you're likely to lose track of one or the other or both…and fail to recover all that you're due. You could install a rule for time and expense entries to be entered (say) no less than 24 hours after incurred.

Likewise, law firm billing should happen on a systematic basis - according to a fixed schedule. You might compile your invoices on the 1st of every month, and mail them by the 3rd.

The same goes for invoice reminders. Your clients are busy, and might not get to their bills as promptly as you'd like. That's why our legal time and billing software includes an automated system for reminders. You can generate these on a fixed schedule as well (say, the 15 th of every month). That way, your clients know that you've noticed that they haven't paid their bills - and get to it, lest it interfere with their matter.

Call Easy Soft at 800-905-7638, and talk to a representative about your law firm cash flow management today.

Cash Flow (Part 1 of 4)

If cash flow isn't the key to business success, lack of cash flow is the reason that many businesses fail. These businesses neglect to set aside enough cash for the capital infusions they need. Or, they neglect to set aside the reserves needed to pay their overhead, and keep things running smoothly until the next round of receivables is deposited.
In law firms, this problem can be particularly poignant. The emphasis in a law firm isn't typically on cash: it's on billing. Yet, as we like to say here at Easy Soft: money is money. Cash flow encompasses both billables (retainers, hourly fees) and non-billables (fixed overhead, expenses) - and it's impossible to track or quantify without the proper legal billing software and other systems in place.
Moreover, if you're a solo practitioner or managing partner of your law firm , and don't have the proper attorney billing software in place to a) collect adequate retainers, b) invoice clients in a timely way, c) track your expenses, d) collect your expenses, e) accept payments, f) charge interest for late payments, and g) conduct other activities related to maintaining an adequate cash reserve, then not only does your cash flow suffer: so do you.
We're guessing, but we bet you're experiencing a low-level worry that gnaws - however subtly - in your mind.
If you can take that worry out of the picture, why wouldn't you?
You'd spend the time gaining more clients and enhancing your profitability.
You can streamline your operations, ramp up your collection process, and enhance your profitability.
In this series of posts, we will focus on the critical tracking, billing , and collection issues which affect law firm success rates.
If you want to get a jump on this information, call Easy Soft at 800-905-7638, and talk to a representative about your law firm cash flow management today.

1099-S Filings: New Law

Attention real estate lawyers! Federal deficits have forced the U.S. government to find new sources of revenue. On Sept 27, 2010, Congress passed the Small Business Jobs Act (H.R. 5297).

For your purposes, here's what the new law means. The IRS now assesses a Tier-3 $100 penalty per 1099 form for any mismatches in the seller's tax ID number and name. For ten erroneous forms, that's a whopping $1,000 penalty - something none of us should have to incur.

Mismatches can happen for any number of reasons - none of which are egregious. Maybe you have a wrong name on file. Maybe you're inadvertently using the seller's DBA name. Maybe you've inserted an extra space, extra punctuation, or the like. Nothing earth-shattering - but so long as the IRS catches your error, it's likely to enforce the rule, and collect its fee. (For more information, see IRS Publication 1586.)

So what can you do to avoid the penalty? Prior to closing, always obtain the Seller's TIN number. You can simply print a "1099-S Substitute Form" in your Easy HUD program, and have the seller sign it at the closing.
Alternatively, you can also use a W-9 form. Securing a TIN number in this way establishes reasonable care, and should get you excused from any penalty. Remember to keep signed substitute forms or W-9 forms in your records for four years.

Note that obtaining the Seller's TIN only protects you from a wrong TIN/Name provided by the seller. Mismatch errors are more likely to occur as the result of a seemingly innocent typo - particularly if you fill in your IRS forms manually, or re-type it for an accountant or third-party provider.

All of these points to another reason to use Easy HUD's electronic 1099-S Filing Service. With our electronic 1099-S reporting Service, you can submit your 1099-S form immediately after the closing, transfer the data seamlessly (reducing the probability of a typo), and receive instant confirmation.

Our $10 per filing fee covers both the IRS and seller reporting. Enrollment in the service is free. And in penalty savings alone: it more than pays for itself.

With our popular value-added post-closing services such as 1099-S Filing and Lien Release Tracking, we eliminate cumbersome work - and penalties that can add up.

For more information on our HUD software programand lien release tracking services, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Streamline Your Closings: Beginning to End

Handling real estate closings has never been easy. But these days, the number of parties, dollar amounts, regulations, and last-minute changes has increased - complicating things even more. Without a corresponding increase in your technology, keeping up is an uphill battle - and one you're likely to lose, given the tendency of most real estate lawyers to accept flat fees for closing work.

That's where Easy Soft comes in. The legal software specialist produces Easy HUD, HUD 1 friendly software that streamlines your closings - and then closes the file.

Let's track how this works.

When you get a new case, you enter all of the information - from buyer and seller names to lender and title company addresses - only once, at the outset.

Then, you choose the forms you need. They're all built within the software, including your complex RESPA-compliant HUD 1 or HUD 1 forms. They're fully automated to draw from your case data and generate all internal calculations with the press of a button.

Finally, come closing, you use Easy HUD's automatic ledger feature to balance your ledger and make sure you arrange the right disbursement, and neither under- or over-collect. You can even print your checks directly from this feature. (Add Easy Trust, our trust accounting software, and you keep all closing funds exactly where the state bar wants them - in a protected escrow account.) Even lender deductions have already been accounted for - using NET flags.

If the closing date changes? Press a button, and your amounts simply adjust themselves, with little effort on your part.

After closing, you've got the lingering issues of the 1099-S IRS filing, and tracking any remaining liens within the statutory period. Easy Soft's got you covered on both counts. Register for our one-click electronic filing at just $10 a pop, and we meet all your reporting requirements for you. As for lien tracking, you'll eliminate any post-closing title clearing headaches (and precious staff time) by registering for our lien tracking services at just $35 per file.

At the end of the day, you've got a balanced ledger, a clean transfer, and a case that's been satisfactorily closed. Can't beat that.

For more information about our HUD 1 closing software , call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Operating v. Trust Account 101

Here’s a question that you might remember from your bar exam. There are operating retainers and trust retainers. How do you know where to deposit your funds?

More importantly, once you’ve determined the answer, how do you keep track of it?

Hint: if you’re using generic accounting software, that last bit gets pretty challenging.

But if you’re using Easy Soft’s Easy TimeBill (ETB) and Easy Trust (ET) modules, then you’ve got it made.

You see, ETB and ET are specialized billing software for attorneys that allow you to make spot decisions: seamlessly. You can consider each scenario on its individual merits. And if you change your mind later, press a button, and voila! you’ve switched accounts without having to reinvent the wheel. That’s strong technology at work.

In contrast, generic accounting software - particularly if it’s not made specifically for law firms - only accounts for a single type of account (i.e. an operating account). Or, it might segregate trust and operating accounts across programs. Often, generic software doesn't specify which type of account you're dealing with at all. We've seen lawyers keep parallel sets of books to separate their trust accounts from their operating accounts.

In a competitive market, seamlessness is what you’re going for. You spend less time on your legal billing, and more time on your clients. Speaking of which, those clients don’t need to know - and don’t care - about your escrow accounting. So making it seamless works better for you…and better for your client relations. 

By the way, the answer to that bar exam question is perfectly grey. Usually, earned fees, personal funds, operating funds, and business funds go into your operating account. But not always. For example, what if your client gives you an advance for next month’s work? Where do you deposit it? Are you now channeling funds between accounts?

Go the easy way: with Easy Soft. For more information about our escrow software, call us at 800.905.7638.

 

What's the Matter? Billing

If you’re the kind of lawyer whose clients come to you with a single matter or case, then for you, there isn’t much of a discrepancy between client and matter billing. You treat them as one, and your escrow accounting follows suit.

But let’s say you’re the kind of lawyer that has corporate clients assigning you multiple matters - all very similar. Say you’re collecting bills on behalf of a utility or cell phone company. The company (your client) has 1,000 unpaid accounts. You successfully collect on all accounts - leaving you with 1,000 different checks.

 Now: the state ethics rules want you to keep matter funds separate. So where do you keep these payments, pending transfer to your client? Are you going to cut 1,000 different checks for each, and deposit them into separate accounts? What about your fees? Are you going to require your client to divide that into a separate amount for each matter? How would you even do the math?

You can cut a single check to your client, but you need to annotate the check with reference numbers for the accounts that have been satisfied. You can receive a single check (for your fee) from your client, but in nearly all cases, your rules require you to track and segregate each matter - on a matter level. Generic accounting programs aren't designed to handle these specific challenges, or to move money around seamlessly. Even many law firm billing software programs don’t always support the circumstances at hand.

What you need is software which is both granular enough to itemize all matters in your record keeping, and yet flexible enough to translate the actual monies into a single check for or from your client. That’s where our legal trust accounting software comes in.

Easy Trust allows law firms to cut a single check, and charge it to thousands of matters. Your client gets clean records, and no one has to spend all afternoon at the bank writing or depositing checks.

Easy? You bet.

For more information about our specialized legal billing and accounting software, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Get Your Bills to Talk to You

In recent posts, we’ve talked about how our legal time and billing software helps you get your invoices out, send reminders (if necessary), and get paid.

What we haven’t discussed is an ancillary - but critical - function of our law firm billing software. This function isn’t focused on the client: it’s focused on your business, and on enhancing your firm’s overall bottom line.

The function is analytics. You see, in any billing system, there are multiple parties. The first is your client. The second consists of your Timekeepers (attorneys, paralegals, secretaries). The third are vendors (in Easy TimeBill, we refer to these as “Payees”): expert witnesses, delivery services, contract attorneys, process servers, etc. The fourth are Matter Owners, or the partner or lawyer that oversees any given client or matter. 

These parties create different data points, and as with all software, the data can then serve your business, rather than function as a one - way street.

For Timekeepers, yearly compensation is often tied to performance records. And in a law firm, there’s no better way to track performance than with billable hours. Timekeepers and managers alike can print out reports of their hours in any given month, quarter or year, and figure out whether they’re staying productive and on-target.

For Matter Owners, Easy TimeBill can retrieve matter reports. These both filter out other attorneys’ matters, and provide information points - at a glance. Matter Owners can quickly see whether their matters have been profitable, whether clients are paying their bills on time, whether they are staying within budget parameters, and so forth.

What these reports avoid? The need to migrate to another law firm billing software product six months down the road.

To retrieve data, download our law office billing software, and click on "Reports" in the left-hand column. For more information, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

High-Impact Software for Million Dollar Mistakes

Sometimes, seasoned real estate professionals don’t see the point of having specialized HUD-1 software. Take the HUD settlement statement form. If it’s your practice to complete it on paper, making manual calculations and adjustments as you go, then the point of using a HUD-1 program is surely lost on you.  

To us, that’s like claiming a tricycle can fly you to Cambodia. You’d need a lot of ingenuity - and a fair bit of magic - to make that happen.

You see, the HUD-1 form isn’t a simple data intake form. It's full of nuanced, fidgety little calculations - all of which our HUD-1 software performs on your behalf. And therein lies the real value.

Say the seller paid for sewage for the entire year. It’s only July, and he’s selling. Clearly, the seller needs to be credited for his sewage payments. You’d simply punch in your sewage proration per diem, and out spits the right number: almost to the hour.

Has the closing been pushed back by a week? 10 days? Okay. Rather than fill out a new form and put your hard-driving calculator back to work, you simply punch in your new closing date, and let each number automatically adjust. There’s no need to:

·        Perform the calculations all over again

·        Double-check to see if anything fell through the cracks

·        Worry that some of your calculations are flat-out wrong, and that your client will suffer later from your mistake(s)

Nope. Put in your number, enter your closing date, and let the result grind out like an automatic sausage machine. The same goes for all utility charges, payoffs of mortgages and other liens…even city and county transfer taxes. (Our HUD-1 software provides transfer tax rates for over 40 jurisdictions in the country.)

The advantages to you? You won’t make a mistake that costs you money that can never be recovered - no matter how little or great.  Additionally, since you’re likely charging a fixed-fee for your services, you do the same work in less time.

For more information about our HUD-1 software, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Lien Release Tracking Service: Too Good to be True?

Is our lien release tracking service too good to be true?

Well, no. Easy Soft’s lien release tracking is a fantastic service that many in the title and settlement world have responded to with great enthusiasm. But we thought we’d share some of the questions that we received and clarify those of you who are still skeptics!

Q: Aren’t mortgage lien releases the responsibility of the title company?

A: No. While title companies might be of occasional assistance in tracking releases, they are not typically obligated to do so. The responsibility falls instead on settlement agents like you.

Q: What type of liens do you track?

A: We can track any lien that appears on the title: from mortgages to private liens, tax liens to contractor liens.

Q: When do I place my lien release tracking order?

A: Do so anytime before the payoff, so that the lender can be informed. If you have already made payoffs, you can still place tracking order – up to 45 days from closing.

Q: Who pays the lien release tracking fee?

A: In a real estate sale, you can charge it to the seller. In a refinance, it depends on how the GFE was prepared. If you list the item on your GFE, it is a borrower’s charge. If not, it comes out of your fee.

Q: How do I record my lien release tracking fee on a HUD-1?

A: In a sale, insert it in section 1300 (seller’s column). If listed on a GFE for a refinance, insert it in section 1100.

Q: What about the recording fee?

A: If not collected by the lender as part of a payoff, send that to Easy Soft along with The tracking fee. In either case, we will deliver a recorded mortgage lien release.

Q: What about really old liens which are still uncleared?

A: We have a separate service called “Curative Title Tracking” ($250 fee). You might have completed a settlement which needs to be cleared or you have a deal with old uncleared lien. Either way, we can help.

For more information, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Lien Release Tracking: Clearing Title and Saving the Day

As a closing settlement agent, it's your responsibility to secure the release of paid mortgage loans and other associated liens.
But let's look at the cold, hard facts:
36% of mortgage liens are released late, i.e. not within the statutory period after lien payoff. 17% of satisfied mortgages are never released or recorded. At all.
What does this mean?
For one thing, the buyer doesn't own clear title - even after having paid off his or her predecessor's obligations.
To you, it also means your client's file remains open indefinitely - resulting in multiple inefficiencies which impact your own bottom line.
So what are your options to secure recorded release document?
Option 1. Do it yourself.
This is a plodding, inefficient option. Tracking down the lender and/or county land records is time-consuming and cost-consuming, and simply no fun. It also keeps you on the hook—keeping your liability for clear title open—until the recorded release is received. And as you just read, in 17% of the cases—this never happens.
Option 2. Use an outside lien release tracking service.
Although there are some reputable release tracking services available, you've got to find one, then go to their website, sign in, and order the service. It's a burdensome extra step.
The best option? Stay within your title and settlement software, and order your placement, status, and recorded release, then close your client's file.
The cost? $35/lien. Best of all, this cost is normally a pass through to the seller (for a sale) or borrower (for a refinance).

Easy Accounting for Hourly Billers

If you've been following our blog for a while, you know how strongly we feel that a law firm using generic, non- legal billing and accounting software is a law firm missing out on an opportunity to be efficient, streamlined, and state bar compliant.

Easy Soft's legal billing and trust accounting software solves the problem. Easy TimeBill and Easy Trust are popular law-specific programs that meet legal billing and compliance requirements. And they do so no matter what your fee arrangements look like: whether they're based on hourly, fixed or contingency fees.

Today, we're going to focus on hourly billers. Family or divorce lawyers, wills, trusts and estates lawyers, general civil and commercial litigators, elder lawyers and commercial bankruptcy attorneys are examples of legal practices that typically employ an hourly fee structure. If your practice falls into one of these areas, then chances are, you receive client advances in the form of retainers, then track your daily billable time across multiple matters. Very likely, you track your expenses as incurred, and generate periodic (say, monthly) bills, and either pay them out of your clients' retainer balances, or from new money received from your clients. You'll probably need to juggle funds between your trust accounts and your operating accounts.

Easy TimeBill can handle all of this. You set billing rates for all timekeepers (changeable between matters), track your time and expenses per entry, and generate invoices accordingly. At the beginning of an engagement, you deposit retainers in your operating or trust accounts, then move funds between accounts according to how they are earned. You can generate detailed administrative reports, prepare payment reminders—and even initiate low retainer balance letters and collection efforts: all from the same legal billing program.

For operating accounts, we do recommend using a standard accounting program such as QuickBooks—preferred by CPAs. QuickBooks data entry becomes minimal with need to only enter data on hourly legal fees received (either from new funds or trust funds) and quarterly/yearly account receivables.

As for trust accounting, what Easy TimeBill doesn't handle, the Easy Trust module will. Our trust accounting software allows you to receive retainers, track trust funds for individual matters, and even print disbursement checks across the proper number of accounts. You can generate required reports, reconcile bank account statements—even perform three-way reconciliations among your trust and operating accounts.

Life becomes easier. That's why we call it Easy Soft.

To learn more about our billing and trust accounting software for attorneys, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Lawyers Will be Lawyers

We know. You went to school for years, and boast a doctorate behind your name. You contextualize eloquently, and your logic is more or less unflawed.

But when it comes down to it, how is the law really different from other professional practices?

Well, let's see. You advise clients. So do doctors and accountants.

Second, you collect a retainer, and bill your client according to a pre-arranged plan. Consultants do this, too, as do many technologists.

Third, your brain is your biggest tool—followed closely by your legal software. We can't list all the professions that can say this.

Fourth, you deal with forms and other paperwork on your clients' behalf. Yeah…you have our sympathy there (as do CPAs).

But wait. Let's look closer at the second factor. A legal retainer is different from other professions, in the sense that the money doesn't belong to you—unless you earn the money.

Until then, you're just a bailee.

If you're still using generic software to track your invoicing and payments, then you're not leveraging technology to your advantage. And you're probably running the risk of violating a principle that your state bar takes veeeery seriously.

Here at Easy Soft, our legal billing software -Easy TimeBill-is married to our trust accounting software -Easy Trust. What's a huge effort to some attorneys becomes effortless to our clients.

To be clear: attorney billing software without escrow account software is like watching half a movie. It's like using a spreadsheet program that doesn't scale. At all. You're only looking at one portion of your accounting—and neglecting what's ethically crucial.

In comes Easy Soft. You collect your retainer, earn it, transfer it from one account (trust or escrow) to the other (operating). Easy TimeBill and Easy Trust track everything—and make sure you're on the up and up. It reconciles your accounts, too.

Easy? You bet. Is there any alternative? We don't think so. Click here for more information.

Pop Quiz: How Well Do You Understand Trust Accounting?

The bar exam and your professional responsibility class are ancient history. You're not an ethics lawyer, and you don't file legal malpractice suits. All the more reason we want to spring this pop quiz on you!

Q1: Which of these funds do not belong in your clients' trust accounts?

1. Earned fees
2. Personal funds
3. Real estate escrow funds, such as a down payment on a house
4. Your firm's operating funds
5. Personal injury settlements
6. Collections
7. Retainers and advances
8. Other settlements and judgments

A1: Numbers 1, 2, 4, and perhaps 7—depending on whether the retainers and advances have been earned.

Q2: How do you make sure this actually happens, so that you keep your nose clean at all times?

A2: Get an all-in solution like Easy Soft's Easy TimeBill and Easy Trust. Our trust accounting software gets you in compliance and prepared ­for a knock on the door from random bar auditors—at all times.

Basically, here's how it works.

•  You're retained by a new client.

•  The client pays your retainer, which you deposit into your trust account. Our escrow accounting software takes note of this.

•  You track your hours and bill your client—both through our legal billing software.

•  You debit your trust account for the earned portion of the retainer. Then, you move this portion into your law firm's operating account.

Here's another question.

Q3: What are the five steps to keeping your trust accounting clean?

A3: Step one: keep all of your client's funds in separate accounts. Step two: make sure your client ledger has a positive balance. Step three: make sure all money is in the proper (trust v. operating) account at all times. Step four: reconcile everything. Step five: keep paper records of your check stubs and expense receipts.

Don't lose sleep over trust fund accounting . Follow the above rules, and you'll always be prepared for an audit.

Easy? You bet. Click here for more information.

Slap a Finance Charge On It – Legal Time & Billing Software

Late payments from clients. No fun, right? No matter what kind of legal billing software you have, late payments require you to send (yet) another bill and nag your client—neither of these fun tasks. And statistics show: the longer it takes for a bill to get paid, the harder it is to collect.

The way we look at it, you might as well get something for your troubles. And if that something is a finance charge, then your client is put on notice—and realizes that there's a cost factor attached to his or her delay. If push ever comes to shove, a finance charge also provides additional leverage for you. In short, finance charges are a winning scenario for attorneys all around.

Easy Soft's Easy TimeBill program, our law office software now comes with a new feature: automatic assessments of finance charges on unpaid invoices (provided you wish to apply finance charges).

A little background here. We found out that our software clients-from solo practitioners to medium-sized law firms—were willing to assess finance charges for late payments. But they don't.

9 times out of 10, you're not refraining out of courtesy. You're refraining because there's no easy way to make the calculation—and compound it as time goes on. Add in partial payments—and the scenario gets even more math-heavy. (And we know from previous posts how much you love math!)

Nightmare no more! Easy TimeBill's new finance charge feature allows you to set the interest rate (say 12%) and the grace period (say 30 days). You're in complete control.

As you generate invoices, Easy TimeBill will look at unpaid invoices, apply the grace period, and assess any necessary finance charges.

To activate the feature, simply go to Tools. Then you select Billing Settings, then Finance Charge Settings. Then, you type in the desired interest rate, grace period, and charge type (simple or compound). Voila! Your global preferences are set, and your client now has a great reason to pay today .

Exceptions aren't an issue: you simply uncheck the option for certain clients.

No one likes to be paid late. Time to fight back!

To learn more about our Attorney billing software, call us at 800-905-7638.

Family Law Software - New York State Divorce Calculator with Document Automation

Known for innovation and technological tools, Easy Soft once again meets the growing demands of legal software users with their popular family law software , E z Support–NY.

A few highlights of the cutting edge tools in E z Support - NY include:

• An easy to use, uncluttered user interface makes data entry and understanding calculations a breeze.
• Generate any form from a common set of data entered.
• Automated Documents Generation:
• Statement of Net Worth with unlimited asset and debt items
• Common Divorce Forms (UD1 to UD14)
• Child Support and Temporary Spousal Support Worksheets
• Add an unlimited number of your own family law forms, such as correspondence or litigation documents.
• All forms are fully customizable. Save forms as Word or PDF and email, all within the program.
• SupportNY lite : Lets you collect initial case data from clients electronically.
• Smartphone App : Calculate New York child and temporary maintenance and Alimony Buyout or Present Value and Alimony Recapture.

E z Support-NY helps New York attorneys who handle divorce cases perform formerly time-consuming divorce paperwork in seconds. The advanced tools in our new E z Support-NY program give family law attorneys capabilities they only dreamed of until now.

New York law firms interested in learning more about the unique features in EzSupport – NY software may call 800-905-7638 or to download a free trial, visit: http://www.easysoft-usa.com/new-york-divorce-software.html

About Easy Soft: Easy Soft has been a legal software leader since 1986. The company offers specialized solutions for real estate, family law, time, billing & trust account management and document automation. More than 15,000 customers nationwide use Easy Soft products to increase office productivity. Visit us on the web at: http://www.easysoft-usa.com

Robots or People? We Made A Choice

If you've been following our blog for a while, then you know the familiar rave against government forms. Divorce forms are a particularly curious piece of work. For example, in New Jersey, the various sections of a Financial Affidavit for divorce are indexed by number or letter- not using a far more sensible, humanized system.

It's as if we were living in a 21 st century of robot divorcé(e)s.

To keep things streamlined (if not absolutely simple) for our customers, Easy Soft's wildly popular CIS ( Case Information Statement) also collected your clients' data under indexed tabs. The tabs' labels were-you guessed it-numbers and letters, in deference to the New Jersey form.

Before, you'd have to go into each section separately to enter child support information, case management information, etc.

But then, we woke up from the universal robot dream.

Now, CIS, New Jersey's most popular family law software , presents a new, Consolidated Case Info section. It's easy to find, and it indexes your data collection efforts by the very-human, very simple name of the party- not by robot number.

For our attorney clients, this makes things far more intuitive.

There are now tabs for general information, court information, plaintiff's information, defendant, children, your firm, opposing counsel, miscellaneous parties, and even miscellaneous values. All of the tabs are located in the same spot in the software. You needn't hunt, click in and out, tear your hair, or turn into an automated robot to track anything down: it's all right there at your fingertips.

Easy. Just like we always promise.

To learn more about our entire suite of family law software, call 800-905-7638. We promise you'll get a person on the line who can answer all of your questions.

Individual Historical Expenditures: Useful for All Sorts of Reasons

As a divorce attorney in New Jersey, you know this. Financial Affidavits are tricky to fill out. A critical component of the form is monthly expenses (also known as Lifestyle) which plays an important role in spousal support negotiations. Part of the problem is that official form ( New Jersey Family Case Information Statement) only documents expenses for joint family and current party. That leaves out important parameters such as expenses for other party or even separately itemized expenses for each individual party (plaintiff, defendant and children).

Once upon a time, this odd setup required divorce attorneys using New Jersey family law software to create a manual worksheet-separate and apart from the state Financial Affidavit form. It was a pain in the you-know-what. Even CIS—Easy Soft's raucously popular New Jersey divorce software -used to provide just two columns under costs (Part D): one for joint historical expenditures (for the intact family), and the other for current expenditures (for your client, the filer). But this wasn't sufficient for spousal support negotiations.

Not anymore.

Now, the all-new CIS 2.2 B provides a new option: "Show Individual Historical Expenditure." Click the checkmark, and your family law software suddenly gives you the capacity to break your clients' historical expenditures down-by each party. Yes indeed, we've added three extra columns in which you can include historical expenditures for the Plaintiff, the Defendant, and the children. Separately.

And voila! Suddenly, you have a baseline that tells the whole picture-for both parties.

You can use the new tool to print a separate lifestyle / historical expenditure report in five separate columns rather than two, and bring it with you during your spousal support negotiations.

You can use the new tool to create exhibits for your court documentation-whether it's for motion practice and/or trial.

You can use the new tool for setting a more accurate baseline for future modifications in the event of changes to the financial picture of one party.

That's Easy Soft: improving our divorce settlement software every single minute.

To learn more about our entire suite of family law software, call 800-905-7638. We promise you'll get a person on the line who can tell you about our software, and answer any questions you might have.

Put Your New Jersey Divorce Clients To Work!

Problem : As a divorce lawyer in New Jersey, you spend weeks chasing down your client's information, and then double checking to make sure that all the information is entered accurately.

Solution : Those days are gone. Now, you can finally put your divorce clients to work!

Easy Soft's popular New Jersey family law software is out with its newest version, CIS 2.2B. In addition to many other new features, the program comes with the optional CIS lite module, which enables your clients to gather their own information. They then supply you with a form that gets uploaded—automatically—in all the right places.

Your data entry problem? Gone!

First, you email your client the CIS lite form (go to File -> CIS lite -> Save CIS lite as a Word document). Instruct him or her to open it in Microsoft Word, and fill it out in the convenience of his or her home or office.

Next, look for the completed form in your email inbox. Give it a quick read to make sure all the fields are complete. If there's anything missing, let your client know.

If it looks good, import the form into CIS 2.2 B (File -> CIS lite -> Import CIS lite ).

If it's a new client, the software prompts you for the client's position: Plaintiff or Defendant? Click Continue, and then upload the form.

That's it! The file's been imported. All of your new client's data is now in the system. Case forms such as Confidential Litigant Sheet, Case Information Statement, Insurance Certifications, etc. are nearly complete. You can start figuring out optimal NJ child support payments, maintenance, and all the rest: using our easy-to-use, uncluttered Easy Soft interface.

To learn more about our entire suite of family law software, call 800-905-7638. We promise you'll get a person on the line who can answer all of your questions.

The New CIS Includes Optional Family Docs Module

Great news. Along with the release of CIS 2.2B, Easy Soft's latest New Jersey family law software, New Jersey divorce lawyers and family law firms can license FamilyDocs. That's over 130 New Jersey Family Law Forms published by New Jersey ICLE- built into the CIS program for a nominal licensing fees.

What this means: You can now generate your forms from a common set of data automatically-without the need for laborious data transfer from program to program or manual copy-paste from one file to another file. If you need to track data or make corrections, you won't need to hunt for it in multiple locations. You simply enter the plaintiff's, defendant's, children's, and financial information just once -and it's populated throughout this streamlined family law software: accurately, completely, and cleanly.

Along with this addition to CIS, you can also customize any form, and add unlimited numbers of your own forms. Existing forms include practice-related topics such as high-quality retainer agreements, and court forms such as complaints, pleadings, orders, etc. The forms come pre-populated to the extent possible—meaning that they pretty much fill themselves out.

Your entire practice group can use a single set of standardized forms-eliminating work duplication and errors, and increasing consistency.

You can view merged documents on-screen, and make any needed changes directly.

You can also save all of your prepared documents within the same CIS file. You can also save prepared forms as PDF or Word files, and email them directly from the program.

Finally, the forms come with a built-in editor and spell checker-eliminating the need for external word processing software.

To learn more about our divorce software for attorneys, call Easy Soft at 800 905 7638.

Balancing the Impossible—NJ Equitable Distribution Made Easy

Remember the old fable about King Solomon and the mystery baby? Two mothers claimed the same baby, and so the wise king said, “let's slice him in half.”

One of the mothers said, “okay.” The other said, “absolutely not. She can have him.” Of course, the latter turned out to be the baby's true mom.

If you're a divorce lawyer in New Jersey or another state, you know just what we're talking about. You can split a bank account in two, but you can't do the same with the house. Ditto with your prized sports car, your artwork, your dog. You've got to let one spouse claim these things in full (okay, you might share custody of the dog), and then credit the other spouse with his or her “equitable” portion. Divorce Law 101, right?

Not so fast. If you're like us and you don't love math, it's a nightmare trying to keep all of your client's valuations straight-especially if the spouses are changing it up every two seconds.

That's why we're so proud of our Statement of Assets balance sheet-now a standard feature in the latest release (CIS 2.2 B) of New Jersey's no. 1 family law software.

The sheet allows you to click on Asset Distribution (or liabilities distribution), and then-with a flick of your mouse click-"effectuate" distribution, just like the judge you were born to be. If your client wants to keep the house, then you assign him or her 100% distribution of that item, and assign 0% to his or her spouse. The worksheet crunches the numbers, then spits out a few key numbers-letting you see at a glance whether your client has a surplus or a shortfall of the whole.

To change it up is as easy (and dare we say, fun?) as taking another shot with a brand new digital camera.

Our Divorce Financial customers have long loved this feature of their divorce software. And if you're a divorce attorney in New Jersey, you will, too.

For more information about CIS 2.2B and our other family law software, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

New Laws, New Party Titles. Easy!

Great news for New Jersey divorce lawyers and family law firms! The newest version of Easy Soft's New Jersey family law software, CIS 2.2 B, is now compliant with relevant legislative changes in effect as recently as September 1, 2011.

First, a little background to catch you up. In 2006, the New Jersey legislature passed the Civil Union and Domestic Partnership Act, recognizing civil unions in New Jersey. This law gives legal recognition to civil unions-although proponents of gender-neutral marriage have made it clear that it's not exactly the same thing. But we digress…

September 1, 2011 (just last week) saw day one of a 2011 Omnibus Rule which (among other things) requires a change in the terminology used in divorce documentation-including your clients'. From the passage of the Civil Union and Domestic Partnership Act until last Thursday, this change had not been mandatory.

In the most basic sense, what this means is that your divorce forms, financial affidavit ( new jersey case information statement), and other documentation can no longer use the terms “husband” and “wife.” Instead, all such documentation must use the words plaintiff and defendant in describing the parties to a divorce action.

As always, Easy Soft comes to the rescue. Our popular divorce software, otherwise known as Case Information Statement or CIS, has many new features (CIS 2.2B) which-among many, many other things-niftily replaces the old terms with the new. Instead of using the outmoded husband and wife terminology, we've employed “plaintiff” and “defendant” everywhere necessary: including the case data collection section, all worksheets, forms, pleadings, and template correspondence.

CIS 2.2B populates the fields with the proper terminology. Even some of our blog entries and examples have been changed. We're not trying to brainwash you…we're just helping you to keep up with the times which are a-changin'.

And with that, once again, Easy Soft has made compliance with new laws as easy and breezy as turning on your computer.

For more information about CIS 2.2B and our other family law software, including our national divorce settlement product Divorce Financials, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Family Law Software - Electronic Data Collection Module: Easing Divorces One Form at a Time

The New York Statement of Net Worth. If it's not familiar to you, it's a zinger, and you might tear your hair out getting to the bottom of it.

But ask any New York divorce lawyer. Even if you do know what you're doing, it can be a zinger, too.

That's because most law firms—including maybe yours—aren't designed to leverage information to its eyeballs—like it can be. In this golden age of technology, divorce lawyers are capable of utilizing machines to a) enter raw information: names, addresses, birthdates, bank account balances, stock values, pensions, and the like— just once , b) leverage technology to perform calculations within the myriad of worksheets, statements, and other documents you are responsible for, and c) pour the calculations into said documents.

The concept of entering information just once is crucial. You don't have to cross-verify your accuracy: just enter it once, accurately. You don't have to chase down multiple locations to make an adjustment to one piece of data: you simply change it once, in one single place.

Even better, EzSupport-NY now comes with an electronic data collection module called “SupportNewYorkLite.” That gives your client a form to fill out—in the ease of his or her home or office.

Your client receives a simple Microsoft Word file. Once completed, he or she returns it to you (via email). You review it for any red flags or missed entries, then click to “import” it into your EzSupport-NY software.

When this is complete, you've just shrunk a few hours' work into mere minutes. You've saved yourself time, saved your client fees, and increased the accuracy of your data, since your client knows his or her finances best. You've also made your client part of an overriding solution: and leveraged technology at its finest.

To learn more about our family law software, call 800-905-7638.