How To Move Trust Funds To a Different Client or Matter [FAQ]

How to move trust funds from one trust account to another.

Jay Sanchez avatar
Written by Jay Sanchez
Updated over a week ago

You may want to transfer an amount of money from one Matter to a different Matter. This article will tell you how to migrate trust funds from one Client or Matter to another.

Make sure that you have liability accounts set up for both matters before following the steps in this article. If you haven't yet, follow this set of steps.


  1. Go to QuickBooks Online

    This can only be done from QuickBooks Online, so please make sure you have access to the account.

  2. Choose Journal Entry

    First click New, on the left-hand side:

    Then choose Journal Entry from the menu that pops up.

3. Open the new Journal Entry

You will see the blank Journal Entry before you. Click in the section that says Account to begin recording your entry. You will see a dropdown menu of options to choose your account to debit.

4. Create the Journal Entry

Debit the liability account from which the funds are coming and credit the liability account to which the funds are going:

In this example, we're moving funds out of "Sigmond's Cinnamonds", and into "Shawn's Steaks."

Note: Don't forget to select the sub-account for the specific Matters that you're moving funds between.

5. Save the Transactions

Make sure to save the transaction in QuickBooks Online.


FAQ

"How do I move money from 1 Trust account to another? I want to transfer $450 from Matter A to Matter B."

This will require creating a Journal Entry in QBO with a debit from the Client's liability account and a credit to the one it is going to.

"I did something funky and I cannot figure out how to fix it. I see a client who has a trust balance but when I am on the trust listing page, I cannot click on it."

Apparently, when the deposit was made it went in at the client level instead of matter level. All you have to do is go onto the Chart Of Accounts and move the balance to the matter sub-liability account.

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