Where Did All This Child Support Come From, Anyway? – Family Law Software

In every one of the fifty states, lawyers are required to submit a child support computation, whether it is strictly followed or whether a variance is granted.

So, just where did this mandatory child support calculation come from, anyway?

In the mid to late 1980s, data started coming out of the US Census Bureau that illustrated the correlation between poverty, single-parent households, and child support orders. Leaving the award of child support up to judges was not resulting in adequate support for children, and more and more single parents were applying to the federal government for welfare assistance.

The legislative history goes back to 1974, when Congress passed the “Family Support Act” as an amendment to the Social Security Act, making it mandatory for states receiving Aid for Dependent Children to establish and enforce child support obligations. Ten years later, Congress enacted the Child Support Enforcement Amendments, which spread the child support formula and enforcement to all families, not just those receiving public assistance. The year after that, in 1988, Congress mandated that by 1994, all states create a formula that would be a rebuttable presumptive in its computation of child support.

The bottom line for you as a family law attorney is that you need legal software with a powerful child support calculator for every case involving an unemancipated child. And, when you're deep into negotiations for divorce settlements , you'll want to be in a position to calculate child support and alimony, and determine whether to shift some of the child support into alimony payments to gain an income tax deduction.

Easy Soft offers the line of legal software products you need. For divorce settlements , select our “ Divorce Settlement Software ,” which can be used in all 50-states. Add specialized software if you are calculating child support for NY , need a PA support calculator or an AZ child support calculator , or you are in NJ, using the case information statement .

You've had since at least 1994 to automate your child support calculations through legal software . We've been waiting for you to come along since 1986. Don't you think it's time that we got together?

The Self-Support Reserve Computation? Easy!

Every state has a mandatory formula for the computation of child support. You're a legal professional; you know there are exceptions to every rule. Do you know what the “self-support reserve” exception is to a strict computation of child support?

Unfortunately, in today's economy, every family law attorney needs to be familiar with the “self-support reserve,” the floor below which a child support variance would become appropriate. If you represent someone who has lost there job and is surviving on government benefits, you need to know this figure. If you represent a child support claimant, you need to not be caught unaware of an impending argument for a variance on this basis.

The federal government annually releases the “poverty guidelines,” defining the poverty rate, based upon household size. In 2011, the poverty guideline for a single person was $10,890/year. States set their “self-support reserve” as a multiplier of the federal poverty guidelines.

For example, let's say you're computing child support for NY . NY set its “self-support reserve” at 135% of the federal poverty guidelines. For a child support payor, alone in a household, the self-support reserve would be $10,890 x 135% or $14,702.

If you're using the NY child support calculator in the “EzSupport-NY” legal software , you can save yourself the steps of keeping track of the federal government annual poverty announcements, checking for the affiliated state updates, and remembering to apply the self-support reserve each time you make a child support calculation. Use Easy Soft law office software to increase your productivity and ensure your accuracy.

With Easy Soft's family law software , if a payor's income is at or below the self-support reserve, you will receive a computer-generated alert that says “Low income adjustment applicable,” along with detailed notices such as “more than the poverty level $10,890 but less than self-support reserve $14,702.”

Whether you are calculating child support as part of a divorce settlements or part of a modification or enforcement proceeding, let Easy Soft's legal software automate your calculations and generate needed alerts.

After all, don't you already have enough to do in each case without having to remember every figure on your own?

Multiple Rates, Multiple Billers, Make It Easy! - Legal Billing and Accounting Software

There's your rate and there's your paralegal's rate. There are the partners' rates and the associates' rates. And by the time the billing clerk is done punching a calculator, there's the headache and the mistakes.

Why not make it easier to compile the monthly billing?

Easy Soft's attorney billing software is so easy to use, we're going to show you in the first two minutes of this video just how easy. If we've made our case, just go to the legal billing software and click on “download free trial” or “buy program now.”

With Easy Soft's attorney billing program , setting up each timekeeper at individual rates is as easy as filling in a few boxes. All in one screen, you will fill in fields for the timekeeper name, initials, and rate. Leave it to Easy Soft's billing software for attorneys to ask you the key information and then remember who bills at what rate.

If your law firm grows or changes timekeepers, Easy Soft's law firm billing program allows you to readily add new timekeepers and remove program access permissions for old ones.

Does one of your timekeepers bill at different rates for different clients? No problem. With Easy Soft's law office billing software you input different rates in boxes marked for different “levels,” all on the one timekeeper screen. This design allows you to customize the billing rates while maintaining accuracy as to whose billing rate you are inputting. With Easy Soft's attorney time billing software , you can send out invoices on complex matters with ease.

Each time a billing entry is made, Easy Soft's billing software for attorneys calculates the total due and compiles it on a per client basis. It's ready whenever you'd like to print an invoice. These different billing rates can also be displayed on the printed invoice as confirmation to you and your client that the agreed-upon rate is what is actually being charged for the services performed.

If you're tired of multiplying by sixths of an hour, get started today with Easy Soft's law office time and billing software . This law office billing software was designed specifically for attorneys and law office staff.

The Evidence for Collecting Against that Overdue Client - Attorney Billing Software

The end stage with a non-paying client is for you to sue in collections.

Why is it so off-putting to file a collections case to win the fees that you know you've already earned? Could it be that you don't want to show the judge your shoebox of handwritten billing slips?

Let's get Easy Soft on board for your law office practice management software to make collections suits a less stressful experience.

Once you purchase and install Easy Soft's integrated law firm billing software and trust accounting software , you have created a daily office atmosphere of routine business practices. Each time you log into Easy Soft's attorney billing software , you will set the timer running with all the fields complete. Client name. Date. Start and stop time. Billing rate. Description of activity from a drop-down list or a customized text box. Amount of funds on deposit or overdue balance.

If you're in a multi-billing office, as the administrator, you can review the current billing activity on a client file for each authorized timekeeper. Use Easy Soft's legal time and billing software to see that the appropriate billing rate is being applied to each client file. Monitor the descriptions and associated time. Anticipate and correct potential problems before printing client invoices.

And, while we don't like to brag about our top-selling products, one of your colleagues gave our Legal billing software a rather nice compliment. Attorney Jason Flynn from New Jersey, gave an “excellent” rating to Easy Soft's time and billing software for attorneys , saying “I use their programs daily, and they improve my firm's efficiency, professionalism, accuracy and appearance.”

Isn't that the kind of description you'd like to see in a judge's opinion if you decide to pursue collections on your overdue accounts? It all starts with a brief overview video and a free trial download of Easy Soft's Lawyer Billing Software.

Fee Arbitration Requires Attention to Your Client Invoices

Most states now have a process for an attorney or a client to request fee arbitration. In some cases, you're the one seeking fee arbitration as a first step in the formal collections process. In other cases, you're defending against a client, likely one with an overdue balance.

If you want to be ready to bring or have to defend your billing in a fee arbitration setting, you need Easy Soft's legal billing software and, then, you need to use on a daily basis. You know the rules of admissibility and the strategy of winning. We know you're anxious about automating, so we've made simplicity our number one design consideration.

Step One: use Easy Soft's law firm billing software to generate monthly invoices that are professional, consistent, and easy-to-read. When you use Easy Soft's “Easy Time Bill,” you are establishing a business office routine that contributes to the inherent credibility and admissibility of your law office billing .

Step Two: like clockwork, send clients monthly invoices using Easy Soft's attorney billing program or attorney billing software . Each time you send a periodic invoice, you create a demand for payment. When your client doesn't pay, but also doesn't challenge the invoice, you create a presumption of the accuracy of the itemized activity. Easy Soft's law office billing software or lawyer billing software helps you remember to bill every client on a regular basis.

Step Three: use reminder letters to request that clients refresh their advance retainer deposit, using templates available with the integrated law office trust fund accounting software and legal time and billing software . Each time you pay attention to a client deposit, you create another opportunity to earn money, request to terminate services before the overdue balance gets too high, and document your client notification of work still to be done and charged.

We know from our attorney customers that having to participate in fee arbitration or collections activities is not what you want to be doing. But when you use Easy Soft billing software for attorneys , it's like having co-counsel with you for all of your fee arbitrations and collections activities.

An Invoice, All of Your Own - Lawyer Billing Software

Clients want to feel good about paying money to their lawyer. They want to know that you have a particular presence in a competitive marketplace and that you are a top-notch professional.

Part of how you provide positive reinforcement to clients about your professionalism is to send clients a professional looking bill. Well organized. Consistent in appearance from month-to-month. Easy-to-read information. And a voucher slip to facilitate easy payment remittance.

To achieve this branding of your law firm and this increase in your bottom line, you need Easy Soft's law office billing software .

As soon as you install Easy Soft's legal time and billing software for attorneys , it will prompt you to enter your basic law office information, including address, telephone, and fax. This law office billing software also includes fields for your website address and e-mail address. All of this information will automatically print in the header of your client invoices.

Easy Soft's billing software for attorneys also allows each timekeeper to be set up by individual name and individual hourly billing rate. Each timekeeper can also have different rates for different files. This information of timekeeper plus rate will appear on each client invoice.

This legal billing software also comes with several template pages for invoices, cover letters, and remittance slips. If one of these law office billing software templates fits your needs when you preview it, simply select that template for your invoice format default. But, if you want to edit the template, Easy Soft's attorney billing software allows you to click the “edit” button to rephrase words and rearrange formats. When you click “save,” it becomes the new template. Want to revert back to the original template? Just click “restore.”

Easy Soft's law firm billing software also comes with personal customer support, a set of on-line instructional videos and webinars. You don't need to be a computer programmer to have a customized invoice. You just need Easy Soft.

All about the legal billing software

Billing is a very important & is a tedious activity for a lawyer. Introducing the legal billing software to make the process systematic and finish early. Billing affair differs from firm to firm. They follow the guidelines of the state ethics and complete the billing process.

The legal time and billing software helps in sorting the bills and financial process in a systematic method. It saves time and with the advanced computerized technology & reduces the manual effort. Most lawyers usually operate on an hourly billing model. However, as clients grow the work load increases. A legal time and billing software is just what a busy lawyer needs to remain up to date on the accounts side without losing focus of his practice.

Other lawyers work on a permanent fee basis, in spite of the number of hours or days are involved in solving the case, with incidental expenses charged separately as they crop up with the progress of the case. In such cases too the law office billing software proves invaluable, keeping the fee separate from the various expenses that are all accounted separately. A lawyer can easily generate reports and print these for his and his client's convenience and for transparency in dealings.

Attorney time billing software: 

To get the legal billing on time and proper tracking can be done with the Attorney billing software. Other important functions of this software include;

• Client Advances: For retainer-based matters, the client retainer function handles client funds you receive prior to commencement of legal services.
• Billable Time Tracking: One or more lawyers and support staff in a firm typically work on a case. A billable time tracking function allows you to track billable time spent by each employee who works on a legal matter on any given day or week.
• Expense Tracking: A typical legal case incurs direct expenses such as court fees, witness fees, travel related expenses, etc. The expense tracking function allows you to record expenses for each legal matter as the expense are incurred.
• Bill Preparation: This function produces a variety of bill types (hourly, fixed fee, contingency, etc.) at a pre-determined interval, such as weekly or monthly.
• Payments Received: The payment function allows invoices to be paid from either client advances or newly received funds.
• Collection Support: This function auto-generates reminder letters for overdue invoices and supports your firm's collection activities for delinquent accounts.

Reports: The reports function produces a variety of reports for the purpose of administration, accounting, tracking billable time, bank reconciliation's, etc.