Disbo library

Practical resources for plaintiff-side firms.

The latest guides, journals, videos, and reports on settlement disbursement, IOLTA compliance, and modern PI practice.

One System for Every Check a Law Firm Sends

Disbo now supports operating-account case costs alongside trust-account disbursements, giving contingency-fee firms one controlled workflow for categorizing, sending, and recording outbound payments.

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September 14, 2026·6 min read

Blog

Bill.com Alternatives for Law Firms: Why Generic AP Tools Fall Short on Settlement Disbursements

Bill.com is built for finance teams paying vendor invoices — not for law firms disbursing settlement funds from an IOLTA trust account. Here's where the generic AP model breaks down for legal work, and what the alternatives are.

Guide

Trust Accounting Remotely: How Modern PI Firms Stay Compliant Without Being in the Office

Remote work is now standard at many personal injury firms — but IOLTA trust accounting was designed around physical offices, paper checks, and in-person oversight. Here is how modern firms close that gap without risking a bar complaint.

Guide

Going Checkless: How Modern PI Firms Disburse Settlements Without Paper Checks

Paper checks cost PI firms in time, staff overhead, and check fraud exposure on every settlement. Going checkless is not a technology risk — it is the lower-risk option. Here is how firms make the transition without disrupting ongoing matters.

Guide

How to Speed Up Settlement Payouts: A PI Firm's Guide to Faster Disbursements

Most delays in settlement payouts come from preventable process failures — incomplete banking information, manual disbursement sheets, sequential approvals, and check float. Here is where the time actually goes and how modern PI firms cut it.

Blog

Lienify Alternatives for Personal Injury Firms: Beyond Lien Tracking to Full Disbursement

Lienify organizes lien tracking and negotiation well, but payment and trust accounting stay manual. Here's what PI firms need when lien resolution and disbursement need to work as one system.

Blog

LawPay Alternatives for Settlement Disbursements: What PI Firms Need Beyond Payment Processing

LawPay is payment collection. PI settlement disbursement is a different workflow entirely — paying out to clients, providers, and lienholders from the trust account. Here's what that requires and what platforms handle it.

Guide

Pricing for Medical-Legal Disbursement Platforms: What PI Firms Pay in 2026

Disbursement platform pricing varies widely — from per-transaction fees to monthly SaaS subscriptions to percentage-of-settlement models. Here's what drives cost and how to evaluate it against value.

Guide

Best Mass Tort Settlement Disbursement Software

Mass tort disbursements multiply every complexity of individual PI settlement disbursement by hundreds or thousands. Here's what the software needs to handle — and where most platforms fall short.

Guide

Top Medical Lien Resolution Platforms (2026)

Lien resolution platforms in 2026 range from standalone lien tracking tools to fully integrated disbursement systems. Here's how to evaluate them for a PI firm's specific needs.

Guide

Best Settlement Disbursement Software for Personal Injury Firms (2026)

Not all trust accounting software handles PI settlement disbursements the same way. Here's a clear breakdown of the major options and what each one does well.

Guide

Personal Injury Lien Directories: How Medical Providers Find PI Attorneys

Personal injury lien directories help medical providers find PI attorneys who accept lien-basis treatment cases. Here's how these directories work and what providers should know before listing.

Guide

IOLTA Trust Account Disbursement Compliance Requirements

Every dollar that leaves an IOLTA trust account must meet specific compliance requirements. Here's what those requirements are, how they're enforced, and what auditors find when they review PI disbursements.

Guide

Software That Tracks Settlement Funds Across Active Cases

Tracking settlement funds across 50+ active PI cases requires more than a spreadsheet. Here's what purpose-built settlement tracking software does — and what to look for when evaluating options.

Guide

Growing PI Case Volume with Lien Doctor Partnerships

A strong lien doctor network lets a PI firm take cases that would otherwise be declined or deferred. Here's how to use lien provider relationships strategically to grow PI case volume — and what to build on the back end to support that growth compliantly.

Guide

Ethical Referral Relationships and IOLTA: What PI Firms Need to Know

Referral relationships in PI practice sit at the intersection of professional ethics and trust accounting. Both sides have to work correctly — the referral arrangement itself has to comply with the rules of professional conduct, and the IOLTA mechanics have to match.

Blog

How Medical Providers Get Paid Faster on Lien Cases

Most medical providers on lien cases wait 60–180 days after settlement for payment. The firms paying fastest share three common traits. Here's what providers and firms can both do to compress the timeline.

Guide

What to Look for in a Lien Provider: The 8-Point PI Attorney Checklist

Adding the wrong provider to your lien network creates billing headaches, settlement delays, and unhappy clients. Here's the 8-point checklist PI attorneys use to evaluate lien-friendly medical providers before putting them in rotation.

Guide

How to Build a PI Referral Network: Finding and Vetting Lien Doctors

Building a reliable lien doctor network is one of the highest-leverage moves a PI firm can make. This guide covers how to source, vet, and maintain lien-friendly medical provider relationships — and how to do it without running into ethics or trust accounting problems.

Blog

How to Pay Medical Providers Electronically on PI Settlements

Paper checks add 7–15 days to every lien payment. Here's how to set up electronic payment to medical providers from your IOLTA trust account — including what compliance requirements apply.

Blog

Fastest Way to Disburse Settlement Funds in a PI Case

The firms disbursing fastest aren't taking shortcuts — they're resolving liens in parallel and using same-day electronic payments instead of paper checks. Here's the complete framework.

Blog

How PI Law Firms Pay Medical Providers From Settlements

Paying a medical provider from a PI settlement isn't as simple as writing a check. Here's the complete compliance workflow from lien verification through electronic disbursement.

Blog

How PI Law Firms Automate Medical Lien Payments

Paper check disbursements add 5–15 business days of avoidable delay to every resolved medical lien. Here's what automated lien payment looks like and what firms need to implement it.

Blog

Why Medical Liens Delay Personal Injury Settlements

Every lienholder must confirm a final payoff amount before you can disburse. Here's what causes each type of delay — and how leading firms compress their timelines.

Guide

Confido Legal Alternative: Compare the Full Settlement Stack

Confido Legal publicly offers payment collection and digital disbursements, plus an IOLTA product in early access starting in Washington. This guide shows what PI firms should verify when comparing that scope with Disbo.

Guide

Medical Liens in Personal Injury Settlements: A Complete Guide

Every PI attorney has to resolve liens before disbursing. This guide covers every major lien type, the legal framework behind each one, how they are negotiated, what documentation is required, and what happens when liens are mishandled.

Guide

IOLTA Compliance for Personal Injury Firms: The Complete Guide

IOLTA compliance is one of the highest-stakes operational requirements in PI practice. Here is what the rules actually require, what auditors look for, and how to stay compliant without a full-time bookkeeper.

Guide

PI Settlement Disbursement: The Complete Guide for Personal Injury Law Firms

Distributing settlement funds to clients, lienholders, and referring attorneys is one of the most compliance-sensitive workflows in PI practice. Here is how it works — and what modern firms are doing differently.

Blog

What Is IOLTA? A Plain-English Guide for New PI Attorneys

You won your first PI case. The settlement wires in. Where does the money land first? This is the IOLTA primer we wish someone had handed us the week we got sworn in.

Blog

What Triggers a State Bar Trust Account Audit?

For years, trust account audits were rare. That era is over. Here's what triggers a review, what auditors actually look at, and how to be ready before the letter arrives.

Blog

What Records Do You Need for IOLTA Compliance?

If the state bar sent an audit letter tomorrow, could you produce every record they'd ask for? Here's the full IOLTA records checklist — source records, derived records, supporting docs, retention rules, and a one-hour drill to find your gaps before an examiner does.

Blog

How Long Do You Have to Disburse a Settlement? (By State)

Your client signed the release six weeks ago. The check cleared three weeks ago. They've called twice this week. Are you actually being slow — or is this just how settlement disbursement works? Here's what each state requires, and where the legitimate delay ends.

Blog

Can You Pay a Referral Fee From an IOLTA Account?

It's one of those deceptively simple ethics questions that sends attorneys to the bar for advisory opinions more often than you'd expect. Here's the mechanics, the reasoning, the state variations, and the five mistakes that turn it into a finding.

Tools & destinations

Choose what you need next.

Template

Personal Injury Settlement Statement Template

A free PDF settlement statement template covering attorney fees, medical liens, Medicare/Medicaid, ERISA, case costs, and client net recovery — with signature lines.

California guide

CTAPP Audits

Annual reporting, selected compliance reviews, CPA costs, records and preparation—grounded in State Bar guidance.

Guide

Settlement Holdbacks and Reserves

Document a reserve, reconcile the remaining matter balance, and control later release.

Glossary

Settlement & IOLTA Glossary

Plain-English definitions of trust accounting, disbursement, and lien terms every PI firm should know.

Case Studies

How firms cut disbursement time by 90%+

Capability scenarios and prospect-derived workflow context for law firms and medical practices evaluating Disbo.

Help Center

Documentation & Support

Step-by-step guides, tutorials, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Solution

PI Settlement Disbursement Software

Purpose-built workflow for personal injury settlement disbursements, from trust deposit to client payout.

Solution

Disbo for Medical Providers

Get paid for settlements by direct deposit or check, with every invoice and payment record in one place.

Buyer's Guide

Best Settlement Disbursement Software

A side-by-side comparison of the top settlement disbursement platforms for plaintiff-side firms — features, workflows, and where each fits.

Solution

Attorney Referral Fee Software

Track and pay attorney referral fees with split agreements, IOLTA compliance, and 1099 reporting.

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