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Tussman Program Release 10
amount of the credit is used up, at which point the program resumes billing for the additional fee
charges in excess of the amount of the FE.
An FE is considered a minimum fee earned upon receipt and if the value of the time worked never
reaches the amount of the FE, the client is not entitled to a refund. When the client pays the amount of
an FE, the payment is recorded like any other payment and is attributed by the program, for purposes
of the Staff Earnings Analysis Report, to the staff member whose code was entered in the Staff
Member space when the FE charge was entered. This situation is distinguishable from when the client
pays an advance retainer fee which is deposited in your trust account and is used to pay for future
fees and costs as they are incurred. In that situation the money is not considered earned until the
actual time and costs are billed, and if the retainer is not used up the client is normally entitled to a
refund of the balance.
So that the program accurately calculates the value of the billable time that is recorded, a matter which
is being billed in this way should be set up using Fee Arrangement H (Hourly) and the correct Rate
Schedule should be assigned. Billable time that is recorded will appear on the bill, but until the
accumulated value exceeds the amount of the FE there will be no additional charge to the client. The
bill can be formatted so that either the time appears showing its dollar value with an adjustment at the
end (the adjustment appearing with the explanation entered in bill format item 97 and the adjusted total
with the explanation entered in format item 98), or so that it appears with a 0.00 amount until the
program resumes charging. This option is determined by bill format item 82. Alternatively, you can
place a hold on the file so that none of the time appears on the bill until the accumulated value
exceeds the amount of the FE.
Use an FE if, for example, you agree to handle your client's matter for a minimum fee of $5,000.00,
regardless of the amount of time spent, but that if the value of that time exceeds $5,000.00 the client
will be billed for the excess. In this example, you would initially enter an FE for $5,000.00. Suppose
then in the first month you also record billable time with a value of $3,000.00. On the first bill the client
will then be billed a total of $5,000.00, and will have an unused credit of $2,000.00 (the difference
between the amount of the minimum fee and the value of the time worked that month) which will be
carried forward to the following month. If the following month an additional $3,000.00 of billable time is
recorded, on that bill the client will be billed an additional $1,000.00, the difference between the credit
carried forward and the total of the time worked that month.
An FE only affects the fees that are billed, and any costs incurred will still be billed in the normal way.
An FE also only affects charges which are dated after the FE. Thus, any billable time that is recorded
with a date prior to the date of the FE will be billed in the normal manner. Be sure then, when
recording your initial FE, to date it prior to the date of any billable time that is recorded for that matter.
You can enter as many FE transactions as you want, and the amounts will be added together in
determining whether or not to charge for billable time that is entered thereafter.
After billing an FE charge, the Account Status screen for a matter will show the amount of the unused
credit from the minimum fee with the description "credit from billed retainer". The Trust, Retainer and
Credit Balances Report will also show the amount of any Unused Minimum Retainer Fees if you
select the option to include those amounts in the Type of Report box. To eliminate the balance of an
unused minimum retainer fee, go to the matter screen, click on the FE button,, and enter the code
NOBBYFE. This will reduce the credit balance to 0.00 and the program will resume charging for any
unbilled time on that matter.
FER - Recurring Minimum Retainer. Similar to an FE, except that an additional minimum retainer
fee in the same amount is automatically billed each time a new bill is generated. Also, with an FER an
unused credit is not carried forward from one bill to the next, as it is with an FE. For example, if an
FER in the amount of $1,000.00 is billed, and hourly charges of $600.00 are entered, the client will be
billed a total of $1,000.00, but the unused credit of $400.00 will not be carried forward to be applied
against hourly charges that appear on future bills. Instead, a new minimum retainer fee of $1,000.00
will be charged on the following bill, and the credit from that charge will be applied only against hourly
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