What this article helps with: Reading the status on any disbursement, knowing what triggers each change, understanding who gets notified and when, and customizing the messages your clients receive.
Who this is for: Anyone who needs to answer "where is my client's money?", plus firm admins and Disbursement Admins who want to set the wording of client messages.
When not to use this article: If a payment has failed and you need to fix it, go to Troubleshooting and FAQs: Disbursements.
The disbursement statuses
Every disbursement shows a status on the Disbursements page and on the case timeline. Here is the full set and what each one actually means.
Status | What it means | What caused it |
Needs approval | Drafted but not released. Nothing has been sent to your client and no money has moved. | Somebody drafted it. |
Sent | Approved. A secure payment link has been generated and texted to your client. | An approver approved it. |
Accessed | Your client has opened the payment link. They have not finished yet. | Your client clicked the link. |
In transit | Your client chose free ACH and the funds are on their way. This normally takes 4 to 6 business days. | Your client accepted with ACH. |
Accepted | Done. Your client claimed the funds and the money is going to them. | Your client completed the payment. Instant payouts land in seconds or minutes. |
Failed | The payment did not go through. Nothing left your account. | Usually bank details entered incorrectly, or a name-verification mismatch. See the troubleshooting article. |
Canceled | Called off before it completed. The payment link no longer works. | Someone at the firm canceled it. |
The normal sequence
The normal sequence
For an instant payout: Needs approval, then Sent, then Accessed, then Accepted. Often all within a few minutes of the client opening the text.
For an ACH payout: Needs approval, then Sent, then Accessed, then In transit, then Accepted once the transfer settles.
You may see a short delay between your client finishing on their end and the status updating in Hona, because the update comes back to us from Confido. It is usually seconds. If a status looks stuck for more than a few minutes, refresh before assuming something is wrong.
Who gets notified
Your client
Your client is notified at each stage that matters to them. Notifications go by text by default, with email as a fallback, based on the notification preference on their contact record. For plaintiffs we strongly recommend text.
There are five client-facing messages:
Payment link ready. The one that contains the link.
Payment in transit.
Payment accepted.
Canceled.
Failed.
The payment link text comes from your firm's existing Hona number, the same thread your client has been using all case long. The verification code is sent from a different number, because it comes from the payments system rather than from your firm. Tell clients to expect that so they do not think the code is spam.
Your team
Your team gets two kinds of disbursement notification: an approval request when something is drafted, and status notifications as a payout moves.
Approval requests
When a disbursement is drafted, everyone holding the Approver permission is notified. The email names the person asking, so an approver working through their inbox can tell requests apart before opening anything, and it lists the case, the recipient, and the amount.
Drafters are not notified about their own requests, so if you are the only approver at your firm you will not get an email about something you drafted yourself.
Status notifications
A single preference, Disbursement Notifications, covers all five status changes: approved, in transit, accepted, failed, and canceled. Each person sets it in their own notification settings.
One part is always on and cannot be switched off: you are emailed about every status change on any disbursement you drafted or approved. So whoever set a payout in motion always finds out if it lands, fails, or gets canceled, no matter what else they have configured.
Beyond that, each person chooses how much of the firm's activity they want to see:
Setting | What you get notified about |
Only mine | Just the disbursements you drafted or approved. This is the default for new users. |
All disbursements | Every disbursement at your firm. This is usually what accounting and finance staff want. |
Where I am on the team | Disbursements on cases you are a team member of. |
Where I am the primary contact | Disbursements on cases where you are the primary contact. |
Where I have specific roles | Disbursements on cases where you hold a role you choose. |
Delivery is per person too. In-app and email are on for new users; push and digests are available and off by default.
What each status notification tells you
What each status notification tells you
Every one of them names the status, the case, the recipient, and the amount, and links straight to the disbursement. A payout that is not linked to a case is labeled as an unlinked disbursement instead.
Approved. A disbursement to your client was approved and sent.
In transit. Funds for the disbursement are on the way.
Accepted. Your client accepted their disbursement.
Failed. The disbursement failed to process and needs attention.
Canceled. The disbursement was canceled.
The Failed one is the one to watch. It is the signal that a client tried and could not get paid, and it usually needs a phone call.
Skipping or re-sending an approval request
Skipping or re-sending an approval request
The draft window has a Notify approvers checkbox, on by default. Uncheck it if you are an approver drafting something you will approve yourself, or if you are walking the approval over to someone in person. You will see the list of approvers who would be notified before you decide.
If you unchecked it and changed your mind, or your first request went nowhere, use Request approval on the draft to send it again. You do not need to cancel and re-draft.
Email alerts to a shared inbox, using automations
The notification settings above are per person. If you would rather have a status alert land in a shared mailbox, your accounting inbox for example, build it as an automation instead. Nobody has to remember to configure their own settings, and the alert survives staff changes.
In Automations, create a new automation, choose the disbursement status changed trigger, pick the status you care about, then add an action that sends an email to the address you want.
The two most common ones firms build:
Failed. Alert your accounting inbox the moment a payment does not go through, so someone calls the client the same day instead of noticing a week later.
Accepted. Email a shared inbox every time funds are claimed. Whoever reconciles your trust account gets a running record without having to watch the Disbursements page.
You can pull disbursement details into the email itself: the amount, the recipient and their contact details, the case ID, the last four digits of the source bank account, and any custom fields on the case or contact.
One automation covers one status, so build a separate automation for each status you want alerts on. The same trigger can also push disbursement activity into your case management system and your accounting software rather than sending an email. See How to Draft and Approve a Disbursement for that.
Contact [email protected] and we will help you build the first one for your setup.
Customizing your client messages
Default wording is in place from day one, but most firms adjust it to sound like them.
Editing the defaults
Go to Client Messages at app.hona.com/disbursements/messages.
Edit the message for any of the five statuses.
Click Save on that message. Changes are not saved automatically, so save each one you edit.
Only a Hona Admin or a Disbursement Admin can edit the default templates.
Changing the message for a single payout
Expand Client Messages inside the draft window and edit it there. That change applies to that one disbursement only and does not touch your templates. Anyone who can draft can do this, and approvers will see the wording in the review screen before approving.
Tips for writing these messages
Tips for writing these messages
Say who the money is from. "A payment from [your firm]" reads as legitimate; an unattributed payment link reads as a scam.
Keep it short. These are text messages.
Warn about the code. Adding a line like "you will get a separate text with a verification code" cuts down on confused calls.
Do not put the amount in the notification if you would rather it not sit in a text message. The amount is shown on the secure page after your client verifies their identity.
If you serve Spanish-speaking clients, decide whether your default template is Spanish, English, or both, rather than relying on staff to remember to switch it.
If a meaningful share of your clients still prefer checks, consider adding a line to your Payment link ready message inviting them to text back if they would rather have one. There is no check option on the payment page itself, so a reply is the only way you would hear about it.
Sending client messages in Spanish or in two languages
Sending client messages in Spanish or in two languages
You have two options. If most of your clients are Spanish speaking, write your default templates in Spanish and override the individual disbursement on the rare English-speaking client. If your client base is mixed, put both languages in the same template so every client gets a message they can read.
Because anyone who can draft may edit the client messages on the disbursement they are drafting, per-client language switches do not require an admin.
The audit log
Every disbursement carries its own audit log, and anyone who can view the disbursement can see it. It records, in order:
Who drafted it, and when
Every field that was edited, with the before and after values, and who changed it
Who approved it, as a separate entry from any edits they made
The payment events from Confido: link generated, link opened, funds accepted, or failed
This is the record to pull when a client says they never received their money, or when you need to show who authorized a payout. Confido keeps its own audit trail too, viewable in your Confido account, with hyperlinked error codes for any failure.
FAQs
My client says they never got the text. What now?
My client says they never got the text. What now?
Open the disbursement. If the status is Sent, the link exists and you can copy it from the disbursement and send it to your client directly. If the status is Accessed, they did open it and stopped partway, so a nudge is usually all that is needed.
What is the difference between "In transit" and "Accepted"?
What is the difference between "In transit" and "Accepted"?
In transit means your client chose free ACH and the transfer is moving, typically 4 to 6 business days. Accepted means the payment completed. Instant payouts to a debit card skip straight to accepted because they settle in seconds or minutes.
Our accounting team needs to see every payout, not just their own. How?
Our accounting team needs to see every payout, not just their own. How?
Two ways, and they work well together. Have each of them set Disbursement Notifications to All disbursements in their own notification settings. New users default to Only mine, which is right for case managers but too narrow for anyone reconciling the firm's trust account.
For a shared mailbox rather than individual people, build an automation on the statuses you care about. See the automations section above.
Does the status show on the case, or only on the Disbursements page?
Does the status show on the case, or only on the Disbursements page?
Both, as long as the disbursement is linked to a case. This is one of the main reasons firms like having disbursements inside Hona: a case manager fielding a "where is my money?" call can answer it from the case without going to accounting.
How long is the payment link valid?
How long is the payment link valid?
60 days by default. It can be set per disbursement in the Expiration days field. If a link expires before your client uses it, draft a new disbursement.
The amount is wrong on a disbursement we already approved. Can we edit it?
The amount is wrong on a disbursement we already approved. Can we edit it?
No. A disbursement can only be edited while it is awaiting approval. Once an approver has approved it and the link has gone to your client, the fields are locked.
Cancel it and draft a replacement instead. Cancel works right up until your client accepts, so as long as you catch it before they claim the funds there is no harm done. See How to Draft and Approve a Disbursement.
Conclusion
The status on the disbursement is the source of truth, and the audit log is the paper trail. If a status looks wrong or a client message is not going out as expected, chat with our support team or email [email protected].