Overview
Flexible Payment Plans let your firm collect a balance in instalments that fit your client, rather than one fixed monthly amount. You can choose how often payments are taken and how much each one is, or let your client choose how much to pay now and when to pay the rest.
Instalments are taken automatically from your client's card, with reminders, retries on failed payments and reporting in your Pay dashboard.
What you can use flexible Payment Plans for
Spreading a large invoice over weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments
Starting with a smaller payment and stepping up later, for example in debt recovery
Setting a bespoke schedule with a different amount or date for each instalment, for example in family law matters
Letting a client pay part of a balance now and the rest by a date they choose
Turning an unpaid Pay Request into a Payment Plan when a client cannot pay in one go
How flexible Payment Plans work
When you create a Payment Plan, you choose how it runs under How should the plan run?: Set schedule or Flexible schedule.
Set schedule
You choose the Payment frequency: Weekly, Fortnightly or Monthly.
You enter the instalment amount, and Legl works out the plan breakdown.
Select Edit schedule to open a Custom payment schedule. You can change the due date or amount of any payment, remove a payment or add one, as long as the schedule still matches the plan total.
Once the plan is live, you can still change the amounts and dates of future instalments. Your client does not need to enter their card details again.
Flexible schedule
Your client chooses how much to pay when they open the payment link: the full amount, or part of it now.
If they pay part now, they choose the date to pay the rest, up to 90 days later. Your firm may not receive the full amount until then.
Their card details are saved, and the rest is taken automatically on the date they chose.
Your client must tick Save my payment details for the next payment before they can continue. They get an email reminder 3 days before the rest is taken.
Your client pays at least 5.00 today and leaves at least 5.00 for the second payment (for example, on a £1,000.00 balance they can pay from £5.00 to £995.00 today).
A Flexible schedule plan always has two instalments: the first payment and the rest.
Converting a Pay Request
You can convert an unpaid Pay Request into a Payment Plan with either kind of schedule.
The bank account, invoice reference, matter reference and attachments carry over.
The original Pay Request is closed and its payment link stops working.
ℹ️ Further guidance
Where to find flexible Payment Plans in Legl
To create a plan: go to Pay, select Create Pay Request, then under Payment type, select Payment plan. See How to create a Payment Plan.
To convert a Pay Request: open the unpaid Pay Request from Pay, then Payments, select the ⋯ menu, then Convert to payment plan. See How to convert a Pay Request into a Payment Plan.
To change a live plan: open it from your Pay dashboard. See How to manage a Payment Plan.
Permissions and access
You need the Pay permission to create and manage Payment Plans.
Payment Plans, including the Flexible schedule, are switched on or off by an Admin in Settings > Pay, under Payment plans. See How to configure Pay settings.
Your client needs a valid debit or credit card. Payment Plans are card only.
Important information
The first instalment is taken as soon as your client enters their card details, even if this is before the start date.
Card details cannot yet be changed on an existing plan. If your client's card expires, cancel the plan and create a new one.
Your client is emailed when a plan is created and when it is updated. See How Pay emails work for your clients.
To see what your client experiences, see How to pay your law firm by instalments.