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Obligations and Payments

JustWare is equipped to record and track finances throughout the criminal justice process. There are a number of steps that can be utilized in various combinations depending on your organization's needs. The two processes outlined below are general examples.

Enter Obligations Before Payments

An organization might use the following steps if they do not accept payments until after the applicable financial obligations and bond records are entered:

  1. Financial obligations and bond records are entered in JustWare through a case session. Information about financial obligations and bonds set for count involved people are recorded and saved to the database.
  2. Payments are recorded. Once a payment is received for a financial obligation or bond, it is entered in JustWare.
  3. Funds from payments are allocated through a name session. The allocation of funds depends on how JustWare has been configured and whether funds are allocated manually or automatically. For example, JustWare may or may not be configured to accept bond payments, and financial obligation types may be assigned different payment priorities. Typically, payments are first allocated to bonds. Once bonds have been paid, funds are allocated to any outstanding financial obligations. If all financial obligations have been paid, funds may be directed to an overpay or escrow account.
  4. Funds are made available to voucher. If name records have funds in an overpay account, are entitled to restitution, or are owed any other payment from your organization, those funds are made available to voucher. Funds made available to voucher remain in the Owed Money snap-in until the vouchers are issued. Then the funds are released to the Pay To account.
  5. Reconcile voucher records. You can reconcile vouchers that have cleared your organization's financial institution.

Enter Payments Before Obligations

An organization may desire to accept and hold payments without immediately allocating them. For example, a payment is received for a speeding ticket, but this financial obligation has not yet been entered for the case. The payment can be allocated to an escrow account to hold the funds prior to their reallocation to the financial obligation.

Funds can be held in an escrow account for the name record until the obligation is entered and the funds are reallocated. Moreover, funds in escrow can be earmarked for a a specific case record. All escrow and overpay funds can be automatically allocated using a business rule. For more information about business rules, talk to your JustWare Administrator.

The following steps outline the process of handling payments prior to the creation of their associated obligations:

  1. Payments are recorded. Once a payment is received, it is entered in JustWare.
  2. Funds from payments are held in escrow through a name session. Funds from payments are held in an escrow account for the name record and may be earmarked for a specific case record.
  3. Financial obligations and bond records are entered in JustWare through a case session. Information about financial obligations and bonds set for count involved people are recorded and saved to the database.
  4. Funds in escrow accounts are allocated through a name session or a business rule. Escrow funds can be manually allocated to financial obligations through a name session, or a business rule can automatically allocate these funds to matching financial obligations.
  5. Funds are made available to voucher. If name records have funds in an overpay account, are entitled to restitution, or are owed any other payment from your organization, those funds are made available to voucher. Funds made available to voucher remain in the Owed Money snap-in until the vouchers are issued. Then the funds are released to the Pay To account.
  6. Reconcile voucher records. You can reconcile vouchers that have cleared your organization's financial institution.