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Matters

Create a matter

A matter holds the books for one estate or trust. When you create one, Estate Bookkeeper adds two equity accounts to it automatically, Opening Balance Equity and Net Income (Loss). Every other account comes from a template or from accounts you add yourself.

Steps

  1. Go to the matters list, your workspace home.
  2. Click Create Matter.
  3. Enter a Matter Name, for example Estate of James Jones.
  4. Under Account Template, pick a template to copy its accounts into the matter, or pick None to start without accounts. The workspace's default template is selected for you. This choice appears only when the workspace has templates.
  5. Under Tags, click any tags that apply. To make a new tag without leaving the form, click Add Tag, type a name, and press Enter.
  6. Click Create Matter.

Estate Bookkeeper opens the new matter on its Accounts tab.

The command palette's Create a matter command opens a full-page form titled Create New Matter. It has Matter Name and Account Template but no tags, and it starts with No template (start empty) selected.

Matter name rules

  • A name is required.
  • Names must be unique within the workspace. Capitalization and extra spaces are ignored when names are compared, so Estate of Jane Smith and ESTATE OF JANE SMITH count as the same name.
  • Closed matters keep their names, so a closed matter can block a new matter with the same name.
  • If the name is taken, you see the message A matter with this name already exists. Change the name and try again.

What a template adds

A template copies asset, income, and expense accounts into the matter, with their parent and child structure, order, and report descriptions. It does not copy liability or equity accounts, balances, or transactions. See Use account templates.

When you can't create a matter

Creating a matter needs an active plan or trial with room under the workspace's current-matter limit. If the workspace has no plan, the subscription is not active, or the limit is reached, the Create Matter window explains why instead of showing the form.

  • Owners and admins see a button that leads to Plan & Billing.
  • Other members are asked to contact a workspace owner or admin.

In a workspace that has no plan yet, the Create Matter button on the matters list reads Choose a Plan for owners and admins. See Plans, trials, and current matters.

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