A Deep Dive Into Verus’ Services for Settlement Trusts and Law Firms

Verus offers a wide range of financial and business support services to settlement trusts and law firms that might not have the in-house expertise or employees to handle complex or time-consuming administrative tasks themselves. Our services, powered by our deep knowledge of the economics of law firms and litigation, help our clients improve service delivery while also promoting and reinforcing good governance practices and independence, responsiveness, and transparency.

Through its outsourced financial services offering, Verus helps settlement trusts administer settlements more efficiently and effectively, allowing them to put their best feet forward to their clients.

Verus provides settlement trusts with a variety of outsourced financial services. With our help, trusts can administer their settlements with minimal administrative headaches, which positions them to be retained again by the parties and/or their attorneys in future litigation because of how smoothly those trusts managed the settlement claims process.

Managing accounting/financial records

Verus can manage settlement trusts’ accounting records on their behalf. Accounting errors can lead to significant consequences for trustees, including mishandling of trust assets and liability with regulatory entities like the Internal Revenue Service. Verus can manage a trust’s financial records in an effective and cost-efficient manner, ensuring trustees accurately track the trust’s assets, investment performance, and payouts.

We also help trustees maintain their trust bank accounts, investment accounts, and other financial accounts. Verus can handle the details of managing a trust’s accounting records so that trustees can focus on the overall management of the trust rather than devoting time to the minutiae of financial records, such as preparing budgets, forecasts, and reconciling bank accounts.

Claimant/vendor payments

Verus also provides payment management services for settlement trusts. Trusts must handle both claimant payments and payments to vendors, such as law firms representing the trust, advisory committees, investment advisors, and auditors. With Verus’ help, trustees can rest assured that vendors receive timely, accurate payments for their services, ensuring that the trust does not experience a lapse in services.

Verus can also help settlement trusts maintain transparency in claims administration. Trustees can confidently report to law firms and courts the amount of trust assets that have been paid, the amount of remaining trust assets, and future expected liabilities. With Verus’ services, trustees will have a firm grasp of their trusts’ financial situation, including whether it has the funds to pay claims or whether it needs to tap its investments to meet liabilities.

Managing vendor relationships

Besides handling vendor payments, Verus can also manage vendor relationships for settlement trusts. Trustees must rely on various advisors and vendors, including investment advisors, financial institutions, auditors, and legal counsel. We make it a priority to manage the “people side” of these relationships. We build trust with the vendors we manage on behalf of our clients by promptly responding to inquiries and providing timely and accurate financial reports. Our role as a coordinator of information exchange between these other professionals enables them to provide the best service they can to their shared clients.

Taxes

Verus can also handle tax filing obligations for settlement trusts. We can prepare and file tax returns on behalf of trusts to ensure they do not run afoul of tax laws or IRS regulations.

Verus’ business services help settlement trusts and law firms manage their claims, time, and expenses

Though fundamental to their operations, it’s easy for settlement trusts and law firms to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of claims and time and expense records they have to manage in connection with pending litigation. Verus offers outsourced business services to settlement trusts and law firms that help them minimize the time and effort they spend managing claims and time and expense records.

Compliance audit services

Verus administers compliance audits for settlement trusts and law firms. These audits often take the form of claims audits. By serving as an independent reviewer of claims, Verus can help identify erroneous, duplicative, or potentially fraudulent claims. This saves trusts and law firms alike significant time and money while reducing information risk and enhancing the value of their data so they can make more informed decisions.

Through our compliance audit services, we ensure that the claims law firms are sending on behalf of their clients, and the claims trusts are receiving, are legitimate and complete.

Verifying this information on a large scale among tens or hundreds of thousands of claims, if not millions, can be daunting for trusts and law firms. Verus designs robust compliance audit programs to minimize claims that are errantly submitted without significant impact on the timelines or cost of routine claim processing. Of equal importance, these audits help the parties comply with agreed-upon guidelines established by a court, settlement trustees, or regulatory authorities.

Time and expense services

Verus also assists law firms with preparing time and expense reports so they can be paid their fees and have their expenses reimbursed. We can manage the process of creating time and expense reports, including double-checking law firms’ records for any missing work or expenses that should be included in the reports and running validations to clear up any inconsistencies or errors in time and expense reports. With Verus’ support, firms can submit clear, validated time and expense reports, minimizing the chances that any unbilled time or unaccounted for expenses slip through the cracks.

Taking important administrative work off of the plates of settlements trusts and law firms

When settlement trusts outsource financial and business administrative services to Verus, they can leverage Verus’ expertise and resources to bolster their reputations with law firms, vendors, and courts by efficiently managing settlement claims and their overall operations. When law firms outsource compliance audits and time and expense services to Verus, they can avoid the problems faced by asking their employees to take on this time-intensive work that is best left to specialists.

By outsourcing financial or business administrative services to Verus, trusts and law firms can focus on what they do best and leave it to us to use our experience and resources to help the settlement claims process run smoothly. Contact us today to discover how our expertise can benefit your practice. https://verusllc.com/contact-us/