How to add a party to a case
Cases grow. A second defendant appears, a carrier joins, a co-plaintiff is added. Adding a party to a booked case changes what everyone on the case pays, so Scale walks you through the money as well as the name.
Before you begin
No party on the case can have paid yet. Once a real payment lands, the parties on a case are locked and the modal shows a Parties cannot be modified screen instead of the wizard. A $0 placeholder row doesn't count as a payment — those appear on hourly cases before anything has been billed and won't lock you out.
1Open the parties modal
On the case page, find Parties and click Add Party.
2Step 1 — who they are
Pick the side, plaintiff or defendant, then enter a name and at least one email address. An address can be added, and a postal address is optional.
3Step 2 — the invoice split
This step shows every paying party on the case with an editable amount, and three ways to divide the fee:
- Even split — the mediation fee shared equally across all parties.
- 50-50 — each side takes half, then splits its half among its own parties.
- Custom — type the amounts yourself.
Typing in any amount switches you to Custom automatically. The mediation fee and the admin fee are handled separately: the split applies to the mediation fee, and each party's admin fee is added on top afterwards.
Hourly cases skip this step, so the wizard is two steps rather than three.
4Step 3 — who gets told
Two independent toggles, plus a way to send nothing:
- Email all parties their updated invoice — only offered when real invoices already exist on the case. Parties who haven't onboarded have no invoice yet, so they don't get one.
- Email the new party a link to set up their account — sends them the onboarding email.
- Don't send an email right now — turns both off. The party is added; you can send their onboarding link or invoice from the case page later.
What actually happens when you confirm
1. Every unpaid Stripe invoice on the case is voided. 2. The new party is created and every unpaid amount is re-divided by the new party count, following the split you chose. 3. New invoices are raised for the parties who already had one.
Parties who hadn't onboarded yet, and the party you've added, stay invoice-free until they complete onboarding. That's deliberate: on a Scale case the order is onboard, then invoice, then chase.
Removing a party
The same modal has a Remove mode. Removing works the same way in reverse: the removed party's share is redistributed among the survivors, so everyone else pays more. Three parties at $5,333 each become two at $8,000 each.
One rule constrains it. A primary party can only be removed if there's another party on the same side to promote into the primary slot. The last plaintiff or the last defendant can't be removed.
What's next
- Check the Finances table shows the amounts you expect before telling anyone
- How to reschedule or cancel a case