## TL;DR

Disputed invoices must be held from payment without getting lost: place an explicit hold with a reason code and owner, keep the dispute correspondence attached, and age the hold with escalation. Resolve by correcting, crediting, or releasing; never pay a disputed invoice to make it go away.

## Steps

1. Place a hold with reason code and owner.
   Expected: A tracked dispute, not a forgotten invoice.
2. Attach all correspondence to the invoice record.
   Expected: Complete context.
3. Age holds with escalation on timeout.
   Expected: No eternal limbo.
4. Resolve: correct, credit, or release.
   Expected: A clear outcome.
5. Analyze dispute causes quarterly.
   Expected: Fewer repeats.

## When to use

- Billing disputes
- Service shortfalls
- Price disagreements

## When not to use

- Fraud suspicion (different flow)
- Duplicate holds
- Cash-flow-motivated delays (policy decision)

## Compatibility

ERP-agnostic.

## Variant phrasings

### disputed invoice hold

### payment hold AP

### invoice dispute workflow

## Root cause

Paying a disputed invoice surrenders leverage and complicates recovery. A formal hold preserves the company's position while the facts get sorted.

## Edge cases

- Partial disputes: pay the undisputed portion, hold the rest
- Statute and contract clocks keep running during disputes
- Vendor relationship needs communication, not silence

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_XDojSyiteAM9AExFO4nDvg