Perhaps you and your law firm have been thinking about saving time with estate plan software. As an attorney who partially or fully handles estate planning, your time in the office ranges from 1800-2100 per year. You don’t think it is wise for you to continue to draft, review and revise documents yourself for estate planning, and you are not alone.

According to recent data, over 55% of adults do not have an estate plan in place which leads to probate court. According to Legal Zoom, this is costing American families over $2 billion a year.

What does estate planning software for lawyers offer? The software includes estate planning with concise documents, faster appointments, and education.

You may already have some software you use as an attorney and may be wondering if full workflow management may helpful for you and your clients. You may be thinking about getting one, and want to be smart about it.

It is necessary to look at technology for attorneys not only to save time but to be sure your client is happy. At the same time, you want to increase efficiency and accuracy with estate plan software. 

The challenge is many attorneys have done relatively well up until this point not challenging the status quo. They’ve let things be and drafted and reviewed documents.

With over 55% of adults without an estate plan, there may be an increasing demand in the next few years in both estate planning and probate cases. As a result, the need for an estate plan software that aids the firm and clients is increasing.

Understand the basics of estate plan software and why you need to use it. Preparing for death is never easy, make it simpler with estate plan software.

Estate Plan Software 101: A Complete Guide

An estate plan software needs accurate documentation, workflow, and expert legal education.

Accurate Drafting

You will want your estate plan software that provides accurate drafting of documents. This will not only save you time but make your clients happy.

Analyze Estate Planning Software for:

• Including Asset Inventory 
• Accounting for Your Family
• Outlining Directives
• Review of State and National Laws

So, how does this relate to the estate plan software? You will want the software to have the ability to draft these elements into a:

• Will and Revocable Trust
• General Durable of Attorney
• Health Care Power of Attorney
• and Living Will

You will also want to ask for reviews for compliance with the software.

Workflow Management

When there is no automation or workflow set up to flag time-sensitive items, it costs the firm reputation, time, and money. You will want to see a demo of the estate plan software with workflow management including scheduling and questionnaires.

Think of how this item alone in an estate plan software may save you quite a bit of time and money. You will want automated scheduling for your clients. In your demo or trial, review the questionnaires for the clients covering all estate planning elements such as:

• Asset Inventory
• Mortage and Insurance
• Directives 
• Beneficiaries

The scheduling component alone will save you and/or an assistant’s manual time. It will also increase the responsibility and accountability of the client to complete the initial items.

Expert Education

As an attorney, you want to be on top of the latest expert education in the legal field. This alone may be an exercise in and of itself. With an estate plan software, you want to ask if expert legal education is included.

You want to know what guidance is provided to assist with the client intake process as well as deeper dives in more complex cases. This will typically include client intake for wills, trusts, power of attorney, and document delivery.

Ask about what deep dives are provided for education with estate plan software such as:

• Age Requirements
• Specific Distributions
• Age Requirements

In addition, you will want to check on the legal education components review for updates to regulations.

It is not enough to simply have expert education, it is key that it is continuously updated for accuracy.

Estate Plan Software: Why Your Firm Needs It

You may see clearly now from every direction why your firm needs estate plan software. It will save you time, money, and reputation. With the right estate plan software, it will make you and your firm look good. It will also make you happy.

Many firms will stay with the status quo and not adopt technology to increase efficiency and accuracy, but at what cost? Ask yourself how many errors will it take? How many issues with inaccurate documents or missing client assets? How many overlooked deadlines and regulation issues before something changes? If nothing changes, nothing changes.

What would it take to simply take a step to test drive an estate plan software like ours? You likely agree by now that you must challenge the status quo.

However, what action will you take next? The importance lies in communication, execution, and accountability. You will want to think about the next action item you will take and by when.

Don’t you owe it to your firm to take this seriously? Don’t you owe it to yourself as an attorney to improve your efficiency and accuracy and service? Don’t you owe it to your clients to honor their last wishes?

Please comment on what was your favorite insight below.

Check our blog for more on estate planning, online planning, and what happens to people without a will.