2 ideas are worth a look.
For estate planning attorneys, selling to estate planning and probate lawyers. We explored 6 ideas and searched for each one. 4 already exist.
Already exists, so we dropped them
- Fiduciary Accounting BuilderEstateably already turns estate transactions into court-formatted fiduciary accounting reports. clio.com
- Trust Funding TrackerEstateably already tracks trust assets and inventory for trust administration. estateably.com
- Attorney Referral NetworkBar association lawyer referral services and WealthCounsel already cover attorney referral networks. lawyerlegion.com
- Signing Ceremony SchedulerThe results do not show an established product doing this, but they also show almost no one describing the pain, so it cannot be kept as a grounded idea. rocketreach.co
Probate Asset Tracker
A shared checklist where the executor, the attorney, and the financial advisor mark off each account and property as it is located, valued, and transferred.
- Who pays
- Estate planning and probate attorney, billed to the estate
- The problem
- Executors and attorneys track assets in spreadsheets and email. One executor wrote that they use Excel for tracking expenses, assets, and disbursements, and Clockify for time. Another asked what things they almost forgot, because nothing tells them what is still missing.
- The gap
- Estateably, Smokeball, LEAP, and NextChapter are built for law firm case management, billing, and document automation, and are described as more complex and expensive than what a family needs. Executor tools like EstateExec and SwiftProbate guide the family but are not a shared workspace where the attorney, the executo
- Already out there
- Estateably estateably.com
Cloud probate accounting and asset tracking for law firms. Built for firms, not a shared view with the executor and advisor.
- EstateExec swiftprobate.com
Established executor software. Serves the executor alone, not the attorney and advisor as shared users.
- NextChapter michaeleweintraubesq.org
Probate case management with checklists and document automation. Firm-side case management, not asset status shared across three parties.
- Estateably estateably.com
- People asking for it
- Software for executors and trustees reddit.com
Executor says they use Clockify for time and Excel for tracking expenses, assets, and disbursements, plus OneDrive for documents.
- Any advice for executors reddit.com
Sibling helping as executor asks what things they almost forgot, showing no system tells them what is missing.
- How will my heir know my assets reddit.com
248 votes and 82 comments asking whether a centralized way exists for an heir to find assets and liabilities.
- Software for executors and trustees reddit.com
- The big assumption
- That the attorney will pay to give the executor and financial advisor access, rather than keep using the firm's existing case software plus a spreadsheet.
- Test it this week
- Ask five probate attorneys to show you the last estate's asset tracking file and ask what they would pay per estate for a shared status view. No code.
Client Document Chaser
A reminder tool that nags estate planning clients for the IDs, deeds, and beneficiary forms they never send back.
- Who pays
- Estate planning attorney
- The problem
- Paralegals chase clients for documents against deadlines. One paralegal described a client frustrated about a deadline the next day, asking for documents the client claimed the bank already sent. Attorneys also argue about whether to send drafts to clients at all, which shows how messy the back and forth already is.
- The gap
- Clio, MyCase, SmartVault, and other legal document systems store and organize documents once they arrive. They are document management, not chasing. The gap is automated, polite, repeated follow up on a specific missing item until it arrives, with a status the paralegal can see.
- Already out there
- Clio clio.com
Document management inside full case management. Stores documents, does not chase the client for a missing ID.
- MyCase mycase.com
Document organization and storage tied to case and billing. No per-item client chase workflow.
- SmartVault smartvault.com
Secure document storage and client portal. The client still has to remember to upload; no nagging loop.
- Clio clio.com
- People asking for it
- Tactic to collect documents reddit.com
Paralegal describes a client frustrated about a next day deadline and documents the client says the bank sent.
- Do you send drafts to clients reddit.com
Estate planners debate sending drafts ahead of signing, showing the client back and forth is a live pain.
- Work with client or say good-bye reddit.com
Attorney describes sending drafts as PDF with fill in the blank items and the friction that follows.
- Tactic to collect documents reddit.com
- The big assumption
- That attorneys will adopt another tool for chasing when their case management system already has client messaging and a portal.
- Test it this week
- Ask five estate planning paralegals to list the three documents clients most often fail to send and how many reminders it takes. Offer to run the reminders by hand for one week.