Estate Planning Document Software for Attorneys | Gavel

Estate Planning Document Software for Attorneys

Estate planning lawyers weigh in – Gavel saves time on document drafting, increases accuracy and improves your client experience.

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Automating Estate Planning Documents

What does it mean to automate estate planning documents?

Automating estate planning documents refers to the process of using software or technology to collect client data and automatically create sets of estate planning documents. You can use automation technology to:

What are some estate planning documents I can automate on Gavel?

Gavel is the one-stop shop for all estate planning needs. You can set up any custom document within your practice, but the following are popular estate planning documents that can be created and edited on Gavel:

Can I also automate probate documents?

Gavel can also function as probate software for attorneys and can be used to automate the following documents:

Gavel is particularly suited for building complex documents like trusts and wills; think of Gavel as a trust software for attorneys + will drafting software for attorneys rolled into one.

How do I start automating our estate planning documents?

Visit our page on Legal Form Software to learn more about automating an existing form (like a court form) and creating a new estate planning or probate form from scratch.

Estate Planning With vs. Without Gavel

What happens when a typical estate planning firm implements Gavel?

We surveyed 30 estate planning attorneys on the Gavel platform and asked them about how their practice has changed. Here's what we found:

What can this look like on Gavel?

Whether you want to create a workflow to streamline the drafting process yourself, or you want to simplify the workflow so your clients can input their own information directly, Gavel can assist.

See how Instant Family Trust helps families create their trust by simply completing a workflow built on Gavel software.

FAQs

I already use a firm template to draft my estate planning documents. Why should I automate my documents instead of using CTRL+F and replacing terms in an existing template?

o   Cut Document Drafting Time. Gavel customers report up to 20 hours of time saved in the first week of setting up documents. This can allow firms to spend time on more high-value work, take on more clients, and stay competitive and profitable, especially where estate planning services are being provided on a flat fee.

o   Reduction of Errors. A firm template expedites the estate planning drafting process but it does not reduce errors effectively. Misspellings of client names, incorporation of irrelevant provisions and incorrect jurisdiction cannot be automatically changed prior to editing a template, like it can be using Gavel. Gavel allows you to enter data once and fill it into all of the locations in the template. It also respects complex logic rules for inserting/removing clauses and for formatting information like beneficiary names.

o   No Repeat Data Entry. Gavel also integrates with your practice management system (and also has its own Data Manager function) to allow attorneys to pull data directly from a master database into templates to further reduce errors (such as client name, client matter number, jurisdiction, etc.). Additionally, as estate planning packets usually include several items (will, trust, advance healthcare directive, durable powers of attorney, property transfer documents, beneficiary designation documents, etc.) ensuring that information is consistent and accurate across all documents is crucial.

o Training and Development for Junior Associates. Junior associates are often the ones who do the first pass at creating an estate planning document from a template. Often, they are overwhelmed with which provisions are necessary and which are uniquely tailored aspects for a particular client. By using Gavel, junior associates can work with the dynamic workflows to understand–themselves–how to tailor contract language for any given scenario.

o Minimal Review. Because automating estate planning documents with Gavel reduces errors upfront (by allowing attorneys to input relevant information once and then using the auto-populate functions), final outputs from Gavel workflows are much more accurate than manual template drafting.

I want to automate my contracts and agreements, but I don’t have time. Can I hire someone to build it for me?

Yes! While we pride ourselves on easy software that anyone can use, you have access to Gavel workflow builders (“Gavel Experts”) who can help build your vision for you. Gavel Experts have been vetted for their expertise, critical thinking, quality and efficiency and start as low as $35/hour. They are often law students, paralegals and lawyers themselves.

Does Gavel offer help throughout the building process?

Yes. Gavel’s award winning customer team provides unlimited and speedy support for all customers, regardless of the subscription plan. Contact Gavel via phone, live screenshare, email at help@gavel.io or even via the Slack community for immediate support.

Gavel also provides live training and a 24/7 learning center with lesson topics and guides for various aspects of your practice and examples of how other practices and industries are using Gavel.

Do I need any technical background to build on Gavel?

Nope! Gavel is easy to use no matter how much technical knowledge you have.

How much does it cost?

Subscriptions start at $83/mo with a free trial. See what plan is right for you here.

How secure is Gavel?

Security is our primary concern given that we serve primarily legal customers. All customers are set up on segregated encrypted databases. All data centers are managed in accordance with leading data security standards, including SOC 1 - 3, PCI DSS Level 1, and ISO 9001 / ISO 27001. Gavel regularly undergoes third party security and penetration testing and is compliant with local privacy laws and regulations.

See www.gavel.io/security for more details.

What Else Can I Automate?

General

Corporate

Real Estate

Family Law

Immigration

Mortgage and Loan Law

Legal Aid

Estate Planning

Franchise Law

Testimonials

I've used several different legal document automation products over the last few years, and Gavel stands out for being both robust and user friendly. I've yet to have an automation task Gavel wasn't prepared to handle.

Lisa Adler, Attorney at Adler Estate Law - (read more here)

Gavel is infinitely powerful, but also super easy to use/set up. It can handle nested conditional logic and complex calculations. But what makes it stand out are the client-facing features.

Erin Levine, Managing Attorney at HelloDivorce (read more here)

Love the simplicity of setup and the complexity of opportunities.

Michael Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Smith Barid, LLC (read more here)

Gavel gave us the ability to quickly automate processes and document sets, saving our users and attorneys significant time and making our documents consistent and easy to prepare.

Timothy Fox, Director of Practice Intelligence and Data Analytics at Ogletree Deakins (read more here)

I use Gavel to get a major leg up on the opposition. It's like having a machine gun in a knife fight. It's a fantastic product.

Timothy Gauthier, Attorney at Vanguard Litigation

AI Workflow Building Coming Soon

We’re working on GavelAI, technology that will allow you to upload your documents into Gavel and automatically generate an editable Gavel workflow. We’re always working on ways to improve your practice and expedite the time to build a workflow, and this is just one way we’re delivering on our commitment to you.