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It’s not a secret that attorneys would rather spend more time nurturing client relationships and less time drafting legal documents. Especially, when you are getting started with estate planning and need to put any extra time and money into building your practice; not laboring over crafting a legal document.
Drafting software is definitely a good option for alleviating some of the time, effort, and anxiety associated with legal documentation. However, some options are more user friendly and adaptable than others. So, how do you choose the right document drafting software for your practice? Here are some essential questions to ask during the research process.
1. Is the software easy to use and implement?
Almost every software developer boasts about their product being “user friendly,” but what’s user friendly to a developer might not be to an attorney, even one who’s technologically savvy. When you’re reviewing estate planning software options, look for:
- Clean navigation. Can you easily find what you’re looking for?
- Training for new users. Software that includes basic tutorials can get your practice up and running more quickly.
- Built-in help tools. Reliable search functions and help features enable you to find answers quickly and in real time.
- Customizable options. Interactive dropdowns and fields that can be personalized provide room for different choices to improve your documents rather than standard templates that can be rigid.
2. Will estate planning software save me time?
One of the most time consuming parts of practicing estate planning law is staying up to date on changing taxes and regulatory issues. With the right estate planning software, updates are made consistently within the system so you are always working from the most accurate documentation.
Reliable document drafting software also eliminates the time consuming, and often error-prone, copy-and-paste process. Software that auto-populates correct client information throughout all of your estate planning documents frees up resources that would otherwise be spent on proofreading and quality assurance.
What’s more, estate planning software enables support staff to create more complex documents. You can transfer the responsibility of document drafting to a paralegal and free up more of your highly valuable time to work directly with clients, share your expertise, and make you more profitable.
3. Is estate planning software worth the cost?
Price and cost structure for estate planning software varies. Some providers charge a monthly fee while others charge a setup fee plus a monthly subscription rate. Whether the software is worth the money for your practice will be a highly individualized discussion.
When evaluating cost, think about how much time you currently spend drafting documents from scratch. Then consider how much of that time you could put toward marketing your firm, attracting new clients, and generating new revenue if you had professional documents to work from.
While there are many estate planning software platforms on the market, using one that was designed by estate planning attorneys, for estate planning attorneys, is a good place to start. WealthDocx software for attorneys, WealthCounsel’s flexible drafting solution, provides everything you need to create accurate, up-to-date, professional legal documents quickly and easily, including the resources to get you started. Your clients will appreciate the professional look and the straightforward language–and you’ll value the extra time and expertise you have for them.
