The days when estate planning was all about tedious paperwork are long gone. Today, modern software solutions make it easy to do almost everything online and increase efficiency without interfering with accuracy. Whether you’re looking to better onboard clients, draft wills, or organize financial documents, you’ll find estate planning software that meets your demands.
This guide is based on software performance reviews, feature analysis, and interviews with estate planning professionals across legal and financial sectors. We also considered real-world results from dozens of businesses using platforms like Content Snare, giving us insight into what actually works in practice.
Let’s take a look!
Some of the best tools for your estate planning process
1. Content Snare: Best for client onboarding
Content Snare is one of the most widely used client intake solutions in estate planning, trusted by over 1,600 firms globally, including law firms, financial planners, and estate professionals. It’s ISO 27001 certified, meaning your client data is protected by some of the strictest information security standards available.
Content Snare eliminates annoying back-and-forth communication from your to-do list, which has a couple of practical benefits:
- Your clients will love you for developing a simple onboarding process
- You’ll get more time to do the job you’re paid for
In fact, firms using Content Snare report up to 71% less time spent gathering information, and a 52% reduction in client submission errors. Content Snare provides 30+ field types with enough room to add instructions (if needed), so your clients know exactly what you want them to do.
Even if they don’t understand instructions, they can post a question and ask for further clarification:
Pimlico Capital explained it in a nutshell:
We like that if we need to reject a submission from a client, we can do so with a note explaining why. It improves transparency and speeds up turnaround.
Another benefit is that Content Snare automatically reminds unresponsive clients to fill out the form — no need for you to waste time on it. The system also streamlines onboarding procedures with progress tracking, access management, advanced security, easy data exports, and many more.
If you want an estate planning tool to simplify the client intake process, Content Snare is your best option.
Streamline client onboarding with Content Snare
Content Snare is a simple tool that helps you collect information, content, and files from clients on time. Send our estate planning intake form to your clients as-is, or customize it as you see fit.
2. WealthCounsel: Best for comprehensive legal document drafting
WealthCounsel is a premier tool for attorneys specializing in estate planning because it offers a suite of features designed specifically for legal professionals. At its core, WealthCounsel gives you all the tools you need to draft customized legal documents. That way, it ensures precision and compliance with current regulations.
US-based attorneys will love WealthCounsel’s specific ancillary documents as these guarantee compliance with current laws in all states. This is possible because the platform continuously updates its templates and estate planning documents to reflect legislative changes.
WealthCounsel also gives you advanced tools for creating complex estate plans such as living trusts, wills, and powers of attorney. Overall, this platform provides a truly comprehensive solution for legal document drafting that meets the highest standards of estate planning attorneys.
3. Vanilla: Best for financial advisers
Vanilla offers a client-centric approach to estate planning thanks to its extensive visualization tools. Many clients don’t understand the whole estate planning process, and Vanilla addresses this issue by helping you create detailed visual representations of a client’s estate. This is how you can better explain the complexities of asset distribution, tax implications, and other details.
Another interesting feature is Vanilla’s scenario planning. It enables you to simulate different estate planning scenarios, so clients see the potential outcomes of different strategies. For example, you can use it to explain the impact of gifting strategies or possible changes in tax laws.
More importantly, Vanilla assists you in standardizing estate planning procedures through guided workflows. This is a nice way for larger organizations to reduce processing times and track the progress of all estate planning projects.
Criteria for choosing the right estate planning software
Although we showed you some of the best options, there are lots of other tools you could consider. But in order to do so properly, it’s important to analyze at least some of the following quality criteria.
Software features
First things first — you must find a tool with features that augment your estate planning process. Lawyers and financial advisers may have different expectations, but some of the most sought-after features include:
- Client onboarding forms and templates
- Tools for drafting different types of wills and trusts
- Healthcare directive
- Financial power of attorney
- Provisions for naming guardians for minors
- Asset tracking
Your software of choice doesn’t necessarily have to include all of these features, so feel free to focus on functionalities that make a difference in your work. Tools like Content Snare, for instance, offer customizable intake form templates that estate attorneys use to gather everything from financial details to healthcare directives in a secure, step-by-step format.
Price
Small firms often consider pricing to be the most important decision-making factor. If that’s the case with you, do the homework by comparing different options — it will help you determine if a given platform fits your budget while offering good value.
User reviews
Screenshot source: G2 reviews
Another thing you can (and should) do is check what other users have to say about a given estate planning tool. Popular software rating platforms such as G2 or Capterra generate lots of legitimate reviews, helping you understand the pros and cons of different tools. In a nutshell, a high score on user review platforms gives a pretty good indicator of reliability and client satisfaction.
Customization abilities
Every estate plan is highly individual, which means the tool you pick must guarantee a high degree of customization. For instance, it should be able to accommodate unique personal circumstances such as:
- Blended families
- Special needs dependents
- Specific asset distributions
- Digital asset management
It’s also recommended to find a tool with customizable questionnaire templates for client onboarding and other information-gathering purposes.
Related: How to make an estate planning questionnaire (free template included)
Security
Estate planning requires advanced security measures because it involves a lot of sensitive information. That’s why you need a system that offers encryption, secure data storage, strong privacy policies, and other security mechanisms. In addition, your estate planning software must comply with relevant data protection regulations such as GDPR or CCPA.
Pick a tool that solves your problems
With that said, the only thing left to add is to use a tool that solves your particular problems. For instance, WealthCounsel is great for estate planning attorneys looking for an all-encompassing platform to draft documents. If you’re struggling with client onboarding, Content Snare is the way to go.
The options are versatile, but that’s a good thing — it means you will quickly find the one that perfectly suits your professional demands.
Streamline onboarding with a free estate planning questionnaire template
Content Snare is a simple tool that helps you collect information, content, and files from clients on time. Send our estate planning intake form to your clients as-is, or customize it as you see fit.
FAQ
What is the best estate planning software for attorneys?
WealthCounsel is often considered the gold standard for legal professionals as it offers state-specific templates and regularly updated documents to stay compliant with changing laws. On the other hand, legal counselors hoping to improve their client onboarding process may find Content Snare to be the best option.
How do I securely collect estate planning documents from clients?
You can do it by using a safe document collection platform. For example, tools like Content Snare provide ISO 27001-certified portals with bank-level encryption to gather sensitive information without relying on insecure methods like email.
Can estate planning software be customized for complex client scenarios?
Yes, they can. Content Snare and Vanilla offer customizable forms and visual tools to accommodate unique cases such as blended families, special needs trusts, and digital asset inheritance.
