An estate planning attorney must have the necessary research tools and information. If you have outdated information, it could cost your clients money and prevent their last wishes from being fulfilled. When starting or expanding your estate planning resource collection and conducting estate planning research, there are several important considerations to make. These elements will help you choose solutions that fit into your workflow and offer precise and up-to-date information throughout the process. Some of the most crucial considerations when choosing estate planning research instruments include the following.
Methods for Streamlining Workflow With Subtle Integration
Estate planning experts have to manage client meetings, court appearances, filing deadlines, and other duties in addition to managing several cases at once. The last thing you need is to add more research tools to an already challenging process. Solutions that work well with different technologies should be given priority to minimize duplicate data entry and processes.
For example, using practice management system-compatible estate planning research tools to help automate the synchronization of calendars, contact information, and case deadlines. Cloud-based solutions that facilitate multi-user real-time information access can help improve internal cooperation. Organizing research based on specific issues or situations is much easier when you have powerful search tools, customized notes, folders, and bookmarks. Your research tools should not cause havoc in your organization; instead, they should be able to streamline processes and increase output.
Specific Process Guidelines for Each County
The laws, rules, and practices pertaining to estate planning may differ significantly between counties and jurisdictions. When selecting research tools, it is advised that you consult publications that provide thorough procedural instructions tailored to the needs of your country. This level of knowledge is crucial for efficiently handling a local estate planning case since it makes it easier to fully understand all of the required steps, documentation, filing costs, and other relevant information.
Websites providing state-level procedural guidelines along with county-level data should be given priority. This is because the laws governing trusts, wills, asset distribution, and probate vary greatly from state to state. Knowing the nuances of jurisdictional law will help you handle an estate that crosses state lines without errors.
There Are Current Case Studies and Precedents Available
Access to relevant case studies and legal precedents is crucial when drafting estate plans for clients. This will allow you to drastically change your course of action. Considering how frequently estate rules and regulations change, it is imperative that your research tools have a searchable library of case studies and precedents that are updated in real-time. You risk severe harm if you base your strategic advice on antiquated instances.
To obtain the most relevant examples to guide estate planning matters unique to your local area, you should look for research alternatives that allow you to filter case studies and precedents by jurisdiction in addition to constantly updated data. You might establish your authority and win their trust by giving them easy access to relevant contemporary precedents.
A Broad Range of Secondary Sources
Selecting tools that incorporate substantial secondary source information will enhance your estate planning research and advice. Journals, practice guidelines, template papers, rulings, transactions, and other materials may be found in this section. In addition to decades of detail, you should look for breadth across a range of estate-focused magazines.
A sampling of the many resources available to help you prepare for the complexities of estate planning includes tens of thousands of pages of insightful analysis, expert opinions, up-to-date templates, and archived reference materials. To uncover relevant insights quickly and easily, browse this extensive selection of high-quality secondary sources. This removes the need to search through and cross-reference multiple unique magazines and archives.
Suggested Procedures and Upcoming Tasks
Estate planning involves a lot of moving pieces, such as living wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and other things. It’s difficult to maneuver around all of these moving pieces. You can expedite the process by choosing study books that include comprehensive practice guides covering every aspect of estate planning.
But when you’re in the middle of an estate case, guidelines don’t cut it. Instead of merely looking for theoretical direction, look for solutions that provide precise, tactical action steps for completing crucial estate planning tasks. What kind of documentation, for instance, must be submitted when establishing a trust? certain methods of designing life insurance plans are most effective in certain circumstances? You will receive timely and efficient answers to your inquiries in addition to helpful guidance that will help you keep your cases moving forward smoothly.
Opportunities to Comply with MCLE Are Now Available
One of your professional responsibilities is to comply with Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) continuously. You can integrate this need into your daily workflow by using estate planning research tools that include approved continuing legal education (CCLE) activities, like seminars, movies, courses, and other training materials.
By choosing a study package that comes with MCLE components already installed, you can avoid the hassle of searching for more intriguing solutions. Your research platform makes it easy to access compliance activities, which encourages you to interact with the data regularly. This makes staying current with the newest trends and best practices as well as the most recent changes to the legal system necessary.
Examining Investment Return and Expenses
Analyze the upfront and ongoing expenses of the many estate planning research tool choices that are offered for sale. The degree to which the solution will ultimately boost your company’s capability and efficiency should be taken into account when calculating return on investment (ROI). When solutions that integrate MCLE, offer exact execution and link processes are available, it is simpler to measure productivity gains.
You can also evaluate technologies according to different levels of commitment. For example, some service providers offer monthly memberships, while others need annual commitments. Before making a long-term commitment to a product, you can first try it out for a short while to determine if it suits your needs. Don’t forget to benefit from the reduced price for new applicants, solo practitioners, and attorneys working for small firms.
Using CEB for Efficient and User-Friendly Navigation and Search
Even in situations where access to secondary sources of excellent quality is accessible, gathering information becomes laborious in the lack of an intuitive search function or interface. Put the instruments through their regular study paces for the main application areas as you assess the possibilities. These include searching across several sources using keywords, creating study folders that can be shared with others, filtering by document type or practice area, and viewing analytical overviews.
It is imperative to give responsive technology a top priority. Advanced search operators, recommended search queries, study history tracking, cross-linked results across relevant papers, and quick folder-to-folder document movement should all be included in these tools. It is more likely that every member of your team will routinely use the research platform and take full advantage of its features if they have a positive overall user experience.
It requires patience and consistency to build your estate planning intuition, knowledge, and abilities. To ensure your success, arm yourself with research tools meant to streamline rather than complicate the process. By prioritizing solutions that integrate with your processes, providing guidance unique to your nation, showing case studies in real-time, delivering tactical recommendations, and offering on-demand MCLE, you may grow your practice and your level of expertise. You can succeed if you have access to these resources. Most significantly, you may provide them with excellent advice at the exact moment they need it when you use research tools correctly. If you’re interested, click here for further information.
