A lawyer specializing in estate planning must possess the necessary tools and expertise. Having outdated information could cost your clients money and prevent their last wishes from being fulfilled.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 work with your workflow and deliver up-to-date, correct information at every turn. The following are some of the most crucial considerations when choosing estate planning research.
Methods for Improving Workflow with Gradual Integration
Estate planning specialists are responsible for supervising client meetings, court appearances, filing deadlines, and other duties, in addition to managing many cases at once. The last thing you need is to add more research instruments to an already challenging process. Setting solutions that work with different technologies as priorities could save time and needless data entry and procedures.
For example, employing practice management system-compatible estate planning research tools to automate the synchronization of calendars, contact information, and case deadlines. Cloud-based technologies that enable multi-user real-time information access can improve internal cooperation. Powerful search options, individual notes, folders, and bookmarks make it much easier to arrange research according to certain topics or conditions. Your research tools should aid your organization, not the other way around, by improving productivity and streamlining processes.
Specifications for Each County
There may be significant differences in the estate planning laws, rules, and practices between counties and jurisdictions. When selecting research instruments, it is advised that you consult publications that provide detailed procedural instructions unique to your country. This level of experience is crucial for successfully handling a local estate planning case since it makes it easier to comprehend all the required steps, documentation, filing costs, and other important information.
Websites with county-level data and state procedural norms ought to be prioritized. 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 transcends state lines with precision.
Priorities & Case Studies Are Currently Available
Access to relevant case studies and legal precedents is crucial when drafting estate plans for clients. This will enable you to make substantial changes to your action plan. Given how frequently estate laws and regulations change, it is imperative that your research tools include a searchable library of case studies and precedents that are updated in real time. You face a significant risk of harm if you base your strategic advice on dated instances.
To find the most relevant examples to assist with estate planning issues unique to your area, look for research tools that allow you to select case studies and precedents by jurisdiction in addition to constantly updated data. You might win their confidence and prove your authority by giving them easy access to relevant contemporary examples.
A Broad Range of Secondary Sources
Selecting tools with a substantial secondary data component will enhance your estate planning research and recommendations. Journals, best practices, sample papers, decisions, transactions, and other resources are all included in this area. In addition to decades of detail, you should look for breadth across a range of estate-focused magazines.
Many resources are available to help you prepare for the complexities of estate planning, such as thousands of pages of insightful analysis, expert opinions, up-to-date templates, and archived reference materials. Look through our extensive library of top-notch secondary sources to quickly and easily locate relevant information. Searching through multiple unique magazines and archives and comparing them is no longer necessary.
Recommended Procedures and Upcoming Tasks
Estate preparation involves a lot of moving pieces, such as living wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and other legal instruments. Getting past all of these moving pieces is difficult. You may speed up the process by choosing study materials that include comprehensive practice guides covering every aspect of estate planning.
However, regulations alone cannot resolve an estate dispute. Instead of relying solely on theoretical advice, look for solutions that provide precise, tactical action steps for completing crucial estate planning tasks. For instance, what kind of documentation must be submitted to establish trust? Which methods of drafting life insurance plans function best in which circumstances? In addition to receiving timely and helpful answers to your inquiries, you’ll also receive insightful guidance to help you keep your cases moving forward smoothly.
There Are Now Opportunities to Adhere to MCLE
One of your professional responsibilities is to continue complying with Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE). You can easily integrate this need into your daily workflow by using estate planning research tools that include approved continuing legal education (CCLE) offerings, such as lectures, movies, courses, and other training materials.
Choosing a pre-installed study package with MCLE components will save you the hassle of searching for more interesting solutions. Your research platform makes it easy to access compliance activities, which encourages you to interact with the data on a frequent basis. This calls for staying current with the newest trends and best practices in addition to the most recent changes to the legal system.
Evaluating Investment Return and Expenses
Analyze the upfront and ongoing expenses of the many estate planning research tool choices that are offered for sale. When calculating return on investment (ROI), take into account the extent to which the solution will enhance your company’s capabilities and productivity in the long run. When solutions that integrate MCLE, offer precise execution, and link processes are available, measuring productivity improvements becomes easier.
You can also evaluate technologies according to different levels of commitment. As an illustration, although certain service providers need yearly commitments, others provide monthly memberships. Before making a long-term commitment to a product, you can give it a brief test run to see if it suits your needs. Don’t forget to benefit from the lower fee for new applicants, solo practitioners, and attorneys working for small firms.
Using CEB to Provide User-Friendly and Effective Navigation and Search
The lack of an intuitive search engine or user interface makes information gathering challenging, even when excellent secondary sources are available. Put the instruments through their typical study paces for the main application areas while you weigh your alternatives. These include searching via a variety of sources with keywords, creating study folders you can share with others, limiting the results of your search by practice area or document type, and viewing analytical summaries.
It is indisputable that responsive technology should be prioritized. Advanced search operators, recommended search terms, study history tracking, cross-referencing results from relevant publications, and quick folder-to-folder document movement should all be included in these capabilities. If your team members have a positive overall user experience, they are more likely to use the research platform and fully utilize its features consistently.
Hailing your estate planning intuition, expertise, and abilities takes time and work. To ensure your success, arm yourself with research tools meant to make things easier rather than harder. By prioritizing solutions that align with your protocols, providing counsel unique to your nation, showcasing case studies in real-time, delivering tactical recommendations, and offering on-demand MCLE, you may elevate your practice and level of proficiency. You can succeed if you have these resources at your disposal. Most significantly, you can provide them with excellent advice at the exact moment they need it when you use research tools effectively. If you’re interested, click here for further information.
