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Estate Plan Review

Estate plan review that traces each asset by its title and its beneficiary form to the person who would receive it today, and lays the client’s own goals over the result.

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Nine screens, from the folder to the signed letter ↓

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The problem

The will gets read first, and the forms that move most of the money come last

A returning client brings a folder: an old will, a trust and its amendment, powers of attorney, beneficiary forms, deeds and statements. Before the first meeting someone reads all of it, works out who would receive each asset today, and holds that against what the client now wants. On a flat fee, those hours come out of margin.

The reading follows the will and the trust, yet much of the estate never touches either: it moves by beneficiary designation or by how an account is titled. So the usual findings surface late, sometimes across the table: a form that still names a former spouse, a cabin bought after the trust and never deeded to it, a successor trustee who has died, a trust signed before the current marriage.

Built forEstate planning attorneysParalegalsPractice leaders

The Problem Today

A retirement plan, a joint account or a life policy passes by its own form or title, so the will never sees it.

$15M: estate tax exemption per person from 2026, sending plans back published

Read by hand before each meeting

Wills
Trusts
Forms
Deeds

About two hours of readingPer plan, before the first meeting, on a flat fee
Old forms outrank new willsA divorce does not change who a retirement plan form pays

The Solution

Each document readWills, trusts, powers of attorney and forms, each term cited
Each asset tracedBy its title and beneficiary form, to whoever would receive it today
Goals laid over the flowEach mismatch with what the client wants is marked and explained
Cited letter, signedFixes in the attorney’s order, with plain questions for the client

Built-in controls

Only an attorney signs the review letter
Client papers stay inside the firm’s own space
Each value cited to its clause or form

What You Get

The attorney walks into the first meeting knowing the plan’s real outcome, with a ranked list of fixes.

15 min: of attorney review for a cited summary and gap list our estimate

Questions ready for the clientEach choice the documents leave open, in plain words
Law since signing flaggedEach change tied to the clause it touches
Fixes in the attorney’s orderThe beneficiary form first, when it matters most

Folder to signed letter

Estate plan review on nine screens, read in the order the file is worked

Nine screens, nine jobs, each paired with the person on the file who leans on it.

01Documents read
Every document on one signing timeline, set against the life events since
How it works
- Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, forms, deeds and statements, each name cited
- 27 documents and 214 pages read in 6 minutes 40 seconds
- Each plan document shows its fiduciaries, its gifts and what it governs
- Dots on one line show which papers predate the divorce, the remarriage and a death
ParalegalSees on day one which papers predate the divorce and the remarriage, without building a chronology first.
02Assets and how each is titled
Each asset listed by its title and the form that controls it
How it works
- Eleven assets with value, title, the form on file and the day it was signed
- A bar splits $4,300,000 by route: trust, beneficiary form, joint title and probate
- Forms signed before the client’s last marriage carry a flag
- A filter shows one route at a time
ParalegalStops chasing beneficiary forms last: each sits beside the asset it controls, its age against the marriage flagged.
03Estate flow, today
An estate flow showing where each dollar goes today, band by band
How it works
- Assets on the left, each band as thick as its value
- The trust, the beneficiary forms, joint title and the will in the middle
- The people on the right, with what each receives today
- A former spouse still receives $1,200,000 through one form
Estate planning attorneyWalks into the meeting knowing where the money really goes, often far from where the will sends it.
04Flow against the goals
The client’s goals laid over the flow, each conflict hatched in red
How it works
- One switch lays the goals from the questionnaire over the flow
- Bands that contradict a goal turn hatched red and carry their gap number
- A side panel scores the goals: 4 not met, 3 partly met, 0 met
- $2,042,000 in 4 assets bypasses the trust against the goals
Estate planning attorneySees in one view which assets defeat what the client asked for, before reading a single gap.
05Goals, checked
Each goal quoted from the questionnaire, with the dollars at stake
How it works
- Goals lifted from the questionnaire, with the questionnaire page beside them
- Each shows what the documents do today and links to its gap
- The goal of nothing to the former spouse shows $1,200,000 at stake
- Where the words leave a choice open, it becomes a question
Estate planning attorneyHolds each wish against the documents ahead of time, so no goal gets answered from memory.
06Gap: the trust predates the marriage
Gaps ranked by severity, each with its evidence and cited article
How it works
- 1 critical, 4 high, 4 medium and 1 low
- What the documents show, cited to article and page
- A recommended fix and the question it raises for the client
- Three buttons: accept it, edit the fix, or turn it down with a stated reason
Estate planning attorneyReads that the trust predates the marriage and sends the $980,000 home to the children, with the cited article open beside it.
07Recommendation order
The attorney sets the order of the fixes the letter recommends
How it works
- The letter drafter proposes an order by dollar amount
- One click makes updating the 401(k) form recommendation 1
- Each decision shows beside its gap in the list
- The file bar counts the open gaps down to 0
Estate planning attorneyPuts the $1,200,000 form that pays a former spouse at the top, where the client cannot miss it.
08Law since signing
Law changed since signing, with formula clauses tested at both exemptions
How it works
- Six changes since the documents were signed, each tied to the clause it touches
- Each change says what it means for this one plan
- The grandchildren’s gift formula worked at $5,340,000 and $15,000,000
- The $1,000,000 cap holds, so the gift does not change
Practice leaderWorks through the plans the new exemption sent back, each formula clause already tested against the new figure.
09Review letter
A review letter that lists what is still open before signing
How it works
- A plain summary, 7 recommendations in the attorney’s order and 7 questions
- Each point cited to its clause or form
- A readiness list: gaps decided, 11 citations, account numbers masked
- Only the attorney signs; nothing goes to the client without a person
Estate planning attorneySigns a cited letter the day before the meeting, questions ready, where the reading alone took about two hours.

Who receives the $4,300,000 today, against what the client wrote down

Totals from one client’s flow, beside the goals in the questionnaire.

Who	Receives today	What the goals ask for
Daughter	$1,159,000	An equal share with her brother
Son	$1,271,000	An equal share: one deposit account pays him $112,000 alone
Wife	$670,000	The home for life, the life policy and income for life
Former spouse	$1,200,000	Nothing
Granddaughter	Nothing	$100,000 for college

Around the flow

More of the estate plan review file, from the deeds to the audit trail

Kept open beside the flow while the letter takes shape.

Plan documents table: deeds for the home and cabin, the joint account agreement, the divorce decree and statements, each with what it governs — **What each paper controls**Deeds, the joint account agreement, the divorce decree and 87 pages of statements, each beside what it governs.

Estate flow with the 401(k) band open: the plan’s beneficiary designation naming a former spouse, highlighted, beside the critical gap it raised — **The form behind the band**Clicking the 401(k) band opens the plan’s own designation, the former spouse highlighted as primary, beside the gap it raised.

Citation opened over the gap list: trust Article 5.2 with the passage dividing the trust estate, including the residence, between the children highlighted — **The article, at its passage**Each citation opens its page: here Article 5.2 of the trust, the words splitting the home between the children highlighted.

Client view of the seven goals in plain words, such as an old 401(k) form that still names a former spouse being the first thing to fix — **The goals, as the client will read them**The same goals rewritten for the client: what the papers do today and what the firm will suggest.

Signed review letter: seven recommendations with citations, seven questions for the meeting, a note that it is not tax advice, and the attorney’s signature — **Seven questions, then the signature**Questions for the meeting, from income for the wife to online accounts, then the attorney’s signature.

Audit trail of ten entries: the questionnaire, the paralegal’s uploads, each agent step from reading to drafting the letter, and the attorney opening the flow — **Each read and agent step, kept**Uploads, each agent step from reading to drafting, and who opened the flow, kept 10 years after the engagement closes.

The old 401(k) form, the cabin, the late trustee and the uneven account

All four come from one client’s papers, each cited in the letter.

A retirement plan form older than the divorce

The 401(k) form signed in the first marriage still names the former spouse for $1,200,000. The divorce revoked her gifts in the will; the plan pays its own form.

A cabin outside the trust

Bought after the trust in the client’s own name, the $310,000 cabin would pass by the will through probate. A recorded beneficiary deed can keep it out.

A backup fiduciary who has died

The trust names the son as successor trustee, then a brother who has since died. The will and the financial power of attorney still name the former spouse first.

One account that splits the children

Certificates of deposit pay the son alone, so he receives $112,000 more than his sister against a goal of equal shares.

Who reads, who rules

The plan is read and routed by agents, and the attorney rules on what it means

They read, trace, match and draft; what the plan should say stays with the attorney.

Plan reader

Reads wills, trusts, amendments and powers of attorney: parties, fiduciaries, gifts and dispositive terms, each cited to article and page.

Never interprets what the client meant

Version comparer

Sets the will, the trust and each amendment side by side, showing what changed and which document governs each asset.

Never decides which document controls; it shows the attorney

Asset router

Traces each asset by its title and its beneficiary form to the people who would receive it today.

Never assumes a form it has not seen; it marks it not on file

Goal matcher

Lays the client’s stated goals over the flow and scores each one met, partly met or not met.

Never invents a goal
Turns anything unclear into a question for the meeting

Law watch

Flags law changed since each document was signed, and tests formula clauses against today’s exemption.

Never gives tax advice to the client

Letter drafter

Drafts the review letter, the recommendations and the questions for the client, with each point cited.

Never sends anything
Proposes an order; the attorney sets it

Forms, deeds, the new exemption and who signs

What is estate plan review?

Estate plan review reads a client’s will, trust, powers of attorney and beneficiary forms, and traces each asset by its title and form to whoever would receive it today. It then compares that with the client’s goals and the law since signing, and the attorney signs the letter.

Does it read beneficiary forms and deeds as well as the will and trust?

Yes. A retirement plan, a life policy, a payable-on-death account or a joint account passes by its form or title, whatever the will says. Each asset is traced through the document that controls it; a missing form is marked not on file.

Will it catch a beneficiary form that still names a former spouse?

Forms signed before the client’s last marriage, divorce, birth or death in the family are flagged, and a form naming a former spouse is a critical gap. A divorce can revoke gifts in a will or trust and still leave an employer plan paying the person on its form.

How does it handle the new estate tax exemption?

The law check lists each change since the documents were signed and the clause it touches. Formula clauses keyed to the exemption amount are worked at the old and the new figure, so the attorney sees whether a gift changes before the meeting.

Who decides the recommendations and signs the letter?

The attorney rules on each gap, sets the order of the recommendations and signs. The paralegal prepares the file and cannot sign, and nothing reaches the client or a plan administrator without a person.

Are the client’s documents kept confidential?

The papers stay inside the firm’s own space and are never used to train a model. Account numbers show only their final digits, and each read, edit and signature lands in the audit trail.

Trusts, Estates & Probate