EstateWorks Platform

What is EstateWorks?

EstateWorks is case management, workflow and operational management software, purpose-built for Trust & Estate organizations. It is used by law firms, banks and trust companies to make Trust & Estate work consistent, visible and reliable.

How long has EstateWorks been supporting Trust & Estate organizations?

EstateWorks has been supporting Trust & Estate professionals for more than 20 years and has worked with more than 400 Trust & Estate organizations, including law firms, banks and trust companies.

How has EstateWorks evolved over time?

Although the first production version of EstateWorks was created in 2005, both the product's functionality and its underlying technology have evolved significantly since then. The most recent major architectural update came in 2023, when the application was rebuilt using React and Node.js.

Is EstateWorks actively developed?

Yes. EstateWorks continues to evolve in response to changes in Trust & Estate practice, client requirements, technology and the needs of larger and more complex organizations.

What drives the development of EstateWorks?

EstateWorks' development is informed by its work with Trust & Estate organizations and the operational challenges its clients encounter. New capabilities and improvements reflect both individual client requirements and broader patterns identified across the organizations EstateWorks serves.

Does EstateWorks support estate settlement?

Yes. EstateWorks supports estate settlement through settlement-specific matter information, contacts and roles, case teams, dates of record, assets, liabilities and expenses, configurable processes and checklists, task management, document generation, forms and reporting.

Does EstateWorks support estate planning?

Yes. EstateWorks supports estate planning through planning-specific matter information, contacts and roles, case teams, dates, wealth information, configurable processes and checklists, task management, document generation, forms and reporting.

How does EstateWorks handle the different data requirements of estate settlement and estate planning?

There are elements of data that are similar to both types of activity – contact information, for example. But EstateWorks also uses different data architectures for estate settlement and estate planning, reflecting the different information required for each type of work.

Estate settlement is structured around probate and tax requirements, as well as the need for a detailed representation of the estate’s assets, liabilities and expenses. Estate planning is focused more on the sets of documents produced for a client over time and a less granular view of financial information.

Both operate within the same EstateWorks platform and share common capabilities for process management, task management, document generation and reporting.

Can an organization use EstateWorks for both estate settlement and estate planning?

Yes. EstateWorks supports organizations whose Trust & Estate work includes estate settlement, estate planning, or both.

How does EstateWorks help standardize Trust & Estate processes?

Organizations can define reusable Master Checklist Templates for different matter types, jurisdictions and workflows. These provide a standard operating framework that can be applied repeatedly rather than rebuilding the process for every matter.

Can individual matters vary from the standard process?

Yes. EstateWorks is designed around the reality that Trust & Estate matters are not identical. Standard processes can be adapted for individual matters by adding, removing or modifying tasks without changing the underlying Master Checklist Template for that matter type and jurisdiction.

Can a matter checklist include more than one process or workflow?

Yes. A matter checklist can include multiple processes, allowing different areas of work to be managed separately within the same matter. Each process has its own tasks, dependencies, dates and role-based assignments.

This allows an organization to define standard processes that may be needed for certain matters rather than trying to incorporate every possible requirement into a single checklist.

How are deadlines handled?

Checklist tasks normally, but not always, include due dates. These due dates can be calculated from other dates in the matter or tasks in the process. Dates of record are maintained separately from checklist due and completion dates.

Does EstateWorks support task dependencies?

Yes. Checklist processes can include dependencies so that the sequence and timing of work can reflect the relationship between tasks.

How does EstateWorks assign responsibility for checklist tasks?

Checklist tasks can be assigned to Case Team Roles rather than directly to named individuals. Individuals are then assigned to those roles for each matter, allowing the same standard processes to allocate work appropriately across different matter teams. However, specific tasks in a matter can be assigned to any user when required.

Why is role-based assignment useful?

It allows the organization to define who should perform a type of work as part of the standard operating model while allowing the actual individual filling that role to vary from matter to matter.

Can business users change standard processes without software development?

Authorized users can maintain Master Checklist Templates and standard process configurations without requiring vendor support or software development. This allows the business to evolve its operating processes without making IT or the software vendor the bottleneck for routine process changes.

Does EstateWorks force every organization to use the same workflow?

No. EstateWorks provides configurable building blocks that organizations can use to reproduce their own Trust & Estate operating processes.

How does EstateWorks help management see what is happening across matters?

EstateWorks captures operational information through the normal course of working each matter. Reporting can then use that same information to provide matter-level and organization-level visibility, rather than requiring a separate status-reporting process.

What is Inherent Visibility?

Inherent Visibility is the principle that the information needed to understand and manage an operation should be created through the work itself, rather than through a separate reporting exercise.

EstateWorks applies this principle by using information captured through normal matter activity to provide matter-level and organization-level visibility.

Are separate status spreadsheets required?

EstateWorks is designed to reduce the need for separate spreadsheets used solely to establish matter status or management visibility. Operational information can instead be obtained from the same system in which the work is being conducted.

What reporting does EstateWorks provide?

EstateWorks provides reports of key information about individual matters, across groups of matters and across the organization as a whole, as well as individuals’ workload and impending deadlines and task calendars. Reports are available either on-demand or by email according to specific schedules.

Can management move from aggregate information back to individual matters?

EstateWorks is designed to support organization-level views together with matter-level information, allowing management to identify issues across the operation and then drill into the underlying matters.

How does EstateWorks help reduce dependence on individual knowledge?

By capturing processes, responsibilities, dates, matter information and work status in a shared operational system, EstateWorks can reduce dependence on information that exists only in an individual's memory, spreadsheet, inbox or personal working method.

How is information organized in EstateWorks?

EstateWorks uses a client-centric model in which a client can have multiple matters. Information that applies across matters can be maintained at the common level, while matter-specific roles, case teams, dates, processes, financial information, documents and other records support the individual matter.

What is the difference between Case Team Roles and Contact Roles?

Case Team Roles represent internal responsibility for performing the work. Contact Roles describe the role of external people or organizations in a particular matter.

What financial information can EstateWorks manage?

EstateWorks can maintain detailed information about assets, liabilities and expenses associated with estate settlement matters. It also supports data exchange with specialized valuation and tax workflows, including imports from EstateVal and Appraise and 706 export to Thomson ONESOURCE, CCH ProSystem fx, Intuit Lacerte and GEMS.

Does EstateWorks support document assembly?

Yes. EstateWorks supports the generation and compilation of letters, documents and forms using information maintained within the matter. This enables information captured as part of the work to be reused in required outputs rather than needing reentry into individual documents.

Authorized users can create and maintain their own document templates, allowing organizations to adapt document generation to their own requirements without software development or vendor support.

Can EstateWorks work alongside other systems used by Trust & Estate organizations?

Yes. EstateWorks can operate as the operational management layer for Trust & Estate work alongside specialized systems used for fiduciary accounting, custody, investment management, tax, document management and other functions.

Will EstateWorks replace my law firm’s practice management or billing system?

No. EstateWorks is focused on the operational management of Trust & Estate work. It can operate alongside practice management, billing, accounting, document management and other systems that perform broader firm-wide functions.

Why do I need EstateWorks in addition to my law firm’s practice or case management system?

General case management systems support functions used across a law firm. EstateWorks adds a purpose-built operational layer for Trust & Estate work, including T&E-specific matter information, processes, deadlines, roles, financial information, document generation and reporting across matters.

EstateWorks can therefore operate alongside a firm’s existing case management system rather than requiring the firm to replace it.

Is EstateWorks intended to replace a bank's fiduciary accounting or custody platform?

No. EstateWorks focuses on the operational management of Trust & Estate matters: processes, responsibilities, deadlines, information, documents and visibility. Other systems may remain systems of record for fiduciary accounting, custody or investment functions.

Does EstateWorks support Single Sign On SSO?

Yes. EstateWorks supports SAML 2.0 Single Sign-On (SSO), enabling organizations to use enterprise identity providers such as Microsoft Entra ID and Okta to manage user authentication.

Is EstateWorks customer data commingled with data from other customers?

No. EstateWorks does not commingle customer data. Each customer’s data is maintained separately from the data of other EstateWorks customers

Does EstateWorks use customer data to train AI?

No. EstateWorks does not use customer data to train AI.

Can EstateWorks accommodate customer-specific contractual, security or AI requirements?

Yes. EstateWorks' standard End User License Agreement is used by many customers, sometimes with addenda addressing specific security, data protection or AI requirements. Larger organizations typically use their own Master Services Agreements and related security, data protection and technology requirements, which EstateWorks reviews as part of the contracting process.

What disaster recovery arrangements does EstateWorks maintain?

EstateWorks maintains regularly tested, stand-alone disaster-recovery infrastructure that is geographically separated from its production environment. Its current disaster-recovery objectives include a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours and a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 24 hours.

Is EstateWorks SOC 2 compliant?

Yes. EstateWorks undergoes an annual independent SOC 2 Type II audit and maintains SOC 2 compliance as part of its security and operational control framework.

How is EstateWorks different from general legal practice-management software?

General legal practice-management systems are designed to support common law-firm functions across multiple areas of law. EstateWorks is purpose-built for Trust & Estate work, with T&E-specific data structures, processes, roles, dates, financial information, document generation and reporting.

How is EstateWorks different from general-purpose workflow or low-code platforms?

General-purpose workflow and low-code platforms can be used to build custom applications, but they can require significant implementation and ongoing technical administration. EstateWorks starts with purpose-built Trust & Estate data structures and functionality, while allowing organizations to configure their processes within that environment.

Does reducing dependence on IT mean business users need to become application developers?

No. EstateWorks' approach is that the business should be able to own ordinary process configuration while IT retains responsibility for the broader technology, security and integration environment.

How much ongoing IT support does EstateWorks require from the customer?

EstateWorks is designed to require minimal ongoing support from customer IT teams. EstateWorks manages the application and underlying technology environment, while customer IT involvement is generally limited to organization-specific requirements such as user identity and SSO management.

How is EstateWorks different from fiduciary accounting and trust-accounting platforms?

Fiduciary accounting and trust-accounting platforms focus primarily on financial recordkeeping and fiduciary processing. EstateWorks focuses on managing the processes, responsibilities, deadlines, information and documents associated with Trust & Estate work, and can operate alongside specialized fiduciary accounting and trust-accounting platforms.

What is the Trust & Estates Operational Evolution Model?

The Trust & Estates Operational Evolution Model describes how organizations can progress from operations that depend heavily on individual knowledge and effort toward operations in which processes, information, adaptability and management visibility are built into the operating environment.

What does 'Consistent. Visible. Reliable.' mean in the EstateWorks context?

It describes the desired characteristics of a well-managed Trust & Estate operation: recurring work is performed consistently, the information needed to understand the work is visible, and the organization can rely on its operating processes rather than on individual memory and effort.