Having the right documents is just the first step in an efficient and effective practice. Drafting the right document with software that is easy to use, well-supported, and intuitive so that you can create your client’s estate plans as quickly and accurately as possible keeps you on target.
How efficient is BeyondCounsel?
Over the last fifteen years, our system has produced over one million (1,000,000) documents, for lawyers and law firms all over the country.
When you choose BeyondCounsel’s estate-planning system for your practice, you join a army of attorneys who share your knowledge, and rest easy in the confidence that the documents produced by our system are practice tested, continuously evolved and Beyond your client’s expectations.
FEATURES
OF THE DOCUMENT SYSTEM
Client Friendly Documents
Beyond Counsel puts clients first. Our client-centric drafting approach uses grammatically approved “first person” language that’s relatable and understandable.
We believe that this approach allows your clients to better engage with the documents, and limits your time explaining them. Our software creates customized documents that are legally sufficient to accomplish your clients’ goals, but uses language that is READABLE.
Other systems throw in the kitchen sink. We believe that concise documents are harder to draft then longer documents.
The result is that the final documents are effective in meeting your clients’ estate planning needs, and that you gain a reputation among your clients for effective documents that the average person can understand.
The value of client-comprehensible documents can’t be overstated. Not only do our documents reduce the time you spend explaining esoteric and/or boilerplate language to your clients, but a document your client understands is one they feel secure in, which results in greater trust in you and your work. You also get the security of knowing that your client is truly getting what they planned for and asked you to provide.
Scenario Builder
Beyond Counsel doesn’t believe in re-inventing the wheel every day.
As any estate planner will tell you, many of your clients likely fit into a handful of estate-planning situations that you handle over and over again throughout your practice; while the names, dollar amounts, and specifics change, the general situations tend to fall into a few frequently-seen categories. Beyond Counsel’s Scenario Builder allows you to create and save custom Scenarios for the types of estate plans you use the most. Scenario Builder allows you to create a set of default options for your most commonly used types of plans.
For example, if you frequently create simple wills for married couples without minor children, the
Scenario Builder allows you to set up and save pre-configured selections for the options that you normally use in that client situation. Then, when a new client comes in who fits the “simple will, married couple, no minor children” scenario you created, you only need enter the information that is specific to that particular client, such as names, and the rest of the options are already selected according to your customized settings. Beyond Counsel comes pre-configured with the Scenario’s our users use the most, and allows you to take those to the next level. Using Scenario Builder for your most common estate plan types makes creating documents with our system even faster. Customizing the scenarios to your practice and your specific preferences allows you to create your most commonly used plans at a fraction of the normal time. Scenario Builder scenarios may be developed during your initial setup of the Beyond Counsel and we can also help you design one or two scenarios as a new member.
The Scenario Builder© provides the following documents for you to configure defaults for:
- Will and Revocable Trust
- General Durable of Attorney
- Health Care Power of Attorney, and Living Will
Under the Will and Revocable Living Trust, you can set up:
- Specific Distributions
- Residuary
- Age Requirements
- Fiduciaries
- Miscellaneous Provisions
First person language
BeyondCounsel’s documents include first person language that it is easy for you and your clients to read through. Below is an example of what the language looks like:
Relationships
We believe that relationships matter. In our estate planning system, you have the option to hard code those relationships. When you draft your documents, our system supplies context based on the relationship, and gives an added touch of personalization that we find clients often appreciate. Our documents give you the option to refer to your client’s spouse, children or other beneficiaries by their name, age and relationship, as seen in the example below:
Supporting documents
Our supporting documents are designed to help the client understand the estate plan provided for them and to help you better communicate with your clients. Our Estate Planning Software comes with the following supporting documents to guide your clients through the estate planning process:
- Online Questionnaire
- Paper Questionnaires
- Funding Letters
- Cover Letter
- Questions and Answers
- Directions with Respect to Remains
- Letter of Last Instructions
- Letter Regarding Update Appointment
- Tax Seminar Follow-up
- Disengagement Letter
- Initial Letter
- Check Plan
- Letter for Slow Moving Contacts
- Engagement Letter
- Survey
Document Formatting Features
BeyondCounsel’s documents were developed using Microsoft Styles. Navigation and editing are native to Microsoft Word, whether your using a PC or Mac* based office. Easily make global changes to any document format within Word, using the BeyondCounsel toolbar. Our tool bar allows you to update your table of contents, adjust the margins, insert new paragraphs, copy paragraphs, capitalize and bold names, and change the font to Times Roman, Arial or Calibri, all with a single click.
*Note: Macs currently require a Windows emulator.
- (877) 284-7897
- 3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 500, Bethesda MD
