Practice Area
Estate Planning & Probate
Updated July 17, 2026
Estate planning inquiries range from a first will to settling a parent's estate. The intake is built to sort those apart in the first question, not five questions in.
Key takeaways
- •The first question sorts visitors into what they actually need: a new will or trust, an update to an existing plan, probate, or a power of attorney matter, rather than one generic estate-planning bucket.
- •Whether a will or trust already exists is asked directly, since it changes the entire scope of the engagement.
- •Whether the matter is a probate case (settling someone's estate after their passing) is asked explicitly, since that's an operationally different service from planning ahead.
- •Kept intentionally short, three steps, since estate planning inquiries are often prompted by a real, sometimes difficult life event.
Why the first question is 'what do you need,' not 'tell us about your estate'
A first-time will inquiry and a probate matter for a deceased parent are both “estate planning,” but they need completely different next steps from a firm. Leading with a clear category choice, rather than an open-ended prompt, gets a visitor to the right place faster and gives the firm an immediate sense of what kind of engagement this is.
What the intake actually asks
What the visitor needs (new will/trust, updating an existing plan, probate, or power of attorney/healthcare directive), whether a will or trust already exists, and whether the matter is related to settling someone's estate after their passing. Three tap-to-select questions before contact information.
Why the distinction matters for a firm's intake process
A probate inquiry often needs a faster response than a routine estate-planning check-in, someone settling a parent's estate is usually operating under real deadlines. Capturing that distinction at intake, rather than discovering it on a callback, lets a firm prioritize accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
What does the estate planning intake ask?
First, what the visitor needs help with, creating a will or trust, updating an existing plan, probate or settling an estate, or a power of attorney/healthcare directive. Then whether a will or trust already exists, and whether the matter relates to settling someone's estate after their passing.
Does the intake distinguish planning ahead from probate?
Yes, directly. Estate planning and probate are operationally very different services, one is proactive planning, the other is administering an existing estate, and the intake asks which one applies rather than assuming.
Is this appropriate for a complex, high-value estate?
The intake captures the basic facts a firm needs to route the inquiry to the right attorney. It's a starting point, not a substitute for the actual planning or probate work, which requires full attorney review regardless of estate complexity.
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