Probate administration timelines, creditor notice and claim periods, asset inventory, beneficiary and distribution panels, accounting drafts, document vault, and attorney-entered deadlines. You review and confirm.
Probate is included with Estate Planning in one Estate + Probate package.
10 clicks or less from intake to filing-ready, no tedious form filling
Probate has its own buyer-facing workflow.
Try the live demo →Attorney review stays in the loop while the routine workflow moves. Security details →
Probate and Estate Planning are included together in one subscription.
Case Stress Test
DocketBuddy can stay fast for repeatable matter work while adding 36 practice-aware stress tests for the moments that decide value, risk, proof, local practice, and post-submission action. The point is not to make attorneys browse another catalogue. It is to show what a trustee, agency, opposing counsel, adjuster, ALJ, court, or beneficiary may question, then turn that issue into a source-backed attorney review question, proof gap, and client request.
The commercial ladder stays simple: sell the $99 automation as the front door, then expand when the file reveals contradictions, missing proof, bad facts, deadline risk, eligibility questions, credibility issues, or scope creep. Practice management records the case. Case Stress Test finds the problems someone else may use as leverage and keeps the next action attorney-controlled.
36
Practice stress tests
10
Case-critical lenses
$99
Workflow entry price
Reviewer lens
Signals from intake, uploads, deadlines, notes, and active matters decide when a stress test appears, so attorneys see the issue instead of another practice-management menu.
Issue card
Each issue shows why it surfaced, the source basis, the missing proof, and the attorney-safe next action, then lets the firm copy the client request or open the packet.
Attorney-safe handoff
Source gates, release posture, review questions, and attorney-only decisions are visible before anything becomes client-facing work.
Offer ladder
1. Start
$99 intake, document, date, and source-fact automation.
2. Stress test
Right-time review that names what may be questioned, why it surfaced, what proof is missing, and what the attorney should decide next.
3. Expand
Paid diagnostic, scope upgrade, risk review, proof package, or follow-up loop.
Scrutiny trigger
Case Stress Test should feel quiet until the matter needs it. Every prompt has to prove the right to appear, name the likely reviewer, explain the source posture, land where the attorney is already working, and preserve the client-release boundary before it suggests a value path.
1. Matter signal
The file has to earn the prompt
A stress test wakes only from a practice-specific fact pattern, uploaded source, deadline, attorney note, or queue signal tied to the matter in front of the firm.
2. Signal proof
Show why it appeared
The first screen names the matched signal, source basis, proof posture, likely reviewer, and reappear rule so the attorney can trust the interruption.
3. Surface slot
Put it where work is happening
Each prompt belongs in intake, upload review, a deadline strip, the matter panel, the attorney queue, or the dashboard queue instead of a separate catalogue.
4. Attorney gate
Keep judgment attorney-controlled
Client release, legal conclusions, strategy calls, fee changes, and outcome language stay blocked until the attorney approves the source and route.
5. Value path
Turn the moment into expansion
When the signal is real, the review can support a paid diagnostic, scope upgrade, proof package, risk review, local playbook, or post-submission control loop.
Just-in-time surfacing
Each review appears only from matched matter facts, source gaps, uploaded documents, timing cues, attorney notes, or queue priority. The first screen tells the firm who may question the issue, why it appeared, which candidates stayed quiet, what to do now, what value can be safely measured, and what must stay source-gated or attorney-only.
Intake capture
Catch scrutiny before the consult hardens
When intake answers reveal a risky fact, missing proof, or scope problem, the stress test turns it into an attorney review question instead of another vague note.
Document upload review
Find the contradiction at the source
Uploaded notices, records, statements, or financial documents wake the review only when they create a real conflict, proof gap, or reviewer question.
Deadline strip
Tie timing risk to case posture
RFE dates, hearing dates, SOL language, appeal windows, and objection periods surface as source-first scrutiny checks with attorney guardrails.
Matter panel
The open file explains what may be attacked
Inside a live matter, the first strip answers who may question the issue, why it surfaced, what proof is missing, and what must stay attorney-only.
Attorney review queue
Rank the problems that change the file
Urgent, high-value, local-practice, post-submission, and red-flag items are ranked by source posture, deadline urgency, and attorney next action.
Dashboard queue
Cross-matter scrutiny, not catalogue browsing
The dashboard shows active matters that deserve review now and stays quiet when there is no matched fact, source conflict, timing cue, or attorney-review reason.
Quiet-state rule: if the file has no matched signal, no source event, no timing cue, and no attorney-review reason, DocketBuddy stays with the ordinary 10-click workflow.
Case-critical review lenses
Consistency
Facts conflict across intake, forms, uploads, prior filings, notes, or evidence.
Proof burden
Claims, elements, eligibility points, or requested benefits lack supporting proof.
Timeline integrity
Dates have gaps, overlaps, missing month/year precision, or impossible sequences.
Bad facts
Scrutiny-worthy facts are hidden, weakly explained, or unsupported.
Deadlines and posture
Response windows, objection periods, appeals, hearings, or filings create timing risk.
Eligibility thresholds
Gatekeeping facts need attorney confirmation before the matter proceeds.
Credibility
The story is vague, contradicted, over-polished, or unsupported by corroboration.
Evidence sufficiency
The packet is coherent but thin against what a reviewer would expect.
Scope and fee risk
The matter is becoming more complex than quoted or needs a paid diagnostic.
Theory of case
The attorney sees the cleanest story, what supports it, what undermines it, and what remains unproven.
These support paid diagnostics, scope upgrades, local playbooks, risk reviews, proof packages, post-submission control, and client request packets without turning the product into a menu attorneys have to remember.
Case selection
Screen the facts that drive margin, difficulty, and fit before the matter becomes another open file.
Output: Attorney review memo
Revenue expansion
Surface adjacent claims, higher-value tracks, or premium work that routine intake can miss.
Output: Value-expansion checklist
Risk detection
Flag bad facts, missing disclosures, deadline pressure, and evidence problems while there is still time to act.
Output: Red-flag queue
Evidence sufficiency
Map each claim or agency request to the proof on hand, the gap, and the next document request.
Output: Evidence matrix
Local practice
Capture trustee, court, judge, board, or field-office preferences as attorney-owned workflow guidance.
Output: Local-practice note
Post-submission
Keep the case alive after the package goes out: objections, RFEs, follow-ups, hearings, liens, and modifications.
Output: After-filing action plan
Lead wedge
The probate ladder catches accounting defects, missing receipts, creditor pressure, fiduciary conflicts, and closing blockers before beneficiaries or the court do.
Build sequence
Find accounting defects, missing receipts, creditor issues, beneficiary objections, and closing-package gaps before court review.
Stress-test output
Exception list · Receipt gap table · Creditor claim review
Clear pain for probate solos; court/accounting mistakes create expensive rework.
Surface heir disputes, fiduciary conflicts, missing beneficiaries, creditor pressure, and distribution risks.
Stress-test output
Conflict checklist · Beneficiary gap list · Creditor pressure notes
Helps attorneys avoid turning ordinary estate administration into a surprise litigation file.
Map local probate court accounting formats, fiduciary paperwork, notice habits, and closing-package expectations.
Stress-test output
Court-format checklist · Accounting format flags · Notice proof list
Probate firms feel local formatting pain immediately when an accounting gets rejected or objected to.
See it in action
Creditor deadlines, inventory, beneficiaries, accounting, distributions, and court dates organized from opening through close.
Asset inventory built from uploaded documents, no re-entry from paper.
AI-drafted from intake, with execution formalities verified by attorney before any signing.
Probate deadlines computed from the letters testamentary date and tracked with SMS alerts, attorney verifies before relying on any date.
The problem
Estate planning is a document-assembly practice. The attorney spends hours collecting asset information, drafting instruments, tracking execution requirements, and managing probate deadlines, work that compounds across a full caseload.
Every jurisdiction has its own execution requirements. A will valid in one state may fail in another. The attorney must know, and must verify, before every signing ceremony.
DocketBuddy organizes the intake, extraction, and drafting layer. Asset inventory is built from uploaded documents. Wills, trusts, and healthcare directives are drafted from intake data. Probate deadlines are attorney-entered and can trigger reminders. Every AI output is a draft that requires attorney review before any use.
The legal judgment is yours, the drafting layer isn't.
What it does
ESTATE & PROBATE INTAKE
Structured intake collects family information, asset inventory, beneficiary designations, and healthcare wishes. Client completes on any device, with documents uploaded by category.
ASSET INVENTORY
Upload deeds, account statements, retirement documents, and insurance policies. DocketBuddy extracts asset values and descriptions for attorney review, with less re-entry from paper.
BENEFICIARY MANAGEMENT
Beneficiary designations tracked with distribution percentages, per-capita and per-stirpes structures documented, and distribution amounts calculated from asset inventory.
EXECUTION-RULE REFERENCES
Execution requirements for wills and trusts are surfaced where supported: witness count, notarization, self-proved affidavit, and holographic will status. Reference only; attorney must verify before every signing ceremony.
PROBATE DEADLINE TRACKING
Enter the letters testamentary date once and creditor publication, inventory filing, and claim bar dates compute from the applicable state rule, with SMS alerts on each. Attorney verifies every computed date before relying on it.
DOCUMENT VAULT
All estate documents stored in one place, drafts tracked by version and executed documents uploaded and archived, with nothing lost between drafting and signing.
BILINGUAL INTAKE
Estate planning intake available in English and Spanish. No translation required for intake collection, clients complete in their preferred language.
COURT DEADLINES
Enter the letters testamentary date and creditor notice, inventory, and claim bar dates compute from the state rule, you verify
FILING PACKET
Petition for probate, inventory and appraisement, notice to creditors, and the accounting draft together as one packet
JUDGMENT-GATED DRAFTING
Every document flags the calls that need your professional judgment instead of guessing, like appraisal requirements and court-specific accounting formats
NEWEST CAPABILITY
The final accounting and notice to creditors generate as a distinct closing pair, separate from the opening filing packet, so the closing work is billable on its own.
Scope and limits
AI-drafted wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives are planning aids. They are not instruments ready to execute.
A defective instrument is discovered after the client's death, when correction is impossible. Every AI draft requires attorney review. Testamentary capacity, intent, and undue influence are attorney judgments, not software outputs. Execution formalities must be verified for the signing state before every signing ceremony.
Probate deadlines compute from the letters testamentary date and the applicable state rule. Attorney remains responsible for verifying every computed deadline and for all filing deadlines regardless of system alerts.
Execution-rule references are attorney-review information only. Attorney must verify requirements before any execution. The platform does not guarantee that displayed rules are current or complete.
Estate tax estimation, payment collection, distribution milestone alerts, and beneficiary contact portals are not included.
Trust layer
Questions? hello@docketbuddy.org
Full security details →Most solo and small-firm attorneys already use plenty of software. The problem isn't the tools, it's that none of them work like a legal workflow.
One self-serve price per practice package. Unlimited matters. No per-case fees or per-seat software charges.
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Probate is live now
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What's included in Core:
The platform is live for estate planning and probate workflows.
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