Clio Work for Estate Planning, Probate, and Elder Law
Pick a task, copy the prompt, and run it on your matter in Clio Work.
Prompts
Legal Research
Confirm the requirements for a holographic will
Transactional
What are the requirements for a valid holographic will, including handwriting and signature rules, whether witnesses are needed, and any required language? Explain common reasons holographic wills fail and cite the controlling statutes and cases.
Find the gifting language for a power of attorney
Transactional
What specific language must a statutory power of attorney include to authorize the agent to make gifts and modify the principal's trust? Explain the limits on these powers, any required initials or separate grants of authority, and cite the controlling statutes.
Protect trust assets from creditors
Transactional
What trust language and statutes give beneficiaries of a discretionary spendthrift trust the strongest protection from creditors? Explain which creditors can still reach trust assets, how courts treat distribution standards, and cite the controlling statutes and cases.
Confirm the standard for undue influence in a will contest
Litigation
What is the standard for proving undue influence in a will contest? Explain the elements, when a presumption arises and how it shifts the burden, the evidence courts find persuasive, and cite the most recent appellate cases.
List the remedies for a trustee's breach of duty
Litigation
What remedies are available when a trustee breaches a fiduciary duty? Cover surcharge, removal, disgorgement, injunctions, and fee reductions, explain the standard of proof and limitations periods, and cite the controlling statutes and cases.
Find cases on no-contest clauses
Litigation
Find cases that define a no-contest clause and explain when a beneficiary's challenge is exempt from the penalty, such as probable cause or good faith exceptions. Summarize each case's key holding.
Document Analysis
Find ambiguities in a trust or will
Transactional
Review this trust or will and identify ambiguous distribution provisions, missing contingency clauses, and enforceability issues. Provide a table with the provision, issue, why it matters, and recommended revision, and flag anything that needs attorney review.
Compare a living will and a last will
Transactional
Compare the living will and last will for inconsistencies, conflicts, and drafting issues. Check the client's name and address, fiduciary appointments, final arrangements, anatomical gifts, beneficiaries, and asset references, and flag any provisions that could cause confusion during estate administration. Provide the results as a table with section references.
Pull estate assets from a probate package
Transactional
Extract every estate asset in the probate package into a table showing the asset type, title, estimated value, debt, likely probate or non-probate status, and follow-up issues such as missing deeds, beneficiary conflicts, or appraisal gaps.
Review an estate plan and its supporting documents
Transactional
Review the trust, pour-over will, power of attorney, prior drafts, beneficiary designation summary, funding checklist, intake materials, and attorney notes in this matter. Summarize which documents are in place, what each one does, and what records may still be missing. Then prepare a checklist of follow-up items for our office, including missing signatures, title documents, beneficiary confirmations, and funding documents.
Identify the claims in an estate complaint
Litigation
From this complaint, identify every legal claim, named fiduciary, and contested estate asset, and summarize the grounds for the will contest or trust dispute. Provide a table with paragraph references.
Summarize the history of a probate case
Litigation
Summarize the procedural history, court rulings, and pending motions in this probate litigation. Highlight upcoming deadlines for objections and claims bar dates, with the source for each.
Find evidence on testamentary capacity
Litigation
Review these medical records, witness declarations, and correspondence and identify evidence relevant to testamentary capacity or undue influence. Provide a table with the evidence, source and page reference, which issue it supports or undermines, and why it matters.
Skills
Skills save the way your firm does a task, so anyone at your firm gets the same result.
Get consistent, high-quality work from everyone at your firm, every time. A skill saves a task you repeat in your firm’s format and standards, so anyone on your team can run it. Use skills for document analyses, client letters, and strategy recommendations.
Summarize a probate packet
Pulls every estate asset from a probate packet into one working table with follow-up issues flagged.
Create This Skill
Create a skill that reads the probate packet in this matter and builds an asset table with the asset type, titling, estimated value, debts, and probate or non-probate status. It should flag missing deeds, appraisal gaps, and beneficiary conflicts.
Compare two wills and list attorney actions
Compares two wills, flags every inconsistency, and turns the results into a prioritized action list.
Create This Skill
Create a skill that compares two uploaded wills and returns a table of every inconsistency with citations and a risk level. It should then turn the table into a prioritized attorney checklist, split into immediate items and items for later in the administration.
Draft a letter of instruction
Drafts a letter of instruction for a probate or trust administration matter from documents already in the matter.
Create This Skill
Create a skill that drafts a letter of instruction for a probate or trust administration matter, pulling the grantor, trustee, asset, and client instruction details from the wills, powers of attorney, and trust documents in this matter.
Draft Templates
Draft documents from a prompt, or fill your firm’s own templates with details from the matter.
Get from a blank page to a first draft in minutes. Describe the document, and Clio Work drafts it from your matter’s facts and your jurisdiction’s law. Or turn your firm’s own documents into templates that fill in party names, dates, and terms from the matter.
Draft from a prompt
Draft a revocable living trust
Transactional
Draft a revocable living trust agreement that includes successor trustee provisions, specific bequests, and a pour-over clause coordinated with the client's will. Use placeholders for client-specific details.
Prepare a will from the intake questionnaire
Transactional
Using the estate planning intake questionnaire and instructions in this matter, prepare a complete estate planning package with a last will and testament, a durable power of attorney, and a healthcare directive as separate documents. Fill in the beneficiaries, executors, trustees, specific bequests, and governing law from the matter file, and flag any missing information.
Write a client letter on the estate plan's status
Transactional
Review this matter and draft a plain-language client letter explaining where the estate plan and administration stand. Explain which documents exist, which assets pass automatically, which may still need probate or more administration, and what information we still need from the family. Keep the tone practical and reassuring, make sure it matches the facts in the file, and clearly list the next steps.
Draft a motion to compel an executor's records
Litigation
Draft the argument section of a motion to compel discovery of the executor's personal financial records related to suspected self-dealing. Explain why the records are relevant, why the executor's fiduciary duties outweigh privacy concerns, and cite the controlling rules and cases.
Build your firm templates
Last Will and Testament
Starts every will from the firm's standard form. Upload your firm's version, and Clio Work turns the testator, executor, alternate executor, beneficiaries, and specific bequests into fields it fills from each matter. Then review the suggested rule that adds the guardian for minor children section only when the testator has minor children.
Revocable Living Trust
Fills the firm's trust agreement with grantor and trustee details. Upload your firm's version, and Clio Work turns the grantors, trustees, successor trustees, and beneficiaries into fields it fills from each matter. Then review the suggested rule that uses the joint trust provisions only when there are two grantors.
Durable Power of Attorney
Produces a power of attorney in the firm's format for each client. Upload your firm's version, and Clio Work turns the principal, agent, alternate agent, and effective date into fields it fills from each matter. Then review the suggested rule that adds the gifting powers section only when the client authorizes gifts.
Visualizations
Visualizations make charts, calendars, and diagrams from your matter data.
Build the exact view you need, right when you need it. Describe it in plain language, and Clio Work builds an interactive tool from your matter data, such as a case chronology or a settlement calculator. Download it and share it with clients and colleagues.
Summarize estate assets
Shows every estate asset by type, value, and probate status.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive chart of estate assets by type and value, separating probate from non-probate assets and noting the beneficiary designation on each. Use the inventory and account statements in this matter.
Show who receives what under the plan
Shows who receives what under the estate plan.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive flowchart showing how each asset passes to each beneficiary, including contingent beneficiaries, and flag any asset without a clear path. Use the will, trust, and beneficiary designations in this matter.
Lay out the probate timeline
Lays out every step and deadline in an estate administration.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive timeline of the petition, letters issued, creditor notice period, inventory, accounting, and distribution deadlines. Use the filings and court orders in this matter.
Map the family behind an estate
Shows the decedent's family and each person's role in the estate.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive family tree of the decedent's relatives, marking heirs at law, beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and anyone who has passed away. Use the documents in this matter.
Summarize trust accounting
Summarizes trust income, expenses, and distributions for the period.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive report and chart of receipts, disbursements, distributions to each beneficiary, and the ending balance for the accounting period. Use the trust account statements in this matter.
Show the client their estate plan roadmap
Shows the client each planning milestone, its status, and what they need to do next.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive Estate Plan Completion Roadmap from the information in this matter. Show each planning milestone with its status, responsible person, target date, and next action. Add filters for household member and status, clickable milestones with plain-language explanations, a progress indicator, and a What You Need to Do Next panel. Don't include internal notes or confidential strategy.
Draw a family tree the client can keep
Turns names, dates, and relationships into a traditional family tree families can revisit and share.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive family tree from the family information in this matter. Use a traditional top-down layout with paired relatives and connecting branches. Show names and key dates for each person. Use the colors blue, white, and orange.
Show the client how assets flow through the will and trust
Shows step by step how each asset passes under the will and trust, in a format clients can follow.
Create This Visualization
Using visualizations, create an interactive flowchart from the will and trust documents in this matter. Show how each asset passes under the will, into the trust, and out to each beneficiary, including any conditions or contingent gifts. Cite the document section behind each step and keep the layout clear enough to share with the client.