Estate planning intake form builder

How to build an estate planning intake form

1. Choose the client's situation (single, married or partnered, or blended family) and tick "The client has children under 18" if that applies.
2. Pick the services you will provide: will, revocable living trust, financial power of attorney, healthcare directive and healthcare power of attorney, guardianship of minor children, special needs planning, business succession.
3. Choose the sections to include. Six are ticked to start; digital assets and pets are optional. Add your firm name if you want it in the header and cover note.
4. Select Build intake form. Read the questionnaire, change any choice and build again until it fits.
5. Copy it as Markdown, download the Markdown file, or download the printable form (.html). Untick "Include notes for the attorney" before you download the version you send to the client.

The estate planning intake form builder needs only a web browser with JavaScript. The questionnaire appears as soon as you select Build intake form; there is nothing to install or wait for.

What the intake form builder produces

The estate planning intake form builder assembles the questionnaire from a fixed set of questions and rules written by Gavel. It uses no AI, and the same choices always give the same form. Each question has a number, the question text, an answer type (short answer, longer answer, date, yes / no, dollar amount, a table with named columns, or a list of options) and, where useful, a line of help text for the client. For a couple, questions about each person (name, date of birth, contact details, occupation, citizenship, prior marriages, existing documents, funeral wishes and, with a healthcare directive, end-of-life wishes and organ donation) are marked "one for each of you", and the printable form gives them two answer spaces, Person 1 and Person 2.

The output has four parts: a cover note to the client (what the questionnaire is for, how to answer, and what documents to bring), the numbered sections, notes for the attorney that you can leave out, and a closing line that says the form is a starting point for a lawyer to review. These choices change it:

• Single: asks for marital status and lists children without asking whose child each one is. With children under 18 it asks whether the other parent is living and involved. The attorney note asks whom the client relies on today, and the cover note asks for any divorce decree.
• Married or partnered: adds the date and place of the marriage or partnership, prior marriages, any prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, and assets that belong to only one of you. The attorney note covers joint representation of a couple; the cover note asks for the prenuptial agreement.
• Blended family: everything for a couple, plus a children and stepchildren table, whether stepchildren should inherit like your own children, whether the survivor or each person's children should benefit first, whether any document still names a former spouse, and, with children under 18, whether a child has another living parent. It adds a blended-family attorney note and asks for any divorce decree.
• Children under 18: adds the guardian questions when a will or guardianship is selected, the age at which children receive their share outright, and an attorney note on minor children. If guardianship is not selected, a second note reminds you to ask about nominating a guardian.
• Will: executor (first choice and backup). Revocable living trust: successor trustee, real estate in more than one state, the age question, deeds in the documents to bring, and a trust funding note. Financial power of attorney: the agent. Healthcare directive and healthcare power of attorney: the healthcare agent, end-of-life wishes, organ donation, and a HIPAA authorization note.
• Special needs planning: its own section (the family member with a disability, benefits such as SSI and Medicaid, any existing special needs trust or ABLE account, current guardianship, and care), a trustee for the special needs trust, an attorney note and documents to bring.
• Business succession: its own section (entity, ownership, buy-sell or operating agreement, management, family in the business, value), who should manage or vote the business interest, an attorney note and documents to bring. It replaces the single "Do you own a business?" question in Assets overview.
• Digital assets section: five questions on online accounts, with help text that tells the client never to write a password on the form, and an attorney note on the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA). Pets section: the pets, a caregiver, and money for their care.
• Leaving out Fiduciaries adds a note to ask about executors, trustees, agents and guardians in the meeting; leaving out Assets overview while a trust is selected adds a note that you will need an asset list to fund the trust. Every form ends with a note that rules differ by state.

The printable form is a single HTML file with lines, boxes and tables to write in. You can type into it in a browser and print or save it as PDF, or print it blank. It has no submit button and sends nothing. For definitions of common clauses in wills and trusts, see the Gavel clause library.

Worked example

Example (fictional firm): married or partnered, children under 18, services will, revocable living trust, financial power of attorney, and healthcare directive and healthcare power of attorney, the six starting sections, firm name "Harborview Estate Law, PLLC". This is the "Try an example" button.

The builder returns 6 sections and 45 questions: Personal details (9), Family and beneficiaries (7), Assets overview (11), Existing documents (4), Fiduciaries (7) and Specific wishes (7). The cover note thanks the client for choosing Harborview Estate Law, PLLC, asks the couple to answer together as Person 1 and Person 2, and asks them to bring existing estate planning documents, account statements, deeds and any prenuptial agreement. Fiduciaries includes question 5.5, "Guardian for your minor children: first choice and backup", because the couple has children under 18 and wants a will, even though guardianship was not ticked.

The 6 notes for the attorney:

• Minor children: ask who should raise them, who should manage their money, and at what age each child should receive an inheritance outright.
• The client has minor children but guardianship is not among the selected services. Ask whether they want to nominate a guardian; in most states the nomination is made in the will.
• Joint representation of a couple raises conflict-of-interest and confidentiality questions under your state's rules of professional conduct. Address them in the engagement letter.
• Revocable trust: plan the funding after signing (deeds, retitled accounts, beneficiary designations). The Assets overview answers are your funding list.
• Healthcare directive: consider a HIPAA authorization so the agents can get medical information.
• Rules differ by state. Check the law of the state where the client lives and of any state where they own real estate.

What the intake form builder does not do

• It builds a blank questionnaire. It does not collect, store or send your client's answers; there is no online form and no submit button.
• It does not know your state. The questions and help text are general and US-focused; rules on wills, trusts, guardianship, community property and digital assets differ by state, so check the law that applies.
• You cannot edit single questions inside the builder. Change your choices and build again, or edit the Markdown or HTML file after you download it.
• It does not draft the will, trust or powers of attorney, and it does not give legal advice. The output is a starting point a lawyer reviews and adapts before a client sees it.
• It has not been tested with clients. Read every question before you send it, and add what your practice always asks.

When to use it

• Prepare for a first meeting with a young family: married or partnered, children under 18, will plus trust. Send the client version a week before; the attorney notes remind you to cover guardians and trust funding.
• Plan for a blended family: the questionnaire asks about stepchildren, former spouses on old beneficiary forms, and who should benefit first, so those questions come up before the meeting rather than during it.
• Take on a business owner or a family with a child with a disability: tick business succession or special needs planning to add their own sections and the documents to bring.
• Start or refresh your firm's standard intake form: build a version for each client situation, download the Markdown and adapt it to your state and your practice.

Next step: online intake with Gavel Workflows

The free estate planning intake form builder gives you a questionnaire to send as a file or print. Gavel Workflows, Gavel's paid no-code platform for client intake and document automation, turns a questionnaire like this into an online form with conditional logic, so clients see only the questions that apply to them, and feeds their answers into your estate planning documents. Plans and prices are on the pricing page.

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