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Heckerling
Institute 2002
Reports from the event, as posted to the ABA-PTL List Serve |
Report #4
back
to 2002 Table of Contents
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REPORT NO. 4 - The Vendors and Other Techie News
This report is usually Report #1, but it took us longer than expected
to gather up all the information we could from the vendors who
were in the Exhibit Hall at Heckerling this year and compile it
into this Report. In addition, it took us much longer than
we expected to compile this Report. Due to these delays,
we have been able to negotiate extensions of some of the special
show deals and prices that were being offered by the vendors at
Heckerling (see further below re).
We are indebted to Jim Eidelman of Eidelman Associates
(President of the Company that markets the EP Expert software
system that is built on top of his WinDraft system and Microsoft
Word - further details on this product are below) and Alan
Rothschild, the current Co-Chair of the ABA RPPT Sections
Public Web Site Committee and former Chair of the PT Division’s
Technology Committee) for carrying the laboring oar on the below
"Reports from the Exhibit Hall."
First, a list of who was (and, interestingly, was not) there
(in alpha order):
BNA Software - www.bnasoftware.com
<http://www.bnasoftware.com/>
Brentmark Software - www.brentmark.com
<http://www.brentmark.com/>
Cowles Legal Systems - <http://www.cowleslegal.com/>
Crescendo Software - www.crescendosoft.com
<http://www.crescendosoft.com/>
CCH Inc. - www.tax.cch.com
<http://www.tax.cch.com/>
Eidelman Associates - www.lawtech.com
<http://www.lawtech.com/>
Lackner Computer Group - www.lacknergroup.com
<http://www.lacknergroup.com/>
Leimberg & LeClair, Inc. - www.leimberg.com
<http://www.leimberg.com/>
ProBATE Software - www.probate-software.com
<http://www.probate-software.com/>
ProDoc Will Forms - www.prodoc.com
<http://www.prodoc.com/>
Schumacher & Co. - www.estplanning.com
<http://www.estplanning.com/>
TEdec Systems - www.tedec.com
<http://www.tedec.com/>
US Trust Company of New York - www.ustrust.com
<http://www.ustrust.com/>
WealthCounsel LLC - www.wealthcounsel.com
<http://www.wealthcounsel.com/>
West Group - www.westgroup.com
<http://www.westgroup.com/>
Zane & Associates - www.zanenet.com
<http://www.zanenet.com/>
ZCalc - www.zcalc.com
<http://www.zcalc.com/>
And among the missing (we were told) were:
ACTEC Quicken Templates - www.actec.org
<http://www.actec.org/>
- but then they still only sell this to lawyers according to their
Web site
Advanced Logic Systems DPS - no Web site, but you can e-mail sales@dpsbyals.com
Appraise - www.appraisenj.com
<http://www.appraisenj.com/>
Estate Valuations & Pricing Systems (EVP) - www.evpsys.com
<http://www.evpsys.com/>
FastDraft - www.fastdraft.com
<http://www.fastdraft.com/>
- makers of the Bank One and FastDraft wills and trusts forms
system
Financial Data Service - www.financialdata.com
<http://www.financialdata.com/>
Lawgic Publishing - www.lawgic.com
<http://www.lawgic.com/>
The Technology Group, Inc. - www.LawOnTheWeb.com
<http://www.lawontheweb.com/>
Tiger Tables - www.tigertables.com
<http://www.tigertables.com/>
but see further below re
Next, here is the Report that was filed by Alan Rothschild:
Report on Current Technology at Heckerling Estate Planning
Institute
by Alan F. Rothschild Jr. Esq.
The Institute
again offered a broad array of technology vendors and
products, from online research services to sophisticated document
assembly
and estate forecasting software. The major research services,
such as RIA &
Lexis-Nexis, had impressive exhibits of their latest product
offerings—primarily online research services. Both
were pushing their
practice-oriented pricing plans at the meeting. Lexis also
exhibited its
limited, state-specific Wills & Trusts forms, which
I think are the old
Matthew Bender products.
CCH’s primary
focus was its newly redesigned ViewPlan, which is
CCH’s primary planning software today (it previously offered Vista
as well).
Initial cost is around $925, renewal $535. The new version
appears to offer
simpler interface and the ability to automatically adjust for
new tax law or
to manual insert exemption amount and tax rate. CCH is also
in the process
of merging some of its other planning programs and rolling out
a new program
in 2002. Although not exhibited at Heckerling, it is also
pushing a product
by an affiliated company called ProSystem FX. This
is a new "tax
compliance" package that will prepare Forms 706, 709, etc.
Some of the vendors
that seem to have their regular exhibits included
Crescendo’s Planning Giving program (seems to be more oriented
to
development rather than attorneys), Lackner’s 6-in-1 system,
and US Trust’s
E-Plan software and Practical Drafting series, both
in hard copy and CD-ROM.
One trend that
seems to be gaining ground is client communication
and interaction via the Internet. Connect2A.com exhibited
their site which
boasts of such interactivity, while PPC and ProBATE
Systems both marketed
their new services which allowed online communication and/or information
sharing with clients and other professionals on the planning team.
This is
either a trend to watch or an attempt to sell something that can
be
accomplished with a firm website and e-mail, we’ll have to see.
PPC also
exhibited its Estate & Trust Consultant, which for
around
$500 offers some very sophisticated estate planning research on
CD-ROM,
including material on preparing 706/709 & 1041, ILIT’s and
FLP’s. A good
value in the higher end products.
Brentmark
and ZCalc were also present with their excellent
forecasting and tax calculation products. Saw a new Charitable
planning
program that runs on ZCalc but did not get to review the details.
Brentmark
also said it had just come out with College Funding and
Stock Options
programs, but I did not review these either.
Most interesting
was the document assembly situation. ProDoc
was again present with its Texas and Fla. document
assembly programs.
Their president (Alan Schoolcraft Esq.) says they have over 4000
subscribers
now and will be adding at least one more state this year, although
sadly they
have discontinued supporting the Colorado Probate System
as of 2002.
Perhaps the really big news from Heckerling 2002 was the
absence of
both Lawgic and The Technology Group (Wealth Transfer
Planning).
In prior years, these booths drew lots of attention and buzz.
Both products
ran into serious financial trouble in late 2001, and their futures
are yet to be
determined. I followed up after the conference with insiders from
each of these
entities, and there does appear to be both a commitment and a
real interest
in continuing these two fine document assembly programs somehow.
However,
for the time being, I understand that Lawgic is offering
e-mail and web site
support only, but is not issuing any new program updates while
support for
WTP is now being provided by an independent contractor
via the vendor’s
LawOnTheWeb Web site, which is finally back up and running
again .
2002 will be a very important year for both of these products
and document
assembly software in general (see immediately below re the EP
Expert &
WinDraft and new WealthCounsel DAE software offerings).
Next, a "virtual" report from your Editor himself
from the snow-covered ski slopes of Keystone, Colorado, on some
other "hot of the presses" document assembly news:
EP Expert & WinDraft:
First, and
although Jim Eidleman’s EP Expert document drafting system is
not really "new," as it has been around for some time
now, there have been several recent improvements in it, and the
law firms of Holland and Hart LLP in Denver and Joslyn, Keydel
& Wallace LLP in Detroit (amongst others) have both installed
this system recently, in one case to replace an ageing CAPS system
and support the firm’s permanent move from WordPerfect to Word.
EP Expert is not
just a document production system - it is a practice system for
estate planners that not only drafts trusts, wills, powers of
attorney and related supporting documents, using either the system’s
model documents or the law firm’s own documents and language,
but it prints out an outline checklist and integrates with document
management and other Windows programs. One drawback (for
those of us who are loyal users of the Corel’s WordPerfect software)
is that this product is currently designed for use only with Microsoft
Word, but one plus is that the assembled documents seamlessly
end up in MS Word where they can be freely edited and revised.
The underlying "engine" for this product is the Company’e
proprietary WinDraft document assembly system, which can optionally
integrate with DOCS Open or iManage and other document management
software programs and uses an ACCESS database "under the
hood."
Some highlights
from the current versions are (1) a visual outline-structured
dual-window front-end with wording and questions that can even
be customized and allows the user to visually see all the available
decisional choices, (2) the fact that favorite document patterns
can be assembled and saved as a single form for later reuse, 3)
its automatic handling of gender changes, and (4) its EPPeople
feature that can be used for entering recurring data.
According to Jim,
EP Expert is designed for use both in small firms (see small
firm show special below) and on a network in a large firm
with DOCS Open and iManage integration. The core forms that
come with his system are now being supported by a reputable large
"old-line" law firm [he didn’t tell me who it is] and
have been updated for the new tax Act. In addition, he is
about to add a community property RLT for use in CP states.
Considering that
Jim is considered one of the "grandfathers" of document
assembly systems and technology in the ABA Law Practice Management
Section, I think you can safely rely on Jim’s expertise, knowledge
and product development in this area.
WealthCounsel:
The newest, and
probably most exciting, entry into the document assembly marketplace
this year is the WealthCounsel Practice System. Although
this Company came out with its Family Limited Partnership system
in late November of 1999, and exhibited it at Heckerling in January
of 2001, this system alone seemed to be very expensive for the
price, and this was so even though the whole system is designed
to work with HotDocs 5.1and above (HotDocs 5.3 is required for
PCs running Windows XP). It too is programmed to output
documents only in MS Word (97, 2000 or XP 2002), although, presumably,
the resulting Word documents can then be saved out as RTF or lesser
version WordPerfect documents and ported over to Corel WordPerfect
for final touch up and printing without a whole lot of lost Word
special formatting.
However, since
the 11/99 introduction of their FLP system, WealthCounsel has
since introduced (or will soon) five more practice systems, all
of which function exactly the same, and all of which are sold
as a single practice system for a single price that has made the
relatively high price for this product seem much more reasonable.
Those systems are for Living Trusts (4/01), Irrevocable
Trusts (9/01), Charitable Trusts (CRTs in 9/01 - others
to come) and Wills (11/01). The addition of a Split-Interest
practice system that will do QPRTs, GRATs, GRUTs, Split-Dollar
agreements, Private Annuities, SCINs, GRITs and Split-Interest
trusts, is in the works now and is scheduled for release in the
fall of 2002, all as part of this single one-price software package.
As for pricing,
for those who attended Heckerling, or those who order this
product before the end of January of this year AND MENTION when
they do that they heard about this offer on the ABA-PTL or the
CBA-TES lists, the costs is $7,000 annually payable either
(a) $0 down plus $575 per month for 24 months, or (b) $1,500 down
plus $575 per month for 12 months, or (c) $3,500 down plus $350
per month for 12 months, or (d) a one-time payment of $7,000.
Otherwise, and after 12/31/01 for all other customers, the cost
is $8,150 annually payable either (a) $1,675 down plus $675 per
month for 12 months, or (b) $3,900 down plus $390 per month for
12 months, or (c) a one-time payment of $8,150. This annual
fee gives you the software, technical support, any software additions,
updates or improvements, and access to the Knowledge Base
that is on the private side of the WealthCounsel Web site at www.wealthcounsel.com
<http://www.wealthcounsel.com/>
as well as discounted pricing on their periodic Curriculum
and Study Group offerings. Although the annual fee for
this system is high, it is my understanding (but don’t hold me
to this - ask them) that your annual fee thereafter will remain
at the same level forever (presumably with the same monthly payment
options) regardless of any future price increases for new subscribers.
I was privileged
to be able to try out a beta version of the FLP system in December
of 1999 (quite impressive once I got it up and running) and to
see the updated version of this system in actual operation first-hand
in mid-December of 2001 (also quite impressive). I picked
up a free credit-card sized DEMO CD from them then, but I have
not had the time to install and run it yet, so I highly recommend
getting one of those demos and trying it out first before you
buy. Since this program uses HotDocs to make it all happen,
I sure am glad I have the Corel Legal Office Suite loaded, as
it comes with HotDocs 5.1 already built in. Makes you wonder
why this system can’t be redesigned to output the finished documents
in a modifiable WordPerfect or RTF format too. I am told
this is due to some of Microsoft’s proprietary format code programing
that is used by and forms a core part of the proper functioning
of this system.
And here from Jim Eidelman and me (in no particular order)
are some further random tidbits of useful vendor and software
information:
The Technology
Group [WTP] - has unplugged its answering machine, but it’s
LawOnTheWeb Web site is back up and running again, and
updates to WTP 2.4 can be downloaded from there. Discussions
are currently under way to try and salvage this Company and/or
its software.
Lawgic (CA
and FL Wills & Trusts - Promised to Add NY in 2001] -
you can’t reach them by phone either, but we are told that tech
support is answering e-mails, and license extensions of their
existing products for current subscribers can be downloaded from
their Web site. Here again, discussions are currently under
way to try and salvage this Company and/or at least its estate
planning and Delaware incorporation software offerings, as the
Miami, Florida law firm of Holland & Knight has a substantial
amount of time and expertise invested in Lawgic’s Florida Wills
& Trusts system and was going to help Carlyn McCaffrey
[ACTEC President Elect] build the promised New York system.
West Group
[Bob Wilkins’ DWTA] - still there and still being updated
and maintained, but it still runs in CAPS vs. HotDocs, and Bob
wants to retire from this project (we don’t blame him given all
the years of time away from his law practice he has devoted to
technology improvements for lawyers), so the DWTA system is UP
FOR SALE to anyone who wants to buy and continue to maintain it,
provided (last we heard) they keep Bob on as a consultant for
few years and keep Joy employed on staff as a programmer.
West Group
[Don Kelley’s IEP] - a new and improved Version 4.0 was released
in December of 2001. FYI, this product comes with its own
customizable set of slides for use in building client and group
presentations.
CCH Inc. [ViewPlan
& Vista] - they have revamped the program, added Factuary
to it, and started issuing it on CD’s in 2001. One big problem
with it is the rather novel way they chose to handle the repeal
of the estate tax in 2010 and its re-enactment in 2011 - for more
on that see and search the ABA-PTL Web-based archives for the
debate and the details - <http://mail.abanet.org/archives/aba-ptl.html>.
All other software vendors are going in the exact opposite direction.
ZCalc -
nothing particularly new here, except they were the first to update
their product for EGERTA calculations. However, Leimberg
& LeClair have just released a rather exciting new product
that comes with a run-time versions of ZCalc built in [Excel 97,
2000 or 2002XP is also required]. It is called TaxCruncherPro,
and is an Income Tax Planning software program. A 15-day
free trial versions can be downloaded from <http://www.taxcruncherpro.com/>.
We have loaded and taken a quick tour of this one, but we have
not had an opportunity yet to run it through its paces, so we
encourage you to download it yourself for free and try it.
Also, be sure you take a look at the Leimberg & LeClair special
offer for readers of this list for their very reasonably priced
LISI Newsletter service that is at the end of this Report.
Tiger Tables
- they did not have a booth this year, but the word on the Internet
is that the author and sole tech supporter for this product, St.Louis
attorney Larry Katzenstein, has just released a new version of
his Tiger Tables calculation software. You can obtain a
copy at www.tigertables.com
<http://www.tigertables.com/>.
Larry reports "I have put my interrelated estate tax calculator
(Intertax) in the program as a utility, along with my amortization
program. The program has a totally new look and feel, along with
various additions and enhancements. For example, the self-canceling
installment note will now figure the principal or risk premium
for interest-only and equal principal notes as well as self-amortizing
notes, and the CRAT and CRUT programs will calculate factors for
a term of years or until the prior deaths of from 1 to 10 individuals."
If you don’t have this software program on hand, you are missing
something you really need to have in your estate planning bag
of tricks
Client and
Group Presentation Programs - seems everyone is headed in
this direction in one way or another, including attorney Matt
Dana and his Power Presentations product that he was demonstrating
in Miami. Crescendo similarly has a charitable gift
planning presentation program, and their’s even comes with built
in audio. As was noted above, the West Group IEP
product ships with a built-in set of over 100 presentation slides
that can be individually or group selected for use in a specific
client or group presentation, and you can even produce and add
you own additional slides if you want to. PPC and ProBATE
similarly have introduced client presentation and contact software
products, and ConnectA2.com, which is "an application
service that lets accountants, attorneys, financial professionals,
and their clients, securely gather and share personal and financial
information over the Internet during the planning, lifetime maintenance,
and after-death administration of a client’s wealth strategies
plan," was back at Heckerling again this year for the second
year in a row. Leimberg & LeClair and Crescendo
also have several video and PowerPoint presentation products available
for sale.
Tax Return
Preparation - not a whole lot new here. The same all-in-one
integrated software system players are still in business: West
Group’s EPS, Zane & Associates, the Lackner
Group (6-in-1), and ProBATE. US Trust
still offers, in addition to their Practical Drafting quarterly
publication that is edited by Richard Covey of NYC and is now
available on a Folios-searchable CD-ROM, and their Factors
tax calculation software, their EPlan software for doing
sophisticated estate planning calculations and software that will
prepare the Forms 706 and 709, but they still do not have
a Form 1041 program, nor a fiduciary accounting program (but then,
as a trust company, why would they develop one?). BNA
similarly is still limiting themselves to software only for preparing
the Forms 706 and 709, but new 2002 versions of their Estate
Tax and Income Tax calculation and planning programs
have just been released, and they have added many handy bells
and whistles to these two long-standing programs over the years.
Tax Calculations
Software - we have mentioned some of these already (see above),
but we don’t want to overlook Brentmark Software out of
Orlando, Florida. Although this Company has been through
a couple of ownership transitions over the years, they are solidly
in business now under the able leadership of Greg Kolojeski, who
is now ably assisted by none other than Jane Schuck. We
just received their 2002 Catalog, and their offerings of estate
planning, financial planning a retirement planning software products
is quite impressive. New to their lineup of software product
offerings in 2001are their College Planning Tools ($395),
Stock Options Risk Analyzer ($695), and RetireNow
($349) programs. They also offer on-line minimum distribution
calculators [ www.caltools.com
<http://www.caltools.com/>],
on-line retirement plan publications [ www.goldbergreports.com
<http://www.goldbergreports.com/>],
three informational Web sites for ROTH IRAs [ www.rothira.com
<http://www.rothira.com/>],
the new Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) rules [ www.newrmd.com
<http://www.newrmd.com/>]
and for ROTH 401k [ www.roth401k.com
<http://www.roth401k.com/>],
plus a custom Web Page Design service (with license pricing for
that service starting at $15,000, it had better be a pretty fancy
Web site offering).
NOW FOR SOME HECKERLING SPECIAL OFFERS:
Offer #1:
According to Jim Eidelman, EP Expert, which is designed
for use both in small firms (1 to 5 users) and on a network in
a large firm with DOCS Open and iManage integration, will be made
available in the small firm version only for a show-special price
of $2,495 until the end of next week PROVIDED you mention
the 2002 Heckerling Reports when you order.
Offer #2:
As was mentioned above, WealthCounsel is offering all of
their WealthCounsel Practice Systems for the pre-2002 Heckerling
show-special price of $7,000 annually, payable either (a) $0 down
plus $575 per month for 24 months, or (b) $1,500 down plus $575
per month for 12 months, or (c) $3,500 down plus $350 per month
for 12 months, or (d) a one-time payment of $7,000, PROVIDED
you mention you heard about this offer on the ABA-PTL list
(or, for those of you from Colorado, the CBA-TES list).
Otherwise, and after 12/31/01 for all other customers, the cost
has been increased to $8,150 annually.
AND ANOTHER HECKERLING SPECIAL (a repeat announcement):
Offer #3:
Stephan Leimberg <steve@leimbergservices.com>
has recently informed us that his Company [Leimberg & LeClair]
is willing to offer a Heckerling Special for anyone who sees this
announcement and subscribes to his LISI Newsletter service
during the time the Institute is taking place and before the Final
Report is issued. All you have to do is send an e-mail to
service@leimbergservices.com
and include the words HECKERLING DISCOUNT in the subject. Bob
LeClair will get back to you and handle the sign-up. They
will give those people a monthly price of $13.95 rather than the
$14.95 regular price. You also can take a free look
at the site and its many services by going to <http://www.leimbergservices.com/>
and clicking on the blue FREE TRIAL button on the top right.
CONCLUSION:
We are sure we have forgotten to mention someone or some new
software product or some jucy bit of vendor news, and for that
we apologize in advance, but your Editor is running out steam
and way too late in getting this Report out today as previously
promised, so we are going to call it quits here for now.
If any other vendors or attendees at Heckerling have any information
they want us to cover in later Reports, just e-mail it to us c/o
jghodges@jghlaw.com in
the next day or so.
_________________________________________________
That is it for Report No. 4. The full text of all the Reports
will be posted on the ABA RPPT Web site at
www.abanet.org/rppt
<http://www.abanet.org/rppt>.
======================================
MIAMI INSTITUTE GENERAL INFORMATION:
Inquiries/Registration:
Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning
University of Miami School of Law
Center for Continuing Legal Education
P.O. Box 248087
Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087
Telephone: 305-284-4762 / FAX: 305-284-6752
===========================================
Headquarters Hotel - Fontainebleau Hilton, Miami Beach, FL
Telephone (305) 538-2000, FAX (305) 674-4607
===========================================
NOTICE: Although audio tapes of all of the substantive session
at the Miami Institute currently are only made available to Institute
registrants for purchase, the entire proceeding of the Institute
are
published annually by Lexis/Nexis. For further information, go
to
their Web site at <http://www.lexis.com/>.
The text of these proceedings is also available on CD ROM from
Authority by Matthew Bender. For further information, contact
your Matthew Bender sales representative, or call (800) 533-1637,
or fax (800) 828-8341, or go to URL <http://www.bender.com/>,
or
write to Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., Attn: Fulfillment Dept.,
1275
Broadway, Albany, NY 12204.
______________________________________________________
Joseph G. Hodges Jr. Esq., Denver, CO
ABA-PTL Discussion List Chief Moderator
jghodges@jghlaw.com
<http://www.jghlaw.com/>
URL for ABA-PTL Web-based Archives:
<http://mail.abanet.org/archives/aba-ptl.html>
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