Trust & Will's Free AI Platform Aims to Reshape Estate Planning

SAN DIEGO, CA – January 12, 2026 – Digital estate planning leader Trust & Will today launched an AI-powered platform aimed squarely at the backbone of the estate planning industry: solo and small-firm attorneys. The new platform, Trust & Will for Attorneys, enters the market with a disruptive proposition—it's free to use and designed to equip independent lawyers with sophisticated tools once reserved for large, high-budget firms.

This move signals a significant strategic push to transform a traditionally fragmented and reactive legal sector. For decades, many estate planning attorneys have operated as lone practitioners, managing hundreds of client plans over their careers using disparate systems of spreadsheets, file cabinets, and general-purpose software. Trust & Will’s new offering seeks to replace that patchwork with a centralized, intelligent system designed not just for creating documents, but for managing long-term client relationships.

Democratizing Advanced Tools for Solo Practitioners

The most significant barrier for small law firms adopting new technology has often been cost. Comprehensive legal practice management and specialized document-drafting software can carry hefty price tags, with some platforms costing thousands of dollars in upfront fees and hundreds more in monthly subscriptions. Trust & Will is attempting to dismantle this barrier by offering its core platform for free, a strategy designed for rapid market penetration and user acquisition.

At the heart of the platform are several AI-driven capabilities tailored specifically for the estate planning workflow. Its Intelligent Document Management allows attorneys to drag-and-drop existing client documents—wills, trusts, deeds, and more—which the system then automatically analyzes. The AI-Powered Estate Plan Analysis feature extracts key details like beneficiaries, trustees, and specific provisions, creating structured summaries that can be reviewed and edited. This automation promises to save countless hours of manual review.

Furthermore, the platform includes an Attorney Assistant AI Chat, a built-in tool that allows lawyers to use natural language to search across their entire client base for specific documents, clauses, or client details. This functionality stands in contrast to more generalist AI tools and is designed to provide instant, context-aware answers within the attorney’s own secure data environment. The move aligns with broader industry trends, as a 2025 Clio Legal Trends Report indicated that 82% of legal professionals plan to increase their use of AI, reflecting a growing acceptance and demand for such technology.

A New Paradigm for Client Engagement

Beyond document automation, the platform’s core mission is to shift estate planning from a transactional service to a proactive, lifelong relationship. This is most evident in its Proactive Life Event Monitoring feature. The system is designed to automatically detect significant life events for clients, such as a death, marriage, or divorce, which often necessitate critical updates to an estate plan. By flagging these events, the platform enables attorneys to reconnect with clients at the precise moment their legal advice is most valuable.

This proactive capability is managed through a central Client Management Dashboard, which gives attorneys a high-level view of all their clients, the status of their plans, and indicators for which plans may be outdated. This directly addresses a chronic industry pain point where well-crafted plans become obsolete simply because there is no system to trigger a review.

"Estate planning attorneys are managing increasingly complex client needs with tools that were never designed for long-term engagement," said Cody Barbo, Co-Founder and CEO of Trust & Will, in the company’s announcement. "We built the Attorney Platform to help attorneys move from reactive work to proactive relationships. When attorneys have better visibility into their clients' plans and life changes, they can deliver more timely guidance and build practices that grow alongside the families they serve."

A Strategic Play in a Crowded Market

The launch of Trust & Will for Attorneys is not an isolated event but a calculated expansion of the company’s growing ecosystem. Founded in 2017, the B Corporation has already served over one million families with its direct-to-consumer digital estate planning tools and has established formidable partnerships with financial giants like UBS, USAA, and Northwestern Mutual. This new platform builds upon EstateOS™, the company’s intelligent backend introduced in 2025, extending its professional-grade technology directly to the legal community.

The 'free to use' model is a classic disruptive strategy. By eliminating the initial cost, Trust & Will can attract a broad user base of attorneys who may be hesitant to invest in expensive competing software. The company has stated that additional premium features and pricing tiers are planned for the future, following a common freemium playbook: build a large, engaged audience first, then offer paid upgrades for more advanced functionality. This approach could put significant pressure on established legal tech providers who rely on high-cost subscription models.

Navigating the Ethical AI Frontier

The integration of powerful AI into a sensitive practice area like estate planning is not without its challenges and ethical considerations. Legal professionals are bound by rules of professional conduct, including a duty of competence that, according to the American Bar Association, now includes an understanding of the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.

Legal ethics experts caution that attorneys cannot blindly trust AI-generated output. The ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of a legal document or the soundness of legal advice remains squarely with the human lawyer. Attorneys using platforms like this must diligently supervise the AI, verify its analysis, and maintain strict client confidentiality by ensuring the platform employs robust, legal-grade security.

Transparency with clients regarding the use of AI tools is also paramount to maintaining trust. Rather than a replacement for legal expertise, these AI platforms are being positioned as powerful assistants that can handle rote, time-consuming tasks. This allows attorneys to dedicate more of their time to the uniquely human aspects of their work: strategic counseling, empathetic listening, and exercising professional judgment, thereby enhancing the overall quality of their service.