Methodology · version 1.0
How the EstatePlan.now Experience Score works.
Measures how openly a firm publishes its pricing and how much of the process can happen online or remotely. Not a rating of legal skill, ethics or results.
What it measures.
The score is a number from 0 to 100 that summarizes how a firm works with new clients, as the firm describes it on its own website: whether it publishes what an estate plan costs, whether you can start online, whether it meets by video, whether documents can be signed remotely, and which family features it publishes. Every point traces to a page on the firm’s site with the date we checked it, and the breakdown behind every score shows exactly that.
It does not measure legal skill, ethics, experience, results, or whether a firm suits you. Two firms with the same score can differ in every way that matters to your plan. Read it as a summary of convenience and transparency, then read the profile.
The five factors.
Points add up to 100. Each factor is read from one kind of evidence on the firm’s website.
| Factor | Points | What earns them |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | 30 | Whether the firm publishes what an estate plan costs, and what that price covers.
|
| Start online | 25 | How much of the first step a family can complete online before talking to anyone.
|
| Remote meetings | 15 | Whether the firm says it meets clients by video or phone. 15 when the firm says it meets by video or phone; 0 when it says meetings are in person; unknown when it says nothing we could find. |
| Flexible signing | 15 | Whether documents can be signed remotely, by e-signature or with an online notary where the law allows. 15 for remote signing, e-signature or online notarization; 8 when some documents can be signed remotely and the rest in person; 0 when the firm says signing is in person; unknown when it says nothing we could find. Whether a remote signing is valid depends on the document and the state; the firm decides that, not this score. |
| Family Access | 15 | How many of four published, objective family features the firm offers. Each is a yes-or-no fact with a source:
|
Unknown, not published, not offered.
A factor is in one of three states, and the breakdown shows which. Scored: the firm publishes the feature, and the points follow the rules above. Not published or not offered: we checked and the firm does not publish or offer it; 0 points, with the page we checked. Unknown: not recorded, not checked, or checked too long ago; 0 points, but the score says so (“2 factors unknown”) and it never reads as a negative.
A number appears once at least 3 of the five factors have been checked on the firm's site. Until then the listing shows “Not yet scored” and any badges its evidence supports. Most listings that came from an automated homepage check are in this state.
A low number means the firm was checked and publishes little of this online. That is a fact about its website, not about its work.
Badges.
A badge appears only with stored evidence and a check date. A result card shows at most 4, in this order, and “more” opens the rest.
| Badge | Awarded when | It does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Published | The firm publishes an estate-planning price or starting price on its own website, with what it covers. | That the price is a good value, or a quote for your plan. |
| Start Online | A family can complete a substantive intake or questionnaire online, on the firm's site or through EstatePlan.now. | That the whole legal service happens online, or that no meeting is needed. |
| Remote Meetings | The firm states on its website that it meets clients by video or phone. | That a remote meeting is available for every matter or at every stage. |
| Flexible Signing | The firm publishes remote signing, e-signature or online notarization, or a documented option to sign some documents remotely. | That remote signing is valid for every document in every state. |
| Family Access | The firm publishes at least 2 of the four Family Access features: meetings at home or by video, evening or weekend appointments, a joint process for couples or a family plan, and children welcome or an accommodation offered. | Warmth, patience or any judgment of how the firm treats families. |
| License Checked | Every named attorney on the record was found in good standing on the licensing authority's own lookup on the date shown, within the last 365 days. | An endorsement, a guarantee of competence, or anything about the firm's history. |
Family Access needs 2 of the four features. License Checked is a badge, not points: a license check within the last 365 days on the licensing authority’s own lookup, run the same way for every firm.
What stays outside the score.
- SponsorshipA sponsored placement buys a labeled position in searches for the places a firm serves. The scoring code has no way to read whether a firm is sponsored, and a test in the repository proves that switching sponsorship on or off changes nothing. Payment cannot buy a badge, a point or a change to the evidence.
- Third-party ratingsGoogle and Avvo ratings, where we are permitted to show them, appear beside the score with the provider’s name, the review count and a link. They are not averaged into it. Any change to that would be a new version of this methodology, published here first.
- Distance and orderResults are ordered nearest first or alphabetically, with labeled sponsors first. The score is an optional sort, never the default order.
- Legal qualityCompetence, ethics, outcomes and fit are for you and the firm to establish. Nothing here rates them.
Freshness and corrections.
Each factor has a window after its last check: pricing transparency 180 days, start online 180 days, remote meetings 365 days, flexible signing 365 days, family access 365 days. Past the window the factor returns to unknown and its badge is removed until it is rechecked, rather than implying a current status.
A firm can send a correction with the page that supports it (info@estateplan.now). We check it against the source before anything changes; a firm cannot set its own score or award itself a badge. When a fact changes, the score is recalculated and the previous value is kept in the record’s history.
Versions.
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-09-26 | First version: five factors scored from firm-website evidence; third-party ratings displayed beside the score, not inside it; a number only when three of five factors are known. |