Marking up your documents for HotDocs Automation

We recommend that you mark up your documents in your Word Processor to make automating in HotDocs faster.

For this example, let’s suppose that a decision has been made to automate your firm’s standard will.  Further, you have decided to retain its qualities as a Word document and, hence, would like it transformed into a MS Word template.  Here is a copy of how your original will might start out:

I, CLARK CLIENT, a resident of 123 Some Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84043, do make, publish and declare this to be my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils heretofore made by me.

SECTION 1.  IDENTIFICATION

1.1.      SPOUSE – My spouse’s name is CONNIE CLIENT.  All references in this Will to my spouse are to said spouse

1.2.      CHILDREN – I have two (2) children, SAM CLIENT and CHRIS CLIENT.  All references in this Will to my children are to said named children and to children hereafter born to or adopted by me and to any child of mine in gestation at the time of my death.

To mark-up this document, start at the top of the document and work your way down through the page. The first sentence has some need of automation, as several words will change depending on the client.  The sections that will change from client to client are highlighted below.

I, CLARK CLIENT, a resident of 123 Some Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84043, do make, publish and declare this to be my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils heretofore made by me.

We would mark the highlighted sections for automation by replacing the highlighted text with an indicator of how this should be automated.  The same paragraph is shown below in a marked up format.  The capitalization of “NAME OF CLIENT” tells REAL to have the client’s name inserted in all capital letters.

I, [NAME OF CLIENT], a resident of [Address of Client], do make, publish and declare this to be my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils heretofore made by me.

This paragraph is now ready for automation.  The indicators will instruct REAL to replace the Name of the Client and Address of the client with variables.  The variables will dynamically gather information from the end-user and insert the information into the document.

Now lets look at the next paragraph.

1.1.      SPOUSE – My spouse’s name is CONNIE CLIENT.  All references in this Will to my spouse are to said spouse.

One way to mark it up is:

1.1.      SPOUSE – My spouse’s name is [NAME OF SPOUSE].  All references in this Will to my spouse are to said spouse.

The problem with leaving this paragraph like this is that it does not tell REAL what to do for single clients or clients with an unmarried partner.  One way to add these instructions is to include text at the start of the paragraph with more specific instructions.  Different possible options for the paragraph’s wording can also be included in the instructions or by using slashes within the paragraph’s text to indicate different options.  In the example paragraph, the word “spouse” should become partner as needed.  For example:

[PARAGRAPH 1.1 – ONLY INCLUDE IF THE CLIENT IS MARRIED OR HAS A PARTNER]

1.1.      [SPOUSE/PARTNER]- My [spouse/partner]‘s name is [NAME OF SPOUSE].  All references in this Will to my [spouse/partner] are to said [spouse/partner].

Most of the children paragraph can be marked-up using the previous two examples as guidance:

[PARAGRAPH 1.2 – ONLY INCLUDE IF THE CLIENT HAS CHILDERN]

1.2.      [CHILD/CHILDREN] – I have [number of children:nine] ([number of children:9]) [child/children], [NAME OF CHILDREN].  All references in this Will to my [child/children] are to said named [child/children] and to children hereafter born to or adopted by me and to any child of mine in gestation at the time of my death.

Notice that the actual number of children has been replaced by the text “number of children” followed by an indicator of how the number should be formatted.   Using the number “nine” is a generic way to indicate any number in HotDocs.  For example, if a client had three children, the above formatting would tell to REAL to insert the first sentence of the paragraph into the document as: I have three (3) children ….

Although this mark-up is a good start on the children’s paragraph, the process is not quite complete, as not every client wants to include a paragraph about after-born children.  This should be made optional.  The final mark-up for the children’s paragraph considering these factors might look like this:

1.3.      [CHILD/CHILDREN] – I have [number of children:nine] ([number of children:9]) [child/children], [NAME(S) OF CHILDREN].  All references in this Will to my [child/children] are to said named [child/children] [OPTIONAL: and to children hereafter born to or adopted by me and to any child of mine in gestation at the time of my death].

The same procedure can be done to add stepchildren, grandchildren, and even a paragraph about any disinherited children.

Five steps to automating documents in HotDocs

Where should you begin when automating your documents in HotDocs? We have broken it down into five steps:

Step 1 – Decide which documents you use the most in your practice.

Step 2 – Determine the ease of automating for each document.

Some questions that you should consider when determining the ease of automating in HotDocs are:

  • How many variables are going to be in the document? The more variables you have in your document the longer it will take to program. Having several variables in your document does not necessarily mean that it will be a hard document to program but it will take some time.
  • Do you have optional paragraphs that you want to include? When you start adding optional paragraphs, the programming that is required can become complex. We recommend starting on documents that do not have optional paragraphs to begin with so you that you can get your programming foundation in place.
  • Do you have questions that build upon themselves in order for the correct option to be in your document?  These questions can be simple as asking a true/false question to determine if another question needs to be asked to having multiple questions being asked prior to getting to the correct answer.
  • Do you have calculations that need to be entered in your documents? Calculations can include simply asking for a date or determining when an item is due in 90 days.  HotDocs calculations can also be extremely complex in nature and require the use of IF statements, Sums, and other calculations.

Step 3 – Pick the simplest document

Once you have determined the ease of each document, pick the easiest one to begin with. We recommend starting with the easiest document first so that you can get used to programming in HotDocs.

Step 4 – Mark-up your documents

Mark-up your documents. This can be done in a number of ways. Here is an article that describes how we recommend marking up your document.   Marking-up your documents article

Step 5 – Start programming your documents in HotDocs

If you need any assistance, we offer HotDocs online training courses and HotDocs programming.

Guidelines for deciding what type of HotDocs options should be included in your documents

The following are some features we suggest you consider when looking at automating your documents.  All of the listed features are optional but illustrate enhancements clients have liked in the past.

1) Basic Answer File.  Include a basic answer file that gathers the information used throughout your system.  This helps keep track of information such as staff member names, firm address, and so forth.  A basic answer file will carry your law firm’s information into all of the other documents.  This way you do not have to enter the same standard information for each client.

2) Pick lists.  Pick lists allow you to import information from one field to another without duplicating the information.  They allow you to transform your personal representative into an attorney-in-fact without retyping names or addresses.

3) Inserts.  Commonly used sections of documents, such as notary blocks, can be imported from separately saved documents.  Doing so makes updating a snap.  An update made to the insert file will automatically carry over to all of the documents it is used in.

4) Multiple Documents.  Often a husband and wife share common information.  We recommend having your system built to prepare documents for either individual without needing to re-enter information.  The document preparation takes a little longer, but the time it saves in the long run makes this feature a must have.

5) Decision Trees.  The decision tree is a document that contains all of the questions needed to complete the documents for a client.  This makes it extremely easy for the attorney to fill out answers on paper with the client and then enter them into the system later.

6) Master Interview File.  A master interview will let you enter all of your information in one place.  You can see all of the information that needs to be assembled for the client without having to look at any other document.  These work extremely well with decision trees as you can transfer a broad range of questions directly into the computer without changing templates.

3 Steps to Get Documents Ready for HotDocs Automation

Step 1

Decide which documents should be included in the document automation system.  The question that needs to be answered is “What documents do I use often enough to warrant automation?”   Factors to consider when answering this question include 1) how often the document is prepared, 2) the difficulty of creating the completed document, and 3) the advantage that could be provided by having a completely automated system versus a system that contains only a few documents.  As REAL gains experience with your particular document style and automation needs, the time needed to prepare an automated document decreases.  This means that including more documents in the automated system will usually equate to a lower cost per document.  More complex documents are a good thing to include in your system, even if they are not prepared extremely often.  Automating complex documents allows your associates and paralegals to create quality documents for you, which saves your time for more important tasks.

Step 2

Decide which type of template each included document should become.  Possible choices include interview, form, and word processor templates.  Each document should be carefully analyzed to determine how it fits into the overall automation scheme and assigned a template type.  Possible choices include an interview, form, or word processor template.  Interview templates are commonly created from intake forms.  They are used to gather information and do not result in a final document.  Form templates allow the user to change only certain aspects of the documents.  The user can tab through the fields of the form and fill in needed information but cannot make changes to the underlying white space.  Word processor documents can be in Word or WP formats.  They are the most dynamic document type and allow the end-user full control of the resulting product.

Step 3

The last preparatory step in the automation process is to mark up your documents in a manner that illustrates what should be automated.  When marking up documents, each paragraph should be examined and marked in a manner that tells us which language should be optional and how the completed document should appear.  A common practice is to mark optional phrases in brackets or place optional text in red and add the word OPTIONAL at the top of the paragraph.  Date and text formats should be indicated in the markup as well.  We at REAL are willing to help you with this process on any level desired and can make recommendations based on what we have seen in the past.  We can also provide samples of marked up document to show you what others have done.  We do recommend that you mark up most of the documents yourself.  Doing this yourself ensures that your automated documents perfectly fit your needs.

EXAMPLE

This is one example of how to mark up your documents.  You can either mark the document up in your word processor or you can print copies of the document and mark up the document using a highlighter and notes.

For this example, let’s suppose that a decision has been made to automate your firm’s standard will.  Further, you have decided to retain its qualities as a Word document and, hence, would like it transformed into a MS Word template.  Here is a copy of how your original will might start out:

I, CLARK CLIENT, a resident of 123 Some Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84043, do make, publish and declare this to be my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils heretofore made by me.

SECTION 1IDENTIFICATION

1.1.      SPOUSE – My spouse’s name is CONNIE CLIENT.  All references in this Will to my spouse are to said spouse

1.2.      CHILDREN – I have two (2) children, SAM CLIENT and CHRIS CLIENT.  All references in this Will to my children are to said named children and to children hereafter born to or adopted by me and to any child of mine in gestation at the time of my death.

To mark-up this document, start at the top of the document and work your way down through the page. The first sentence has some need of automation, as several words will change depending on the client.  The sections that will change from client to client are highlighted below.

I, CLARK CLIENT, a resident of 123 Some Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84043, do make, publish and declare this to be my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils heretofore made by me.

We would mark the highlighted sections for automation by replacing the highlighted text with an indicator of how this should be automated.  The same paragraph is shown below in a marked up format.  The capitalization of “NAME OF CLIENT” tells REAL to have the client’s name inserted in all capital letters.

I, [NAME OF CLIENT], a resident of [Address of Client], do make, publish and declare this to be my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and I hereby revoke all Wills and Codicils heretofore made by me.

This paragraph is now ready for automation.  The indicators will instruct REAL to replace the Name of the Client and Address of the client with variables.  The variables will dynamically gather information from the end-user and insert the information into the document.

Now lets look at the next paragraph.

1.1.      SPOUSE – My spouse’s name is CONNIE CLIENT.  All references in this Will to my spouse are to said spouse.

One way to mark it up is:

1.1.      SPOUSE – My spouse’s name is [NAME OF SPOUSE].  All references in this Will to my spouse are to said spouse.

The problem with leaving this paragraph like this is that it does not tell REAL what to do for single clients or clients with an unmarried partner.  One way to add these instructions is to include text at the start of the paragraph with more specific instructions.  Different possible options for the paragraph’s wording can also be included in the instructions or by using slashes within the paragraph’s text to indicate different options.  In the example paragraph, the word “spouse” should become partner as needed.  For example:

[PARAGRAPH 1.1 – ONLY INCLUDE IF THE CLIENT IS MARRIED OR HAS A PARTNER]

1.1.      [SPOUSE/PARTNER]- My [spouse/partner]’s name is [NAME OF SPOUSE].  All references in this Will to my [spouse/partner] are to said [spouse/partner].

Most of the children paragraph can be marked-up using the previous two examples as guidance:

[PARAGRAPH 1.2 – ONLY INCLUDE IF THE CLIENT HAS CHILDERN]

1.2.      [CHILD/CHILDREN] – I have [number of children:nine] ([number of children:9]) [child/children], [NAME OF CHILDREN].  All references in this Will to my [child/children] are to said named [child/children] and to children hereafter born to or adopted by me and to any child of mine in gestation at the time of my death.

Notice that the actual number of children has been replaced by the text “number of children” followed by an indicator of how the number should be formatted.   Using the number “nine” is a generic way to indicate any number in HotDocs.  For example, if a client had three children, the above formatting would tell to REAL to insert the first sentence of the paragraph into the document as: I have three (3) children ….

Although this mark-up is a good start on the children’s paragraph, the process is not quite complete, as not every client wants to include a paragraph about after-born children.  This should be made optional.  The final mark-up for the children’s paragraph considering these factors might look like this:

1.3.      [CHILD/CHILDREN] – I have [number of children:nine] ([number of children:9]) [child/children], [NAME(S) OF CHILDREN].  All references in this Will to my [child/children] are to said named [child/children] [OPTIONAL: and to children hereafter born to or adopted by me and to any child of mine in gestation at the time of my death].

The same procedure can be done to add stepchildren, grandchildren, and even a paragraph about any disinherited children.

The 9 Types of HotDocs Variables

There are 9 types of variables:

  • Text
  • Number
  • Date
  • True/False
  • Multiple-choice
  • Computation
  • Clause – not talking about
  • Dialog
  • Personal Information  – not talking about – stored in registry

Text Variable – You can enter any text string in this type of variable, including letters, numbers and symbols.  Text variables include items such as names and address.  Telephone numbers, SSNs, or other “numbers” which should not be used to add, subtract, multiply, etc. are created as text variables

Number Variable – Numbers can be formatted to restrict maximum or a minimum values, as currencies, or set to show a certain number of decimal places.  Typically numbers are used to represent text that will be used in a calculation.  Because social security and telephone numbers are never used in calculations and typically require a specific format, they are considered Text variables not numbers.

Date Variable – You can use the popup calendar to enter a date, or enter in as 14 Nov 2003, 11 14 2003, or November 14, 2003.  Unless you change your options, it will require a 4-digit year.

HINT: To enter “today’s date” in a date variable, simply enter “t.”

True/False Variable – You can select from either check boxes or radio buttons.  They can be grouped together, so they resemble a multiple choice, or can require a “Yes” or “No” answer.

Multiple Choice Variable – This type of variable allows you to select from a list of options, and often included an “Other” choice where you can enter in additional information.  Depending on the variable, you can choose one, or multiple selections.  This type of variable can appear as a drop down list [CLIENT STATE] or as a list, with [SALUTATION] or without [MARITAL STATUS] columns.

HINT: Single selection multiple-choice variables are radio (circle) buttons and multiple choice variables have square buttons.

Computation – You can use a Computation variable to calculate number, date, true/false, and text values based on answers a user enters. The computed value can then be merged into the assembled document. Computation variables can also be used to group several instructions or expressions for insertion into a template, which results in quicker assembly.

Dialog – By default, when HotDocs displays variables in a HotDocs interview, each variable is shown in a dialog by itself. While this approach may be sufficient for some, you may want to group related variables and present them in a custom dialog.