For practitioners planning to sell, merge or wind down
When you sell or transition a practice, the wills you hold are often the single most valuable asset — the future stream of probate, estate and related work a buyer is really paying for. But a register is only worth what a buyer can verify. We digitise your wills, confirm your clients can still be reached, and turn a room of paper into a clean, evidenced asset that supports a stronger price and a faster settlement.
Why it matters
Buyers of a legal practice are buying future work, and in an estates or general practice much of that future work flows from the wills held in safe custody. Each will is a probable future probate or administration instruction, often with conveyancing, family and advisory work attached.
The problem is that a paper register is hard for a buyer to trust. How many original wills do you actually hold? Are the testators still living, and if not, has the work been picked up? Can the remaining clients still be reached, or has half the register moved, changed names or passed away unnoticed? Every unknown is a discount a buyer applies to protect themselves.
We remove those unknowns. By digitising, reconciling and verifying the register before you go to market, we convert a vague "we hold a lot of wills" into a documented, contactable, valued asset — the difference between a buyer's cautious estimate and a price you can defend.
What we do
A practice-readiness program you can run quietly in the background while you keep serving clients — scoped to your timeline for going to market.
We scan and index every will, codicil and related document into a secure, searchable archive — captured by testator, date, executor and storage location, so the whole register can be handed to a buyer as clean digital data.
We check that the clients behind those wills can still be reached — confirming and updating addresses, phone numbers and emails — so the buyer inherits a live, contactable client base rather than a register that may be years out of date.
We match physical documents against your register to confirm exactly what is held, surface missing originals, duplicates and superseded wills, and produce a verified count — the hard figure a valuer and buyer both want to see.
We cross-check the register against death records to flag testators who have passed, so held wills that should be in probate can be actioned — turning dormant documents into live, demonstrable work in the pipeline.
We de-duplicate and tidy the underlying client data, standardise records and resolve conflicting details, so the client list presented to a buyer is accurate, consistent and easy to migrate.
Beyond wills, we digitise powers of attorney, enduring guardianship documents, deeds and closed matter files into a compliant archive — reducing physical storage, easing handover and removing a liability buyers discount for.
We identify files that are beyond their retention period and can be properly destroyed, cutting ongoing storage cost and compliance exposure that would otherwise weigh on the sale.
Optionally, under your firm's name, we run a review campaign inviting clients to confirm details or update their wills — evidencing an active, engaged client base and often generating fee income right before sale.
We compile it all into a clear schedule — wills held, client base, contactability and document status — the ready-made evidence pack that lets a buyer's due diligence move quickly and supports the number you're asking for.
Before & after
| An unprepared practice | A practice we've prepared |
|---|---|
| "Roughly a few thousand wills" in filing cabinets | A verified count of originals held, indexed and searchable |
| Client details as old as the wills themselves | Contact details checked and confirmed as current |
| Unknown how many testators have died | Deceased clients flagged; probate work identified |
| Weeks of due diligence and cautious pricing | A ready asset pack and a defensible valuation |
| Storage costs and retention risk baked in | Archive rationalised, liabilities reduced |
Every unknown you remove before going to market is a discount you take off the table.
We size up your register, files and timeline, and agree what will move the value most.
Wills and records are scanned, indexed and matched against your register under a controlled process.
Contact details are confirmed, deceased clients flagged and the client data tidied.
You receive a due-diligence-ready pack, and the digital register transfers cleanly to your buyer.
The work runs quietly in the background. Your staff, clients and the market need know nothing until you're ready.
All scanning, checking and storage is performed in Australia under strict confidentiality, with access limited to authorised personnel.
Selling, merging, retiring or transferring your wills bank to another firm — the same preparation strengthens your position.
The earlier we start, the more value we can build in. Let's talk it through.