Bancroft and the unauthorized practice of law

Bancroft helps advisors coordinate information, documents and follow-up. It does not authorize an advisor to provide legal advice. Before offering estate-planning services, agree on a written scope with your firm’s compliance team and counsel in the relevant jurisdictions.

Start with the jurisdiction

The ABA’s comment on Model Rule 5.5 notes that the definition of practicing law varies by jurisdiction. The rule addresses lawyers; the rules governing a nonlawyer’s activities must be checked separately.

What self-help precedents establish

Laws and cases concerning legal self-help software address particular products, conduct and jurisdictions. They should not be treated as a nationwide safe harbor for an advisor’s conversations, document work or billing. Ask counsel which authorities apply to the service your firm intends to offer.

Define the advisor’s role

Organizing account information and following up on an incomplete task are different activities from deciding which legal structure fits a household. A client asking whether to use a trust, how to divide an estate or whom to appoint needs an answer from the appropriate qualified professional.

For example: “I can help gather the records and coordinate the next steps. An estate-planning attorney can advise you on whether that arrangement fits your situation.” Review any client script with your firm before using it.

Three practices to build into the service

Keep decisions with the client and their counsel

Explain how to use the software without choosing legal answers for the client. Refer questions about legal effect, document selection or individual strategy to licensed counsel. A questionnaire or AI explanation is not a substitute for that advice.

Follow up on matters requiring review

Bancroft surfaces household flags and includes review steps in certain workflows. A flag helps your team notice an issue; it does not decide the legal outcome. Follow the applicable review process and document referrals and outstanding questions.

Keep a useful record

Record the agreed service scope, client instructions, attorney referrals and follow-up outside the platform as well as inside it. Bancroft’s activity and audit records support that file, but cannot prove what was said in an unrecorded conversation. See the reconstruction test.

How the platform supports the process

• The client completes the questionnaire and makes every selection. If anyone else enters or changes an answer, the advisor goes through every selection with the client and confirms on the platform that the client made it before the final document is generated. Shared household details can prefill relevant answers.
• Documents are assembled from state-specific, statute-cited templates. Attorney review is a separate service the household engages directly; template content should not be presented as personal legal advice.
• The questionnaire helper explains general terms. Its restrictions are safeguards, not a guarantee that every response is appropriate.
• Household status and activity help advisors follow up on incomplete steps. Security controls are described on the security page.
• On the Firm plan, advisors can read the advisor compliance training in the app, and the firm can record each advisor’s completion.

When a question or concern arises

Pause the disputed step and involve your firm’s compliance team or counsel. Preserve the relevant records. Contact support@usebancroft.com for platform records or a workflow question; legal advice must come from counsel.

Questions for your compliance review

• Which activities will the firm provide, and in which jurisdictions?
• Who makes document and beneficiary decisions, and how are those instructions recorded?
• When will the household be referred to an attorney, and who follows up?
• What fees, disclosures and engagement terms describe the actual service?
• Which platform records and off-platform records must the firm retain?