You can now manage the list of lawyers in your organization directly within Estateably, so their information is ready to select as the Assigned Lawyer on any file.

What's new

Add, edit, or remove the lawyers in your organization, whenever you need to.

You only need to enter a lawyer's details once. They are then available to select on every file, so you are not stuck retyping the same information over and over.

Where to find it

Head to Organization Settings and select “Lawyer Directory.” From there you will see a directory where you can add lawyers to your organization.

Note that only Organization Admins have access to manage this directory.

What you can enter

For each lawyer, you can capture:

Name, email, phone, fax, LSO or Lawyer Bar Number, and address. Leave the address blank to use your organization’s address.

You can also save an address for reuse.

Return to the Lawyer Directory in Organization Settings anytime you need to add or edit a lawyer in your organization.

Track how the value of an asset or holding changes across the full lifecycle of a case, instead of capturing only a single point-in-time value.

Estateably now maintains a dated valuation history for every asset, so the number you need for any reporting period is always on hand and defensible for audits, interim accountings, or a passing of accounts.

What to know:

• Users can add market values manually for each asset or holding.
• Estateably also records market values automatically from Purchases, Liquidations, and Distributions, giving you a complete picture of how valuations change over time.
• Assets without dated valuations will continue to use the value currently on file, as before.
• Once dated valuations exist, reports for dates without a matching valuation will use the asset's carry value instead. Carry value: the total cost of all remaining (residual) lots of an asset still held in the file. It reflects what was paid for the units you still hold, and doesn't fluctuate with the market, distinct from the asset's current market value.

• Asset lists now show the latest value alongside the date it refers to, so you can tell at a glance whether a valuation is current.
• For Canada: The Statement of Accounts report now factors each year's market value changes for assets and holdings into the Care and Management fee calculation, producing an accurate total of the values managed on behalf of beneficiaries.

Fiduciary accounting often requires a defensible record of value across the entire lifecycle of an asset. Market Value History gives you that continuous picture in one place, eliminating the need to re-enter valuations period after period.

Estateably now supports submitting Estate Information Returns directly to the Ontario Ministry of Finance, without leaving the platform. Once data entry on a file is complete, the platform pulls together the required information, and you simply confirm it, answer a few supplementary questions, and schedule the submission.

Estateably handles transmission overnight, and the Ministry receives the filing the next business day.

What to know:

• Available for Ontario estate files only
• The review screen pulls Certificate, Deceased, Representative, and Inventory information directly from the file. Each section links back to the source data, so corrections are made in the file itself, not on the review screen
• A short set of additional fields is required: amended return status, deposit amount (if applicable), preferred language, and an optional confirmation email
• Taxable Estate Value, Total Tax Payable, Deposit Amount, and Tax Payable are calculated automatically from the file's existing data
• Supporting documents can be attached during submission and are filed automatically under the EIR Submission folder
• Submissions are collected throughout the day and transmitted to the Ministry overnight, arriving the next business day
• Status updates from Submission Scheduled to Submission Sent, with full submission and payment details retained at each stage

Resubmitting Before vs. After the Original Is Sent

Resubmission behavior depends on where the original filing stood at the time.

• If the original is still in Scheduled status, a resubmission overwrites it. Only the most recent version is sent to the Ministry
• If the original has already been sent, a resubmission is filed as a separate, additional filing. Mark "Is this an amended return?" as Yes when completing it

This update removes a manual, error-prone filing step from the estate closing process, keeping data entry, document collection, and Ministry transmission in one place, and giving practitioners a clear, auditable record of every submission from the first filing to any amendments.

For step-by-step details, check out the full support guide.

The task report for estate and trust files has been revamped with more control over what gets included and how it’s generated.

You can now configure the report across the following options:

Format

Generate the report as a DOCX or PDF. The document name is customizable before download.

Report Language

Generate in English or French.

Completed Tasks

• Choose whether to include completed tasks.
• Set a date range using Completed Date From and Completed Date To.
• Choose whether due dates appear in the report.

Outstanding Tasks

• Choose whether to include outstanding tasks.
• Set a date range using Due Date From and Due Date To.
• Choose whether to include tasks with no due date.

The report can be emailed directly or downloaded on generation.

When you add a trust bank or investment account to a trust file, you can now specify an Opening Cash Balance directly in the account fields. This reflects cash that existed in the account before you began managing the trust; not a new deposit, but the true starting cash position of the account.

Estateably will automatically generate a system transaction to record it, keeping your ledgers consistent and your reports accurate from day one.

What to know:

• When adding a trust account, you can include an optional Opening Balance and the date the account was added to the trust
• Estateably generates a linked system transaction automatically when the account details are saved
• Only one Opening Balance transaction is allowed per account, and negative values are not permitted
• The opening balance can be adjusted at any time from either the account or the linked transaction, and both will remain in sync
• If the account is added on the same date as the trust start date, the Opening Balance appears in the ledger as existing cash at the trust start date, not as a receipt
• If the account is added after the trust start date, it will appear as a receipt in the reporting period

Opening Balance vs. Funding Deposit

These two transaction categories serve different purposes and should not be used interchangeably.

• A Funding Deposit records new money being deposited into a trust account. Use it when setting up a new trust with initial contributions
• An Opening Balance records cash that already existed in the account before management began. Use it when onboarding an existing or irrevocable trust mid lifecycle

This update ensures that every trust account starts with an accurate, auditable opening position, reducing manual workarounds, supporting cleaner reporting, and giving practitioners and their clients confidence in the numbers from the first day of management.

For any questions or concerns, please contact support@estateably.com.

Creating estate files just got easier. We've updated the file creation experience with a full-screen, step-by-step flow that requires fewer inputs, surfaces file type and pricing upfront, and automatically redirects you to the file Overview once you're done.

What's New

GICs added to the inventory are now treated as value-based assets. Users no longer need to enter a quantity, only the dollar amount invested is required.

This applies to GICs entered both at the asset level and as a holding (where class = Fixed-Income and sub-class = GIC), across Estate, Trust, and POA cases.

Logging Transactions at Maturity or Partial Liquidation

When recording a transaction against a new GIC, users can now select "Include Interest Payment" to capture interest earned. When selected, the system will automatically generate two separate transactions:

1. Redeemed Amount - the return of the principal invested
2. Interest Payment - the interest earned on the GIC

Reporting

Accounting reports have been updated to group both past and new GIC types together where applicable to the report schedule, ensuring consistent reporting output across all cases.

Important: Backward Compatibility

This new flow applies only to GICs created after this release. GICs created prior to this release will remain as quantity-based assets and will continue to be fully supported. Going forward, all newly created GICs will follow the new value-based flow.

For any questions or concerns, please contact support@estateably.com.

The Trust Statement of Accounts report has been rebuilt to improve accuracy, reliability, and confidence in trust reporting.

This update includes a comprehensive verification of all accounting calculations used within the statement, including income, capital, receipts, disbursements, allocations, and closing balances. All values are now calculated consistently and reflect the most up-to-date data in your file at the time of generation.

The Edit modal for Transfer Cash transactions now includes the Money Type field.

Users can change the selection between:

• Principal / Income / Other (US)
• Capital / Revenue / Other (Canada)

The transaction can be saved without deleting and recreating it.

If “Other” is selected, a warning message will display indicating that the transaction will be excluded from reports and may result in unbalanced accounts.

Reporting will reflect the updated Money Type selection.

You can now select “Other” as a Money Type when using Bulk Edit on multiple transactions.

Previously, “Other” was available when editing transactions individually, but not when editing multiple transactions at once.

This update ensures bulk editing supports the same money type options as single transaction editing.

What This Means for You

• You can update multiple transactions to Other in one step
• Your workflow is more consistent across single and bulk edits
• No need to update transactions one by one
• If “Other” is selected, a warning message will display indicating that the transaction will be excluded from reports and may result in unbalanced accounts.
• Reporting reflects the updated Money Type selection.