Tools for Individuals, Families, and Executors
Not every kind of support needs to begin with a full consultation.
Sometimes what’s needed first is a practical tool. Something that helps you get organized, think more clearly, and take the next step with more confidence.
This section brings together guided tools created for individuals planning ahead, families trying to make thoughtful decisions, and executors who need structure, direction, and practical support. Some are reflective and designed to help you think through important issues. Others are more hands-on and intended to help you manage real responsibilities in a more organized way.
These offerings are designed to be accessible, useful, and easy to work through at your own pace. They’re not a substitute for legal, financial, or tax advice. They are meant to give you a clearer starting point, a stronger sense of direction, and practical support when things feel uncertain or hard to organize.
Designed or Default™
A short, self-guided interactive experience that helps you reflect on what in your planning has been handled intentionally, and what may still be unfolding by default. It’s designed for private reflection and can help you notice where assumptions, delay, or outdated decisions may be shaping important parts of your life without much thought. The experience takes about 8 to 10 minutes and is meant to be simple, thoughtful, and easy to work through at your own pace.
Best for: individuals who want a thoughtful starting point for planning ahead.
Before You Say Yes™
A private, self-guided interactive experience for anyone who’s been asked to act as an executor and wants to think more carefully before accepting the role. It’s designed to help you reflect on what the responsibility may involve, what it could mean personally, and whether you’re saying yes with real clarity. The experience takes about 15 minutes and gives you space to think before making a commitment that may last far longer than expected.
Best for: individuals who’ve been asked to act as executor and want time to reflect before committing.
Estate Architect™
A self-guided, interactive tool that walks you through every major area of estate planning in depth — with province-specific guidance and plain language explanations throughout. It’s designed to help you think carefully through your situation, identify what may be missing or outdated, and arrive at professional conversations with more clarity and confidence.
Best for: individuals who want to understand their estate planning properly and get organized at their own pace.
The Will Blueprint™
A self-guided, jurisdiction-aware preparation tool that walks you through the key questions involved in creating or updating a will, including many that don’t always come up in a lawyer appointment. It’s designed to help you think through your family, assets, distribution wishes, and any circumstances that require specialized attention, so you arrive at your legal appointment organized and ready. At the end, you’ll have a personalized Will Blueprint Summary to bring to your lawyer or paralegal, with the issues that need attention already identified.
Best for: individuals who are preparing to create or update a will and want to arrive at their lawyer or paralegal appointment organized, informed, and ready.
Who Speaks for You?™
A self-guided, interactive tool that walks you through the enduring power of attorney for finances from the ground up, with province-specific guidance and plain language explanations throughout. It’s designed to help you understand what an EPA is, how it works in your province, who can hold that authority, and what decisions need to be made before you sign anything. Whether you’re setting up an EPA for the first time or trying to better understand what one you already have actually covers, this tool helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
Best for: individuals who want to understand the enduring power of attorney for finances and get properly organized before working with a professional.
Your Voice, Your Care™
A self-guided, interactive tool that walks you through the personal directive and health care decision-making process with province-specific guidance and plain language explanations throughout. It’s designed to help you think through your values, your care preferences, and the kinds of decisions your representative may one day need to make on your behalf. Whether you’re putting a personal directive in place for the first time or reviewing what you already have, this tool helps you approach that document and those conversations with more clarity and intention.
Best for: individuals who want to think through their personal directive carefully and arrive at professional conversations with a clear sense of their own wishes and values.
In Good Hands™
A bundled package that brings together Who Speaks for You?™ and Your Voice, Your Care™ in a single purchase. If you’re ready to think through both your financial decision-making authority and your personal directive at the same time, this is the most practical way to do it. Both tools are province-specific, self-guided, and designed to be worked through at your own pace.
Best for: individuals who want to address both their financial and health care directives together and want the best value for doing it.
Executor’s Compass™
A practical, self-guided resource for executors who need help understanding what happens after a death, what needs to be handled first, and how the estate process unfolds over time. It’s designed to walk you through the work in a more structured way, with clear guidance, helpful explanations, and practical prompts to help you stay oriented when everything feels unfamiliar. Whether you’re just stepping into the role or already feeling the weight of it, Executor’s Compass™ helps you move forward with more clarity and confidence.
Best for: executors who want practical guidance, clearer direction, and a better understanding of the estate administration process.
The Executor’s Standard™
An interactive conduct self-assessment for executors, built on the F.I.D.U.C.I.A.R.Y. Framework™. Most executors focus on what needs to be done. Fewer stop to consider how they’re supposed to behave while doing it. That gap is where personal liability begins. This tool walks you through nine realistic scenarios drawn from an actual estate administration. At each one, you choose how you’d respond, see what every option puts at risk including yours, and rate your confidence in holding the standard under real pressure. By the end, you’ll have a personalized conduct profile and a printable reference card you can keep.
Best for: executors who want to understand the conduct standard the role requires and where they stand relative to it.
Executor’s Compass™ Suite
A more complete set of guided executor tools for those who want more than general information. The suite is designed to give you both practical guidance and working tools, so you’re not only learning what needs to be done, but also keeping track of the details along the way. It brings together Executor’s Compass™ with supporting resources that help you follow the timeline, organize information, track responsibilities, and manage the estate process in a more structured and manageable way.
Best for: executors who want practical guidance along with tools to help them stay organized, track progress, and manage the work more confidently.
For Professionals
The NEXsteps Governance Methodology™ is a licensed professional framework designed to strengthen governance clarity in estate planning and estate administration.
It was created for professionals who want a more structured way to identify governance gaps, review delegated authority, and support fiduciary decision-making alongside legal, financial, and tax advice. The methodology doesn’t replace those disciplines. It’s designed to complement them by bringing greater structure, consistency, and practical clarity to how authority is reviewed and exercised under real-world conditions.
Licensing is limited.
NEXsteps Governance Methodology™
A proprietary licensed methodology comprised of two complementary frameworks: the O.V.E.R.S.I.G.H.T.™ Framework, a structured governance review model applied to estate planning and delegated authority, and the S.T.E.W.A.R.D.™ Model, a structured fiduciary governance framework applied during estate administration.
Together, these frameworks are designed to help professionals work more systematically through governance gaps that can arise between the creation of planning instruments and the point at which authority must actually be exercised. The methodology supports stronger structural clarity and governance coordination in situations involving incapacity, death, and estate administration.
Best for: professionals working in or alongside estate planning, fiduciary support, incapacity planning, and estate administration.
