IDR Law projects
The Claim Checker
The Claim Checker is a webform that allows people to answer a series of questions about their circumstances, and get an immediate response on whether they have the legal right to dispute their inheritance.
The first version gave a very simple Yes, No, or Maybe response based on three key details, but IDR wanted a new, more comprehensive version that took much more inheritance law into account.
Working closely with the lawyers, I made substantial updates and improvements, with some heavy Miro bashing to solve this knotty problem.
Research insights
As well as taking into account the overall user insights regarding the sensitivity of their situation, the Claim Checker aims to address this specific user goal.
They want to know if anything can be done to resolve their problem
With limited understanding of inheritance law, their first motivation is to understand whether anything can be done to resolve what they are unhappy about.
They want to know if they have the right to make a legal challenge, if it would be successful, and how much it would cost.
The form should answer this question and educate them on the relevant issues, while taking into account the legal realities of challenging inheritance.
Discovery
Through a series of discovery sessions with the lawyers, their rough sketches evolved into a set of questions that aimed to mimic a triage phone call with a client.
The logic was defined to produce an answer on whether a legal claim could be brought, and a series of other design decisions were made to achieve other objectives that emerged during the design process.
Key design decisions
During discovery sessions, it became apparent that the complexity and nuance of inheritance law meant a single calculation accounting for all legal grounds for dispute would be unachievable, and another solution was required.
The solution led to a new approach which significantly changed the Claim Checker beyond its original purpose of providing a simple answer, and broadened the scope of what it does.
Eureka!
Guidance
Rather than providing a single answer on whether a person has the right to appear in court, each issue explored within the form would be addressed individually,
Each question would have inline guidance that explained the context of each issue, and how it may affect the strength of an inheritance claim.
Users would get a more accurate understanding of what might affect their situation, and how different factors can have a positive or negative impact.
The process of completing the form itself educates them on all of the relevant issues, and importantly, they learn about the legal realities of inheritance dispute.
Outcome report
Version 1 of the form made a single calculation based on three data points, and the outcome was a simple yes, no, or maybe answer on the users legal right to dispute their inheritance.
With the new version exploring a number of different issues, I proposed that the outcome should take report card format.
Each issue is addressed, with a traffic light system showing whether their personal circumstances would have a positive or negative impact. This approach would give a far more detailed and accurate picture of a persons likelihood of success.
Other features
The form was designed and built in a way that allowed for any number of different versions to be made for different use cases, each one tailored to the audience.
The submitted entry data goes directly into the HubSpot CRM for triage to assess and follow up.
The questions were designed so the enquiry data is broken down into the most useful datapoints for the triage team to assess the quality of the case.
