Moving an estate practice off a general practice system without a cutover weekend
5 min read · Updated 7 October 2026
Firms put off changing software because they picture a weekend: export everything, import everything, hope. For an estate practice there is a better shape. Estates stay open for a year or more, so the old system can keep the old files while every new matter opens in the new one. Nothing is switched off; the old system simply empties.
Export what is data, re-key what is judgment
Matters, contacts, open tasks, dated deadlines and hearings, time entries, and the balance owing on each unpaid invoice are data. Export them as CSV and import them. The inventory of an estate, the status of each creditor claim, your notes on why a date is what it is: that is judgment, and it does not export cleanly from a system that stored it in documents and custom fields. Re-key it on the files that are still open, one estate at a time, when you next touch each file.
Settle the date order before the first import
A CSV cannot say whether 03/04/2026 is March or April. Decide, from the system the file came out of, which order it uses, and tell the importer once. An importer that guesses will be right most of the time, and the exception is a court date.
Open new matters in the new system from a chosen Monday
Pick the day. From then, every new estate, guardianship and general matter opens in the new system; the old one takes nothing new. Move open files across as each is next worked on, closed files only if conflict checks need them (they do, so bring the list of names and matter numbers at least). After a few months the old system holds only files that are about to close.
Know when you are done
The move is finished when the old system has no open matter you still bill on. Export its records one last time for the archive, confirm the new system’s own exports work (every record as one file, every document as a ZIP), and cancel. Keep the archive export somewhere the firm controls, not only in either vendor’s cloud.
This guide describes a way of working. It is not legal advice and states no jurisdiction's deadline or rule; the periods and standards that apply to your matter are set by your statute, your court and your bar or law society.