Abacus Family Law Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Abacus Family Law?
2. What does Abacus Family Law do?
3. Can I customize the family law screens?
4. Does Abacus Family Law work with my state?
5. Can I use Abacus Family Law for other practice areas?
6. What are the system requirements?
7. Will I need a separate program for billing and accounting?
8. Can I get my case calendar and contacts on my Blackberry, Treo, Palm or Window's Mobile?
9. Is Abacus Family Law a good product for small and mid-sized firms?
10. What makes Abacus Family Law better than generic case management software?
11. Why should I choose Abacus Family Law?
12. Should I continue to use a separate forms program?
13. Can I run Abacus Family Law without a server?
14. I need to access my Abacus Family Law data outside the office. What are my options?
15. Why is Abacus Family Law better than Outlook?
16. Does Abacus Family Law work with Microsoft Office?
17. I practice both Family Law and Estate Planning. What product is right for me?
18. Can I go paperless using Abacus Family Law?
19. What type of training is available for Abacus Family Law?
20. Do I need to speak to someone in a foreign country or wait on hold forever if I have a problem?
21. What if I purchase Abacus Family Law and don't like it?

1. What is Abacus Family Law?
   
   Abacus Family Law is complete and fully integrated law office management software with specialized family law intake forms, name screens, matter screens, queries, reports, rules, document generation court forms and time, billing and accounting.
   
   
   
2. What does Abacus Family Law do?
   
   Abacus Family Law will help you with the following tasks:
   
      •  Legal calendaring
      •  Contact management
      •  Matter management
      •  Client relationship management
      •  Document control
      •  Document assembly
      •  Conflict checks
      •  Phone messaging
      •  Court form generation
      •  Time capture
      •  Billing and accounting
      •  Much more
   
   You may not need every feature on every day. Use the ones that make the most sense initially or solve your biggest problems. Take advantage of others as your practice evolves and you understand the Abacus system. It's quite common for different people in an office to use different features, depending on their responsibilities and tasks.
   
   
   
3. Can I customize the family law screens?
   
   Yes. You can further customize the matter and name screens to fit the unique needs of your practice. You can add fields, add tabs, add drop down boxes, add hyperlinks and modify the size and layout of the screens. Any new fields you create will be immediately available for queries, reports, documents, and form generation. There is a complimentary online training course on screen customization. You can access it as part of your Abacus Customer Care benefits.  
   
   
   
4. Does Abacus Family Law work with my state?
   
   Abacus Family Law's intake forms, matter screens, names screens, reports, documents, queries and other practice management features are designed to work in any state. You can further modify them for the specific needs of your practice and jurisdiction. Family Law rules and forms are state and county specific. If you need forms in states or counties that are not currently available from Abacus, please make us aware.
   
   
   
5. Can I use Abacus Family Law for other practice areas?
   
   Yes.
   
   A) You can easily add additional practice areas to your Abacus software. Abacus assigns a case code to each matter, such as "DIV" for a divorce case in family law and "PI-VEH" for a vehicle injury case in personal injury, to identify the type of case and the screens associated with it. Giving a case a specific case code will bring up the appropriate screens, etc. for the specialty versions you've purchased.
   
   B) Also, standard litigation and transactional screens are always included for case types other than those available as Abacus specialty versions.
   
   
    
6. What are the system requirements?
   
   Abacus Family Law works on: Microsoft Vista, XP Pro, Windows NT or 2000. It requires a server or dedicated machine that no one is using if you have two or more licenses. For more information, view our system requirements page: http://www.abacuslaw.com/users/law-software-system-reqs.html  
   
   
   
7. Will I need a separate program for billing and accounting?
   
   No. Abacus Family Law includes a complete and fully integrated billing and accounting package designed for law firms. Abacus trust accounting, productivity reporting, billing styles and options are designed specifically for the needs of a law firm.
   
   
    
8. Can I get my case calendar and contacts on my Blackberry, Treo, Palm or Window's Mobile?
   
   Yes. You can synchronize your calendar and contact list with your handheld device. Abacus works with Palm OS, Blackberry, Pocket PC Outlook, Windows CE 3.0 2.0, 2.1 and Windows Mobile 5.0.
   
   
   
9. Is Abacus Family Law a good product for small and mid-sized firms?
   
   Yes. Abacus Family Law is designed and updated with significant input and testing by successful lawyers working in firms ranging from one to dozens of attorneys. Abacus software lets you simplify, organize and control the key aspects of your practice. You'll find it's simple to implement, easy to learn, flexible, dependable and backed by a reliable support team available by phone M-F, 6am to 5pm PT in San Diego , California.
   
   
   
10. What makes Abacus Family Law better than generic case management software?
    
    With Abacus Family Law, the entire case cycle (from data intake to form generation) is geared around family law cases.
    
    Start a case with a specific intake form (divorce, custody, domestic violence, guardianship, paternity and adoption) to capture the exact information you need. This data fills in your family law Name and Matter screens , which display pertinent information about your family law case in an easy to view format whenever you need it. It also fills in your family law court forms far more completely and accurately than a generic forms program.
    
    In addition, extensive family law specific rules, documents, queries and reports allow you to use Abacus Family Law out of the box. You can avoid spending weeks or months customizing and kludging together a generic package that will only partially fit your needs.
    
    
    
11. Why should I choose Abacus Family Law?
    
    Abacus Family Law is the only complete and fully integrated program designed specifically for a Family Law practice. •  AbacusLaw has been helping law firms since 1983 and is built on 26 years of customer feedback and improvements.
    
    •  AbacusLaw has a great reputation for being user friendly, easy to learn, easy to install and easy to implement.
    •  Abacus Family Law fills in your family law court forms, so you don't need to buy a separate program and spend hours re-entering data.
    •  Abacus is recognized for its outstanding technical support. Our techs are responsive, friendly and willing to go the extra mile. We are based in San Diego and answer your calls M-F 6am to 5pm PT.
    •  AbacusLaw is a stable program and thanks to the built-in Fortress Database Server, it can protect your data, even if you experience power outages or network failures. Fortress also improves reliability for offices that need to implement wireless data networks.
    •  AbacusLaw comes with the strongest guarantee available, a 100-day 100% money back guarantee (less S&H) for first time buyers.
    
    
    
12. Should I continue to use a separate forms program?
    
    In most cases, you will not need to. Abacus Family Law provides all your state specific family law forms. Here's why it makes sense to use just Abacus:
    •  With Abacus, you won't need to re-enter your case information into a separate forms application.
    •  You won't need to deal with a separate software vendor for updates and renewals.
    •  You can manage your forms directly from Abacus Name and Matter screens.
    •  You can link forms to your calendar so you are notified on a timely basis, then can click to complete the form.
    •  Saved forms can be updated and edited directly from Abacus.
    •  Anyone in your office using AbacusLaw can generate and view forms.
    •  The Abacus Forms Designer allows you to import forms from the Internet, map their fields and add them to your forms library.
    •  Abacus Family Law forms are economical to update.
    
    
    
13. Can I run Abacus Family Law without a server?
    
    Abacus Family Law requires a server or dedicated machine (a PC that no one is using) if you have more than one license. For more information, please view our system requirements: http://www.abacuslaw.com/users/law-software-system-reqs.html
    
    
    
14. I need to access my Abacus Family Law data outside the office. What are my options?
    
    The following options are commonly used for accessing Abacus outside the office:
    •  Remote access software - Use Remote Desktop, PC Anywhere, GoToMyPC or similar remote connection software to access your office data from any computer with an internet connection.
    •  Disconnected sync - Send your Abacus Family Law data over the internet to your laptop or home computer.
    •  Connected sync- Use your laptop on the office network, take it home or use it outside the office, and then reconnect it to the network when you return to the office and Abacus will sync the changes you made while away from the office.
    •  Terminal Services or Citrix - For the fastest and most stable remote access connection we recommend Microsoft Terminal Services or Citrix.
    •  Mobile device sync - Abacus Family Law allows you to synchronize your calendar and contacts to your Blackberry, Treo, Palm, iPhone or Window's Mobile so you never have to be without your important data again.
    
    
    
15. Why is Abacus Family Law better than Outlook?
    
    Outlook is fine for email. Beyond that, it has the following drawbacks for law firms:
    •  Outlook does not provide legal calendaring. It lacks sophisticated rules based calendaring, including reminders, alarms, form and document linking, deadline and malpractice alerts that law firms require to stay out of trouble.
    •  Outlook is incomplete. Outlook does not include case management, document management, conflict checks, form generation, billing and accounting.
    •  Outlook requires double entry. With Outlook alone you will still need to double enter data in other applications in the office, a time consuming and error prone process.
    •  Outlook is not a relational database. Outlook is a flat file database and does not interlink multiple data sources. With Abacus, contacts are associated with matters, matters are associated with contacts and events, and all notes, emails, appointments and tasks are related to the appropriate records.
    
    
    
16. Does Abacus Family Law work with Microsoft Office?
    
    Yes. Abacus works with Microsoft Office in the following ways:
    •  Document Management: Abacus installs a macro in Word (and Word Perfect) that establishes a save option in the menu bar to save document directly into Abacus.
    •  Document Assembly: Abacus installs a toolbar in Word (and Word Perfect) that gives you a list of merge fields that you can insert into your documents. By creating templates in Word with these fields you can automate the generation of any document.
    •  Email: Compose emails with addresses from your Abacus contacts database and link your incoming and outgoing Outlook emails directly into Abacus.
    •  Calendaring: Synchronize your calendar to Outlook or Outlook compatible devices.
    
    
    
17. I practice both Family Law and Estate Planning. What product is right for me?
    
    Abacus Family Law is designed for firms that practice more than family law. You can add additional practice areas or use the default civil or transactional screens for your other types of cases. In this example, you can purchase Abacus Family Law and add Estate Planning. Abacus assigns a case code to each matter, such as "DIV" for a divorce case in family law and "PRB" for probate case in estate planning, to identify the type of case and the screens associated with it. Standard litigation and transactional screens are always included for case types other than those available as Abacus specialty versions.
    
    
    
18. Can I go paperless using Abacus Family Law?
    
    Yes. Abacus works with Adobe Acrobat Professional to scan incoming and outgoing documents into name and matter files. Simply hit the Scan button and Abacus will convert any paper document into PDF file and link it to the documents tab. With an electronic copy saved in Abacus, you no longer need to worry about finding or organizing physical documents. The electronic copy is always just a few clicks always.
    
    
    
19. What type of training is available for Abacus Family Law?
    
    Abacus Customer Care includes detailed online training courses that cover basic orientation, getting set-up, how to enter information, using specific practice management and accounting features, how to use the Family Law components, and how to take full advantage of the software. The vast majority of Abacus customers find the online training and technical support to be sufficient for learning Abacus and getting up and running quickly. Abacus also offers one-on-one phone based training and onsite training options.
    
    
    
    
20. Do I need to speak to someone in a foreign country or wait on hold forever if I have a problem?
    
    No. Our Technical Support team is based in the US. They are very responsive, friendly and willing to go the extra mile.
    
    
    
21. What if I purchase Abacus Family Law and don't like it?
    
    AbacusLaw comes with the longest guarantee available, a 100-day 100% money back guarantee (less S&H) for first time buyers.