Prestige has announced a new estate planning signing support service that integrates document printing, binder assembly, and delivery by a notary directly to the signer. The service, offered through Prestige Notaries, was developed after an estate planning firm sought to offload the administrative workload of assembling tabbed trust binders and shipping them to clients. By taking responsibility for ordering binders and tabs, printing documents, organizing and sealing materials, and arranging for a notary to bring the completed package to the signer, Prestige eliminates the need for the firm to assemble binders or absorb shipping costs. This matters because it allows estate planning firms to focus on legal work rather than logistics, potentially improving efficiency and client service.
The workflow brings preparation tasks into the signing assignment itself, reflecting an approach described by Jennifer Garland, founder, President and CEO of Prestige Companies. Garland emphasizes listening to a client's specific operational needs and building support around those needs. In this case, a process created for one firm became a service offered more broadly, demonstrating how tailored solutions can evolve into scalable offerings. This is significant because it shows Prestige's adaptability and commitment to solving real-world problems for its clients.
Garland founded Prestige in 2015 after working as a paralegal at the Washington State Attorney General's office and managing a mortgage company. Her mortgage industry experience exposed a need for streamlined processes and hand-vetted notaries, leading to the establishment of Prestige Notaries. Today, the company serves banks, corporations, and law firms, with a database of more than 260,000 notaries across all 50 states. The new estate planning service extends Prestige's signing coordination to include a defined document preparation workflow, covering binders, tabs, printed materials, organization, sealing, and delivery. This expansion is important because it positions Prestige as a comprehensive solution for notarial and document management needs, potentially attracting more law firms seeking to outsource administrative tasks.
Independent professionals are central to Prestige's service model. Garland describes the notaries and field agents as small business owners whose independence remains important. Her approach emphasizes helping these professionals become self-sufficient contractors rather than dependent on the company. Support includes clear expectations, access to resources, and ongoing communication with the service team. Prestige Notaries maintains standard operating procedures across industries and clients, with training and a consistent vetting process for every notary placed. Additionally, the company has built a library of state-by-state guides to address variations in Notarial law, ensuring team members have jurisdiction-specific references. This infrastructure is crucial for maintaining quality and compliance, especially for assignments involving professionals in different states.
The company's assignment history includes complex logistical feats, such as sending a notary and field agent by float plane to a remote Alaskan island for an executive's signature, and coordinating a commercial signing with 17 signers across five cities and three time zones simultaneously. These examples illustrate Prestige's capacity to handle a wide range of logistical requirements alongside document preparation and professional placement. The estate planning service applies a similar approach to the physical preparation and delivery of signing materials, combining Prestige's signing coordination with a defined workflow. By placing binder assembly and delivery within the assignment, Prestige alleviates internal responsibilities for estate planning firms, allowing them to operate more efficiently. This development matters because it addresses a common pain point in the legal industry, where administrative tasks can divert attention from core legal services.
