Arken

What Arken does

Arken is a UK-based SaaS company, founded in 1992 (originally as DPL Professional), that provides estate planning and Will drafting software to professional users. Its core product, Arken Professional, is a cloud-based platform built on Amazon Web Services infrastructure that uses an intelligent questionnaire system and dual-screen live drafting view to generate complex Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Severance of Joint Tenancy, Expression of Wishes, and Testamentary Trusts. The platform is underpinned by a precedent library maintained by an in-house Legal Advisory Board, with built-in risk controls (mandatory fields, incomplete-answer alerts, password protection) and an open API enabling integrations with case management systems (Clio, Proclaim, Tikit), mental capacity assessment (Comentis), and digital asset management (BePrepared via Arken Vault).

The product suite extends through modular add-ons: Arken Lifetime (Inter Vivos Trust drafting), Trust Referencer (tax reporting), Arken Acquire (digital fact find), Arken Online Wills (client self-service), Arken Intestacy (lead generation), Professional Wills Scotland, and the Instruction Hub (client onboarding portal). Arken operates a hybrid go-to-market combining product-led growth (7-day free trial, no credit card required) with enterprise field sales for firms generating more than 100 documents per month. The company serves five primary customer verticals: legal firms, will writers, accountants, financial advisers, and other professional services, across the UK, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, with a base of 7,000+ users having created over 7 million Wills.

The company is privately held by its founder (also the founder of the 4-day working week movement), with no disclosed external institutional investment. Arken.Legal(UK) Limited operates with 11-50 employees, is Cyber Essentials Plus certified, and offers unlimited users per subscription to drive firm-wide adoption. Pricing is transparent and modular, starting at £107/month for the base tier with graduated document pack allowances and add-on subscriptions ranging from £30 to £150 per month.

Name

Arken

Legal name

Arken.Legal(UK) Limited

Website

https://arken.legal

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Arken is a UK-based SaaS provider of estate planning and Will drafting software, serving legal firms, will writers, accountants, and financial advisers across the UK, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia with a 7,000+ user base.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Practice Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Estate & Legacy Planning Advisory (FSAEAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Estate Planning & Trust Structuring Advisory (FSAEAKAC), Estate, Gift & Trust Valuation (BPAHANAL)

Keywords

• Estate planning software
• Will writing software
• Trust drafting software
• Legal document automation
• Practice management software

Headquarters

HQ city

Westerham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Arken Professional Subscription: Monthly subscription for core Will writing software with document pack allowances (10-100+ documents per month). Base price £107/month for 10 documents with additional packs at £12.50 each. Additional users are unlimited with no extra charge.
2. Add-on Products: Additional modules including Arken Lifetime (£60/month) for Inter Vivos Trust drafting, Trust Referencer (£40/month per user) for tax reporting, Arken Acquire (£150/month) for digital fact find, Arken Intestacy (£30+/month) for lead generation, Online Wills (£120/month), and Professional Wills Scotland (£90/month).
3. Enterprise Custom Pricing: Tailored pricing for firms creating more than 100 documents per month with bespoke solutions and multi-product bundles.
4. Online Wills Client Fees: Firms can set their own payment method and nominated fee for clients using the Online Wills self-service solution, creating a revenue stream for clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Arken provides cloud-based estate planning and Will writing software built by solicitors for legal professionals. The core platform, Arken Professional, enables users to draft complex Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), Testamentary Trusts, and other estate planning documents using an intelligent questionnaire and dual-screen drafting view. The product suite is extended by add-on modules for Inter Vivos Trust drafting, automated Trust tax reporting, digital client fact find, online self-service Wills, lead generation, Scottish Will drafting, and digital asset management.

Product overview

Arken is an estate planning software platform built by solicitors and inspired by technology. The core product is Arken Professional, a comprehensive Will Writing Software that handles Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), Severance of Joint Tenancy (SJTs), Expression of Wishes (EWs), Expression of Wishes to Guardians (EWGs), Advance Decisions (ADs), General Powers of Attorney (GPAs), and Testamentary Trusts. The platform operates on a modular architecture with add-on products including: Arken Lifetime for Inter Vivos Trust drafting, Trust Referencer for automated Trust tax reporting, Arken Acquire (Digital Fact Find) for client data capture, Arken Online Wills for client self-service, Arken Intestacy for lead generation, Professional Wills Scotland for Scottish document drafting, Arken Vault (powered by BePrepared) for digital asset management, and Comentis integration for mental capacity assessments. The products work together with data flowing from lead generation tools through to drafting software, all connected via an open API.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Arken Professional: Intuitive document drafting solution for Wills, LPAs, Expression of Wishes and more.
• Arken Lifetime
• Trust Referencer
• Arken Acquire
• Arken Online Wills
• Arken Vault
• Arken Instruction Hub
• Professional Wills Scotland
• Arken Intestacy

Products and services

• Arken Professional Intuitive document drafting solution for Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), Expression of Wishes, Severance of Joint Tenancy, Advance Decisions, General Powers of Attorney, and Testamentary Trusts. Built by solicitors, it uses intelligent questionnaires and dual-screen live drafting to drive consistency, efficiency, and risk management for legal professionals.
• Arken Lifetime Inter Vivos Trust drafting add-on module that enables faster drafting of Lifetime Trusts by importing data from existing Wills or prior private client documents, eliminating the need to re-input data.
• Trust Referencer Trust tax reporting tool providing up-to-date information on inheritance, capital gains, and income tax implications for Testamentary and Inter Vivos Trusts. Generates downloadable personalised PDF reports for clients.
• Arken Acquire Digital fact find that collects key client information in advance and automatically populates it into Arken Professional Will writing software, reducing re-keying and capturing vital information before interviews.

Quantifiable outcome

• Draft Wills 10x faster - simple Wills in minutes vs traditional methods
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and historical.

• CliocoreTechnology or IntegrationCase management system integration with Arken's Will writing software. Allows bidirectional data flow, eliminating manual re-keying between systems. Clients can automatically save documents back to their CRM system.
• ProclaimcoreTechnology or IntegrationCase management integration enabling streamlined workflows and document control between Proclaim case management and Arken document drafting software.
• ComentiscoreTechnology or IntegrationMental capacity assessment engine integrated into Arken's Will writing software. Provides objective, dignified assessments following Banks v Goodfellow (1870) criteria for testamentary capacity. Delivers real-time screening, time-stamped clinical evidence, and auditable results for due diligence.
• 4 Day Week GlobalminorOthersArken participates in the 4 Day Work Week movement as part of its employment practices. Primary shareholder is founder of the 4-day working week movement. Company offers employees 4-day work week as a benefit.
• Sweet & MaxwellhistoricalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHistorical UK distributor appointed in 1996 during company's early growth phase. No longer active distributor.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Wealth.com: Wealth.com is a digital estate planning platform for financial advisors and wealth managers, offering Will, trust, and estate document automation. It is the closest US-based functional analogue to Arken's professional estate-planning SaaS, sharing target segments in financial advisory and a similar document-drafting model.
• WealthCounsel: WealthCounsel provides estate-planning drafting software and curated legal content for US attorneys. Its member-based model and Legal Advisory Board–style content approach make it a strong functional analogue to Arken Professional's precedent-driven drafting for estate planning professionals.
• LEAP Legal Software: LEAP is a practice management and legal document automation platform widely used by law firms in Australia, the UK, and other common-law jurisdictions. Its matter-centric document automation directly overlaps with Arken's drafting value proposition in the same geographies Arken serves.

Emerging players

• Vanilla: Vanilla is an estate planning software provider for financial advisors and accountants focused on simplifying Will and trust creation. It overlaps directly with Arken's accountant and financial-adviser segments and competes for the same digital-first estate planning workflow.
• Clio: Clio is a leading cloud-based legal practice management platform with case management, document automation, and CRM capabilities. While broader than Arken, Clio is an integration partner today and a potential vertical-expansion competitor if it deepens estate-planning functionality.
• Smokeball: Smokeball is a cloud-based practice management and automated document assembly platform for small and mid-sized law firms. It competes with Arken on document automation efficiency within UK and Australian private-client practices and serves overlapping customer segments.

Regional players

• Perfect Portal: Perfect Portal is a UK-based client onboarding and document automation platform for law firms. It overlaps with Arken's Instruction Hub and digital fact-find capabilities, targeting the same UK private-client firm segment with workflow automation.

Broad incumbents

• InfoTrack: InfoTrack is an established legal technology provider in Australia and the UK offering e-conveyancing, search, and document automation. As a broader legal-tech incumbent with deep UK/AU footprint, it is a credible alternative channel for the document drafting functionality Arken provides.

Others

• Comentis: Comentis provides a mental-capacity assessment engine for testamentary capacity, integrated into Arken's Will writing software. It is an ecosystem partner and enabler rather than a direct competitor, but illustrates adjacent estate-planning technology that could expand or substitute parts of Arken's offering.
• The Law Society (UK): The Law Society is the professional body representing solicitors in England and Wales, providing practice guidance and approved supplier recommendations. It is not a competitor but a key distribution and validation channel for legal SaaS providers like Arken serving its member firms.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ArkenLegal
• Facebookfacebook.com/arken.legal

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Arken