Organisation: Government of Alberta and Court of King’s Bench

Client: In-House Project

Country: Canada

Riddled with centuries-old procedures and long, winding paper trails, filing is a court process ripe for service transformation. How can legal processes evolve to maximize value and efficiency for both the ministry and the people who need its services?

One of several digital transformation initiatives for the provincial government, our work started in the area of wills and estates law, where a deceased person’s executor applies to the Court for a grant allowing them to legally manage the estate. Roughly 8,400 applications are filed yearly, affecting more than 31,000 people.

PROBLEMS AND OBJECTIVES

For citizens and legal practitioners: Forms were complicated, required duplicate data and were prone to error, often requiring multiple visits to the courthouse or lawyer’s office. After submission, applicants waited up to 6 months, without visibility of their progress. This added frustration to an already difficult time. The redesigned service had to facilitate easier application creation and management, eliminate redundancy, and reduce rejections.

For clerks and Justices: The filing process was entirely paper-based, requiring documents to be handed-off between staff multiple times. This added significant delay to processing and severely limited opportunities to balance workloads across different locations.

The redesigned service had to deliver efficient and consistent review processes, eliminate low-value manual tasks, reduce wait times, and ensure equitable access to service across the province.

SOLUTION

A collaborative process with fully engaged stakeholders was critical to project success.
Together with law firms, Justices and court staff we researched, co-designed and re-imagined the end-to-end service. Possibilities for digital transformation are often constrained by legislation, but we were fortunate to be part of legislative change that cleared the path for new digital methods for certifying documents, serving notice, and creating official court records.

Applications are now filed by using a web interface, which has simplified form completion, eliminated duplicate data entry, and reduced in-person visits. Lawyers can securely manage applications and track progress. A streamlined review process has reduced clerk effort by as much as 70%, which enables them to cut pre-existing backlogs and better support citizens. The time to obtain a Grant has been reduced to 14 days.

This project represents a major step forward in the effort to digitize court processes. It lays the groundwork for transitioning other court services into the digital space, and acts as an example of how the public service can provide better experiences for all citizens.