How to customize your questionnaires

You customize your questionnaire from Settings > Customization > Open the questionnaire and work through its tabs. This article explains how the questionnaire is structured and what to pay attention to as you build out your custom questions. The video gives a quick overview of the same material:

Starter Questionnaire

After signup your DecisionVault account has a set of sections as an outline, filled with some sample questions. You can then go ahead and take your current questionnaire and replicate it here.

You can customize the title of the sections - how long they take, and you can also change the order in which they appear.

Note: The 'Welcome' & 'About You' sections will always show at the top - but you can change the order of the rest sections in the questionnaire.

Fixed Questions

As you look through these sections you will encounter grey blocks with fixed questions. For example on the Children section:

This shows the fixed questions that are part of this section - in the above example DecisionVault will ask the client to add their children and show those in a table, but you will not be able to change how it asks for those. The reason for that is that 'contacts' get captured in a structured way, so that they can get synced over to your other legal tools to follow. Below the grey fixed section it's possible to add your own custom questions - in this case related to the children.

There are some exceptions to this - for instance on the initial flow it's a firm preference whether DecisionVault will ask for the Social Security number of the client (and their partner if there is a partner) or not. When it is asked - it's an optional field.

Requests To Upload Files

Any requests to upload files are tied to 'Yes/No' questions about those files.

For example - say you want to ask if clients have a pre- or post-nuptial marriage agreement, you could ask this on the 'Marital Details' page as a Yes/No question:

You will have to add the Yes/No question first - and then you can click 'edit' and set it up so that if the client answer 'Yes' a document request will get created in the background.

This will make a request to upload the document show up on the 'Documents' Section of the questionnaire:

Relationships & Decision Makers

By default your questionnaire has a 'Decisionmakers' section to ask the client for people who would help them with financial / medical decisions and their minor children.

This is what that element looks like:

The idea here is that clients get a more specific question (e.g. who will help you when make medical decisions) - without yet putting people in position #1, 2, 3.

Once the client submits their questionnaire, you can see the people they put in each group on the full matter export. After you have met with the client and agreed who goes into which role, you capture that on the Roles tab of the matter, which only firm staff can see. The article How does the Client Decisions Summary work covers this in detail.

Available custom elements and questions

The related article "What custom questions can I use" lists every question type and display element available as you build up your questionnaire.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change or remove the fixed questions in the grey blocks?

No. Fixed questions capture contacts in a structured way so they can sync to your other legal tools, so their wording cannot be changed. You can add your own custom questions below each grey block.

Can I reorder or rename the sections?

Yes. You can change each section's title, its time estimate, and the order of the sections. Only Welcome and About You always stay at the top.

How do I ask the client to upload a document?

Add a Yes or No question about the document, then click Edit and set it to create a file request when the client answers Yes. The request appears in the Documents section of the questionnaire.

Does the questionnaire ask for Social Security Numbers?

That is a firm preference. You choose whether DecisionVault asks for the client's Social Security Number (and their partner's), and when it is asked it is an optional field for the client.