Independent compatibility study
This page describes how the INHERIT open estate data standard maps to HL7 FHIR's data model. It is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by HL7 FHIR.
If you represent HL7 FHIR and would like to explore an official integration, please get in touch.
HL7 FHIR
Partial studyInternational healthcare data exchange standard. INHERIT connects estate documents to patient records, advance directives, capacity assessments, and organ donation preferences via HL7 FHIR.
What you can do with HL7 FHIR + INHERIT
Export INHERIT estate data with FHIR references embedded — patient identifiers, consent references, and healthcare record access flags that FHIR-enabled systems can resolve directly.
This means you can:- Link estate documents to the deceased's medical records for capacity evidence
- Connect advance directives in the estate plan to the hospital's consent system
- Provide organ donation preferences in a format healthcare systems already understand
- Enable insurers and pension funds to verify health-related estate claims programmatically
Import healthcare data from FHIR-enabled systems into INHERIT estate documents — patient demographics, capacity assessments, and consent records that inform estate planning decisions.
This means you can:- Pull patient capacity assessments into estate plans to evidence testamentary capacity
- Import advance directive status from healthcare providers
- Receive death verification data from hospital systems
- Link healthcare power of attorney records to the estate's proxy authorisations
Imagine this
A solicitor is preparing a will for an elderly client. The client’s family is concerned about testamentary capacity — can the client still make valid decisions about their estate? Today, the solicitor requests a capacity assessment letter from the GP, waits days for a response, and files it as a PDF alongside the will. If the will is later challenged, proving capacity means digging through medical records.
With FHIR interoperability, the capacity assessment is linked directly to the estate document. The GP’s system records the assessment as a FHIR Condition resource. The estate plan references it via fhirPatientRef and healthcareRecordAccess. If the will is challenged years later, the evidence chain is structured, machine-readable, and traceable — not buried in a filing cabinet.
For healthcare-adjacent estate work — capacity disputes, advance directives, organ donation, insurance claims — the bridge between medical records and legal documents is where the real value lies. FHIR is how healthcare speaks. INHERIT is how estates speak. The integration lets them understand each other.
How data flows
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