Jessica Lantz

Sep 23, 2025

Print Share

What’s New in September: Nationwide Inheritance Tax Calculations, New V/AI Features, and more!

This month’s release tackles the friction points you’ve told us about—from inconsistent AI results across your team to managing multi-state inheritance tax requirements. Each enhancement works seamlessly with your existing processes while expanding what’s possible. Here’s what came out in September, along with some features that are coming soon.

Nationwide inheritance tax: Never miss inheritance tax implications again

The challenge: Advisors with multi-state clients manually track varying inheritance tax rules across jurisdictions, risking costly oversights and planning errors.

The solution:

• Vanilla is introducing inheritance tax calculation support for Maryland, Nebraska, and New Jersey—completing our nationwide coverage
• Automated, state-specific calculations integrate seamlessly across Vanilla
• Accurate projections for clients regardless of residence or asset location

Give yourself comprehensive tools to serve multi-state clients without leaving money on the table. Coming soon.

V/AI Custom Prompt Library: Scale your team’s AI expertise 

The challenge: Teams can experience inconsistent V/AI results without the ability for users to share and input effective V/AI prompts.

The solution:

• We’re launching a shared Custom Prompt Library that allows organizations to save, edit, and distribute proven V/AI prompts across their entire team
• Ensure consistent, high-quality document summaries across the board with democratized AI expertise
• Turn prompts into resources that accelerate productivity

This collaborative approach delivers better client outcomes and strategy insights while saving time. Available now. 

V/AI Summary on the PDF report: Comprehensive client deliverables at your fingertips 

The challenge: To add V/AI summaries to the PDF report, advisors have had to manually copy and format their reports, creating inconsistent presentation quality and extra workflow steps.

The solution:

• V/AI Summaries can now be included in PDF reports
• Select any previously generated summary to include 
• Maintain professional formatting while delivering AI-powered insights to clients

Create more comprehensive reports that combine traditional information on estate planning with cutting-edge AI insights, all without additional manual formatting work. Available now.

Note that V/AI content is not reviewed by Vanilla Abstraction Services. Be sure to always double-check V/AI output for accuracy when including content in client deliverables. 

V/AI Source Tracking: Work faster with instant data validation

The challenge: Advisors need to be able to easily verify where V/AI-generated information originates instead of manually searching through documents or accepting AI outputs without validation.

The solution:

• We’re launching source tracking functionality that allows advisors to instantly jump to the original source document passage 
• View the full context of the selected information with automatic highlighting
• Instantly add custom edits to the V/AI details of the highlighted content

Transform checking AI accuracy from time-intensive scrolling through large amounts of text into a seamless workflow. Available now.

Unified Copilot experience: Consistency across all AI interactions

The challenge: Advisors encounter different AI interfaces across V/AI tools, creating confusion and reducing efficiency when moving between Summary, Auto Profiles, and Estate Builder.

The solution:

• Enjoy the same intuitive Copilot interface across V/AI Summary, Auto Profiles, and Estate Builder
• Platform-wide consistency
• Navigate AI features seamlessly regardless of where you’re working in Vanilla

Our AI assistant becomes a comprehensive planning companion accessible throughout your entire workflow, ensuring you can leverage AI insights across the board. Available now. 

Vanilla UI/UX updates: Streamlined navigation and enhanced estate insights

The challenge: Advisors need to have quick, easy access to critical metrics to get an understanding of information in an estate profile.

The solution:

• Redesigned main menu that keeps core features persistent at the top
• The Quick Actions button is being moved to the top menu in an estate profile
• The option to create or edit a V/AI summary is being moved to the Quick Actions lightning bolt button
• Enhanced estate dashboard with clear projections for tax savings, liquidity status, and federal exemption remaining
• Redesigned Family Wealth Today, Inside/Outside Estate, and asset formatting for better clarity
• New Net Worth Over Time visualization and comprehensive Assets & Liabilities breakdown for complete estate analysis

Transform both platform navigation and estate analysis into streamlined, intuitive experiences that enhance advisor productivity and client conversations. Coming soon.

Vanilla Scenarios™️ updates: Four new strategies for advanced modeling

The challenge: Advisors need to model complex estate planning strategies like GRATs and liquidity events in ways that clients can easily understand and visualize.

The solution:

• We are adding four new scenario modeling options to Vanilla!
• Liquidity Event modeling allows advisors to demonstrate the impact of when business or asset value changes significantly
• GRAT scenario planning enables modeling of Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts for estate tax reduction strategies
• Outright to Charity scenarios help advisors illustrate tax-efficient philanthropic planning opportunities for giving to a Donor Advised Fund or Private Foundation
• Rolling GRAT capabilities model sophisticated serial trust strategies where annuity payments fund subsequent GRATs for maximum estate tax efficiency

Transform complex estate planning conversations into clear, visual scenarios that demonstrate the long-term impact of sophisticated strategies your clients may never have considered. Coming soon.

Ready to dive in? 

September’s updates represent our continued commitment to solving the real challenges you face every day—from managing complex multi-state tax scenarios to ensuring your entire team can leverage AI effectively. To explore these updates, connect with your CSM or schedule a demo to see them in action. 

Note that all unpublished features and enhancements mentioned are subject to change in both content and timeline without notice. Vanilla reserves the right to modify or cancel roadmap items at any time.