Category: Estate Planning

Vanilla

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Aug 25, 2026

Most estate plans never get a second look after they're signed. An annual review is the goal many advisors aim for but in practice, plans get signed, filed away, and forgotten. Without regular oversight, plans can become outdated with costly consequences; for example, a will written before a divorce will likely still name the ex-spouse as a beneficiary. A trust drafted before a business sale won’t account for recent liquidity. An annual review cycle will catch these disparities eventually, but estate plans are dynamic documents that evolve with your clients’ lives. In particular, the following seven events should trigger a...

Vanilla

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Aug 17, 2026

Bringing up estate planning with clients can feel intimidating for advisors who aren’t yet fully comfortable with the language, the complexity, and the point at which financial guidance can accidentally veer into legal advice territory. More than ever, though, clients across the wealth spectrum are looking for estate planning from their advisors. Recent research indicates that 61% of Americans say financial advisors should offer estate planning services, and 68% of advised clients would consider switching to another advisor that offers it. Estate planning is undeniably a critical piece of a holistic wealth planning strategy. If you’re considering adding it to...

Vanilla

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Aug 11, 2026

From tax law changes to liquidity events to shifting family dynamics, a number of factors can impact whether an estate plan drafted a decade or even a year ago still reflects the client’s wishes and current situation. Through regular estate plan reviews, advisors can catch potential issues such as outdated beneficiary designations or unfunded trusts before they become irreversible problems. Understanding the “why” behind estate plan reviews is simple; executing them at scale can pose a challenge for firms still relying on manual workflows. The components of a comprehensive estate plan review A thorough estate plan review requires several integrated...

Jessica Lantz

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Aug 06, 2026

Estate planning is a critical component of comprehensive financial planning. For most RIAs, it's also the hardest part to operationalize, because the financial data lives in one place while the estate work is done somewhere else entirely. The disconnect can be costly: manual data entry, version control problems, and siloed estate planning conversations (or no estate planning conversations at all). In 2024, Vanilla became the industry’s first estate planning solution to bring together AI-powered estate planning and leading financial planning capabilities when we launched our integration with eMoney, a collaboration designed to help advisors offer a more holistic approach to...

Sarah D. McDaniel, CFA

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Aug 03, 2026

Every August, National Make-A-Will Month gives you a natural reason to raise a topic most clients quietly avoid: what happens to their assets, their minor children, and their wishes if they become incapacitated or pass away. It's a low-pressure calendar hook for a high-value conversation and it's one worth having with every client and prospect, not just your largest accounts. Only about a quarter of American adults currently have a will in place. That statistic alone should tell you how much opportunity sits untouched in your book of business. And for the clients who do have documents, many haven't looked...

Vanilla

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Jul 20, 2026

Estate planning is complex by nature. For family offices, that complexity reaches a new level: Multi-generational wealth structures Intricate entity relationships Beneficiaries with competing interests.  Tax exposure that spans federal, state, and generation-skipping layers Family offices exist precisely to address these layered nuances with dedicated expertise and infrastructure. But many are still relying on tools that weren’t built to handle the variables associated with ultra-sophisticated estate planning: spreadsheets, disconnected point solutions, and legacy software. What makes estate planning different for family offices Family offices don't operate like traditional RIAs or wealth management practices. Client relationships run deeper and longer and...

Vanilla

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Jul 09, 2026

Estate taxes are one of the most consequential numbers in a client's financial life, but they’re also highly complex and often misunderstood. While estate taxes are often associated with high-net-worth households, they’re increasingly relevant across the wealth spectrum. Even when federal estate taxes may not apply, many mass affluent clients are still exposed to state-level estate taxes, making these conversations important for a much broader set of clients.  A complete estate tax estimate draws from federal exemption thresholds, state-level tax exposure, asset valuations, discount rates, trust structures, gifting history, and assumptions about future growth, with variations on any input changing...

Karen Nachbar

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Jul 08, 2026

Estate planning is one of the most valuable conversations a financial advisor can have with a client. It also can be legally sensitive. When you invite a client to talk about their estate, you can open the door to a category of risk that advisors may want to focus on: the unauthorized practice of law, or UPL. Many advisors who run into UPL issues simply don't realize they've crossed a line — or they're trying to help a client who doesn't want to hear "talk to an attorney." But the consequences, ranging from state bar referrals and FINRA or SEC...

Sarah D. McDaniel, CFA

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Jul 01, 2026

Holiday gatherings bring the whole family together; the same people who need to align on estate plans, heirlooms, and generational transfers. Here's how to show up as an invaluable resource before, during, and after. When families gather, decisions get made It's no coincidence that some of the most meaningful estate planning conversations happen around a kitchen table or on a porch in July. Given families informally use holiday get-togethers to have important conversations, advisors who ask about family gatherings and traditions do more than make small talk, they become confidants and indirectly part of the family conversation. Advisors learn who...