Vanilla simplifies estate planning in Georgia by helping you organize and visualize every client’s complete financial picture.
Vanilla simplifies estate planning in Georgia by helping you organize and visualize every client’s complete financial picture.
“Using Vanilla during this meeting was extremely powerful in helping us guide a family through a recommendation we were making at the time they were considering Balentine.”
Jennifer Pcholinsky, CFP, AEP
Senior Associate Relationship Manager, Balentine
Georgia Estate Planning Documents
Advisors invite clients to create estate documents.
Clients go through a self-guided questionnaire.
Clients review and finalize the plan.
Printed documents are shipped for signature.
Advisor keeps track of clients’ progress.
The estate plan is visualized in Vanilla.
Every state has its own estate and probate procedures. Here are some regulations to be aware of in Georgia:
Unlike other states, Georgia offers residents a provision called “year’s support.” This is a petition a surviving spouse and minor children may file with the probate court to grant them financial support from the estate for one year following the death. This can take precedence over creditors’ claims against the estate.
Georgia allows for a simplified process for heirs of a deceased person to claim money from the deceased if the deceased died intestate (without a will), the only asset the deceased has is money deposited in a bank or other financial institution, and the amount is not more than $15,000. If the required criteria are met, heirs may be able to claim these assets by completing an affidavit for the financial institution without having to go through probate.
Georgia has a simplified probate process, called a “petition for order declaring no administration necessary,” which is available for the estates of individuals who died intestate (without a will). If no personal representative is appointed, the estate owes no debts, and all heirs have agreed on how to divide the property, then they can file a petition to request the simplified probate process. If granted, this process can save some of the time, money, and hassle associated with regular probate proceedings.
Georgia does not impose a state estate tax or an inheritance tax.
Unless explicitly waived by a will or all heirs agree to waive it, a bond to protect an estate’s assets is typically required in Georgia. The bond must be posted by the estate’s executor or administrator.
Clients answer questions through a step-by-step process that generates their estate planning documents.
Invite your clients to create core estate planning documents. Monitor the status of invites sent and your clients’ progress to ensure they’re successfully completed and executed.
Everything will be printed and shipped directly to your clients in a beautifully designed package so that they can be duly executed.
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Information from the estate documents flows directly into Vanilla so advisors can immediately see the specific fact patterns and integrate their clients’ financial data.
Integrations
Create estate plan overviews
Organize and onboard clients’ plans in one place.
Visualize how the estate plan works
Simplify complex plans with interactive diagrams.
Drive ongoing legacy planning
Create strategies and opportunities through impactful estate planning conversations.
Yes, Vanilla has a suite of core estate planning documents that have been tailored to GA law by top GA-licensed attorneys.
Yes, Vanilla enables advisors to create new estate plans and generate automated visualizations, reports and potential opportunities through Document Builder.
Estate tax calculations are based on the current (2024) exemption of $13.61M per person (or $27.22M for a married couple). The exemption will be indexed for inflation each year and is scheduled to sunset to $5M per person in 2026 (indexed for inflation from 2011).
The table below presents calculations for hypothetical estate tax exposure based on assets that are considered inside of the taxable estate. These calculations include an estimated federal estate tax and state estate tax – both resident and non-resident, if any (no inheritance or GST tax). The table then presents a high level breakdown of net assets that transfer to heirs and charity (if any).
Vanilla enables advisors to have ongoing conversations with their clients about their estate plans. Opportunities identify the details about the estate that need to be looked at and then prioritized (i.e. beneficiary updates).
Yes, an advisor has to be a customer of Vanilla in order to invite their clients to consider creating estate plan documents with Vanilla Document Builder. However, a client can create their documents without having their estate plan visualized and reflected in Vanilla.
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