Vanilla Blog

Laura Jogani

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Jun 04, 2026

Early in my career at JP Morgan, I needed information about a specific trust. Details about distribution standards, successor trustees, provisions that mattered for a client situation we were navigating. The trust officer who knew that account inside and out was on vacation. Two weeks out. We waited. That moment stuck with me, not because it was a crisis, but because it was so ordinary. It happened all the time, at one of the largest, most sophisticated financial institutions in the world. The information existed. It just lived in a person, not a system. And when that person wasn't there,...

Vanilla

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Jun 03, 2026

BELLEVUE, WA — June 3, 2026 — Vanilla, the modern estate planning platform built for financial advisors, today announced it has been named a Finalist in two categories at the 2026 Wealth Management Industry Awards (the "Wealthies"). Vanilla was recognized as a Finalist in the following categories: Technology Providers — Thought Leadership: Estate Planning and Women research report Estate Planning — Technology The Thought Leadership recognition reflects Vanilla's research into how women approach estate planning, a study that surfaced where advisors can build deeper relationships with an underserved and fast-growing segment of wealth holders. The Estate Planning — Technology recognition...

Vanilla

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Jun 02, 2026

Memorial Day is behind us, school's out and our clients are booking flights, loading up the car, and mentally shifting into summer mode. That's exactly why this is your opening. When people travel, something shifts in how they think about the unexpected — what happens if a flight goes sideways, if there's a medical emergency, if something unforeseen leaves their family trying to figure out who to call and what to do. That quiet anxiety doesn't require a crisis or a deadline to feel real. It’s already there. And your clients are in that mindset right now. They're updating emergency...

Vanilla

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May 28, 2026

Estate planning is one of the most valuable services financial advisors can offer, but it’s also one of the most difficult to make relevant and tangible during a client meeting.  For many families across the wealth spectrum, estate documents already exist, created by their attorneys. But showing clients what those plans mean in the context of their full financial picture is challenging, and doing so in a way that’s simple, actionable, and engaging is even harder.  Estate planning flowcharts do the heavy lifting, surfacing relevant data from dense legal documents and helping clients immediately understand the impact of the information...

Jessica Lantz

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May 27, 2026

Estate planning conversations don't always start with a trust structure. Sometimes they start with a client who wants to give — to a cause they care about or to an institution that shaped who they are. What makes these conversations worth having carefully is that charitable intent and estate planning goals don't have to live in separate lanes. When structured thoughtfully, a charitable strategy can honor a client's values while doing meaningful work on their estate at the same time. That integration is increasingly where advisors are finding differentiation. Clients with appreciated assets, concentrated positions, or taxable estates are asking...

Vanilla

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May 20, 2026

Vanilla Continues National Expansion, Adding Carson Group to a Growing Roster of Leading Advisory Firms Bellevue, Washington — Vanilla is expanding its footprint across the independent advisory landscape, announcing today a partnership with Carson Group that brings its estate planning platform to more than 600 advisors. Carson Group manages over $58 billion in assets under management and serves more than 60,000 client families across a network of 165+ partner offices nationwide. "Estate planning is one of the most meaningful services an advisor can offer, and one of the most underleveraged," said Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla. "This partnership puts Vanilla...

Vanilla

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May 18, 2026

A financial advisor's book spans the full range of client complexity — from a household getting their first will to a UHNW family managing a multi-generational wealth transfer. Vanilla was built to handle all of it. More than 21,000 estates processed, $250 billion in assets modeled. Here's what that looks like in practice. Mass affluent clients: delivering good plans at scale For emerging wealth clients, the problem most advisors face isn't what to do — it's how to do it consistently across a large number of relationships without the process falling apart. Vanilla's Document Builder™ gives clients the tools to...

Vanilla

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May 13, 2026

If you missed our most recent product update webinar, here's a full rundown of everything we've shipped in 2026 — plus a preview of what's coming next. Our Product Marketing Specialist Jess walked attendees through the updates organized around the three commitments that guide everything we build: AI that elevates you, confidence in every client conversation, and getting you faster to the moments that matter. AI That Elevates You Tax Return Prompt for V/AI V/AI, Vanilla's proprietary AI, already generates comprehensive estate summaries from client documents. This year we added a dedicated tax return prompt to the Custom Prompt Library....

Vanilla

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May 12, 2026

Clients come to advisors for help navigating some of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives. Estate planning is the door to those conversations, and advisors who open it consistently become the trusted advisor for life's biggest moments, deepening client relationships and growing their practice in the process. That's why BlackRock has partnered with Vanilla to bring estate planning education directly to advisors through the BlackRock Advisor Center, a growing library of resources built to help advisors make estate planning a consistent part of how they serve clients. What's available now Advisors can access the following content written in...

Vanilla

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May 12, 2026

As demand for estate planning increases, adoption of AI estate planning software is accelerating. Last year, Kitces Research projected that by 2026, nearly half of all advisors will employ technology to support estate planning.  Firms leading the charge are positioning themselves to deliver a differentiated level of comprehensive planning with depth and consistency across their entire book of business. Advisors who build estate planning into their core service offering, supported by AI software that enables scale, can establish deeper relationships with both current and next-gen clients while setting themselves apart from firms focused exclusively on investment management and retirement financial...

Vanilla

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May 06, 2026

The wealth management industry is at an inflection point. Cerulli Associates projects that $124 trillion in assets will transfer by 2048, with $105 trillion flowing to the next generation. Trusts are among the most commonly used vehicles for structuring those transfers. For RIAs, multi-family offices, and private wealth firms, the volume of trust documents that will need to be reviewed represents both a significant opportunity and an operational challenge. Trust documents govern beneficiary rights, distribution conditions, tax strategies, and succession intentions, making a thorough review consequential to comprehensive financial planning.  The growing complexity of trust review in wealth management Client...

Sarah D. McDaniel, CFA

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May 01, 2026

A 2026 analysis of more than 12,000 advisor-client meetings found that 72% of clients express interest in estate planning but defer. Only 26% move forward. Most clients aren't opposed — they're waiting for a reason to act now. Volatile markets provide one. When markets are turbulent, it’s a smart time to revisit estate planning. While the instinct might be to pause and wait for stability, volatile periods can actually open up strategic opportunities. Using the blog The Building Blocks of Estate Planning Techniques as a guide, we’ll outline some timely actions advisors can take to calmly and confidently help clients...