AI-powered tools accelerate meaningful conversations, eliminate manual processes, and deliver holistic insights at scale
Vanilla, the most trusted platform in modern estate planning, today announced significant enhancements to its AI suite, delivering a new level of intelligence and scale to the estate planning workflow. Designed to go far beyond basic summarization, the updated toolkit empowers advisors to analyze estate documents as a cohesive whole, uncover planning opportunities, and deliver personalized guidance with greater speed and accuracy.
“At Vanilla, AI isn’t a bolt-on; it’s a belief system,” said Amjad Hussain, Chief Technology Officer at Vanilla. “Our vision was always to make estate planning feel intuitive and immediate. Advisors told us this is what they always hoped estate planning technology would do—let them get started in less than a minute, let the tech do the heavy lifting, and then guide them to the insights that matter most. So we built that. And by continually refining our AI with feedback from top advisory firms, we’ve created a system that delivers value on day one.”
Vanilla’s founder, Steve Lockshin, is not only a pioneer in estate planning innovation but an active advisor serving clients daily at AdvicePeriod. “Vanilla was born from my desire to scale how I serve clients and make estate conversations core to every wealth planning relationship,” Lockshin said. “True estate planning at scale is only possible through technology—and AI pushes that even further. With Vanilla, I’m transforming how I interact with clients: faster onboarding, cleaner analysis, and deeper, more impactful conversations.”
Vanilla’s latest release centers on V/AI Estate Summaries, a powerful tool that reads and interprets entire sets of estate planning documents—not just individually, but collectively. The result is a structured, editable summary of the estate, complete with planning observations, inconsistencies (such as misaligned spousal provisions), and next-step recommendations. This allows advisors to scale thoughtful analysis across client segments, eliminating the hours typically required for manual review.
One breakthrough capability is the Custom Prompt Extender, which allows firms (including Trust Companies) to input proprietary prompt templates, synopses, or review requirements directly into the V/AI workflow. For example, a fiduciary team can now automatically generate summaries that align with their internal audit protocols, flag taxability concerns, or identify potential drafting errors across multiple documents. The result is personalized, high-quality insights delivered instantly and consistently across the advisory team.
Other new features include:
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Automated Provision Notes Extraction: V/AI now identifies and associates provision notes with relevant subtrusts that are created at death, which is one of the most time-consuming tasks in a manual review and frees up advisors to focus on planning, not paperwork.
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V/AI Copilot Enhancements: With a smarter chat interface, advisors can ask tailored questions about a single document or full estate plan set. This is anything from “Who are the contingent beneficiaries?” to “Are there conflicting terms in marital trusts?” and users receive precise answers in seconds.
- Profile Auto-Population: Key data such as family members, fiduciary roles, distributions, and trust structures are extracted and auto-filled into the client’s Vanilla profile, activating downstream visualizations and deeper planning functionality.
In beta testing, firms using V/AI have already generated over 3,500 document summaries and more than 300 full estate summaries—accelerating client engagement while deepening relationships.
With one of the largest in-house teams of trust and estate experts in the industry, Vanilla’s AI is dynamic. The platform is continuously refined by seasoned in-house attorneys and planners, ensuring greater accuracy and relevance with every interaction. This team also surfaces new opportunities to embed intelligence into the advisor workflow, further scaling value across firms to help drive to results that are proven, not just promised.
To see Vanilla’s AI capabilities in action, join our live webinar “AI in Estate Planning: Setting the Standard” on June 5, 2025, at 2 PM ET or visit justvanilla.com.
About Vanilla
Vanilla is the leading estate advisory platform that enables advisors to deliver holistic wealth planning at scale. With best-in-class software for engagement, document analysis, planning, and creation—supercharged by AI and backed by 180+ years of T&E expertise—Vanilla helps firms like Vanguard, Mariner, and Baird grow revenue, deepen relationships, and serve clients across generations. Discover the new standard in estate planning at justvanilla.com.
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Caliber Corporate Advisers for Vanilla
vanilla@calibercorporateadvisers.com
