Vanilla Launches Vanilla Safe™ to Keep Every Family Ready for the Unexpected

Vanilla Safe gives every member of a household access and guidance they need for an emergency, set up by their advisor in one click.

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vanilla, the leading estate planning platform for wealth management firms, today announced the beta launch of Vanilla Safe™, a new product that provides organized access to key documents, contacts, and guidance for an emergency to every member of a client household, from spouses to adult children to fiduciaries. Enabled by advisors with a single invite, Vanilla Safe is available on mobile and web at no additional cost to every Vanilla customer and their clients.

In most households, one partner is typically more informed about the family finances and important documents. When that partner is the first to pass, the surviving spouse is often unable to locate those documents and the account details they suddenly need. Worse yet, most families are not financially prepared for an unexpected loss, and it happens more often than families expect. Vanilla Safe closes that gap, so families are prepared.

"Advisors have always wanted to serve the whole family, but they have never had a simple way to do it. Vanilla Safe gives them a solution for family preparedness. It takes almost no effort to establish, it shows every family their readiness both financially and with respect to documentation, and it keeps the advisor at the center of the relationship as wealth passes to the next generation," said Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla.

Vanilla Safe goes beyond document storage. It monitors a family's preparedness, guides them through emergencies, and keeps the right people connected, all enabled by their advisor.

• Set up once, refresh anytime. Advisors enable the product for a client with a single click, and can resync at any time to pull in the latest account and balance sheet data from Vanilla.
• A fuller financial picture when it counts. Clients will have the option to link additional accounts through Plaid at general availability, giving greater visibility into overall financial standing and liquidity in an emergency.
• The right documents, ready when needed. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives are stored and made accessible to designated family members.
• A family's own circle, not just the advisor's. Clients choose and manage who is on their contact list — first-call contacts, relatives, fiduciaries — and decide exactly what each person can see.
• Guidance in the moment it's needed. Following a death or during a medical emergency, Vanilla Safe guides the family through what to do and who to call, tailored to their state.
• A living picture of readiness, not a one-time checklist. Each month, families get a simple update on what's covered and what still needs attention.

“With almost 40 years in financial services, I am still amazed at how many families lack the liquidity, documentation, and preparation for an untimely death. Understanding where those gaps are, and having them pushed directly and regularly, helps close them so we don’t make an already horrible experience even worse. Even when a death isn’t sudden, having everything organized relieves what is already a very stressful time. Vanilla Safe was designed to make clients’ financial lives simpler and safer,” said Steve Lockshin, co-founder of Vanilla.

Advisors already on the Vanilla platform can request beta access starting today. Advisors not yet using Vanilla can sign up to be notified at general availability. Learn more at justvanilla.com/vanilla-safe-beta.

About Vanilla

Vanilla is the modern estate planning platform built for financial advisors. By transforming complex legal documents into clear, interactive visuals, Vanilla enables advisors to deliver more personal, impactful conversations around legacy, wealth transfer, and generational planning. With deep integrations, intuitive workflows, and expert support, Vanilla helps advisors bring estate planning into the heart of holistic financial advice. Learn more at justvanilla.com.