Tag: Estate Planning

How to Get Estate Planning Documents Notarized

So you’ve created, or updated, your estate planning documents. Congratulations! You’re at the final stretch but there’s one more important step you may need to take: Your documents need to be signed and notarized.

Getting your documents notarized serves a few purposes but the most important one is that without getting notarized, they may not be considered legally valid. That could open your estate up to potential probate proceedings or other court challenges.

We recommend following this process:

  1. After drafting your estate plan in Wealth.com, select Mobile Notary from the Validation Services menu. If you own property and are interested in funding your trust, we also offer this option within the Validation Services menu.
  2. Submit a mobile notary order and our preferred provider, Sign Here Ink, will contact you to coordinate a time and location that’s convenient to you. If you need witnesses, they can help with that too!
  3. Your notary will scan your validated documents and upload them into your wealth.com Vault for security and accessibility.

Below we’ll detail more about the process, our recommendations and answers to common questions.

What does it mean to get estate planning documents notarized?

Getting a document notarized is when a notary public certifies the authenticity of signatures on a document. Typically, the process involves:

  • Identity verification. The notary verifies that the person signing is who they claim to be. They typically ask for identification in the form of a driver’s license or passport.
  • Witnessing the signature. A notary also needs to witness first-hand the person signing the documents willingly and not under coercion. Some states may require additional witnesses.
  • Notarial seal and signature. After the notary confirms the above, they include their signature and their official or stamp confirming that the document is now legally valid and credible.

Why is a notary needed?

The primary reason for getting documents notarized is for your protection. First, to ensure that documents aren’t fraudulently signed in your name. For example, somebody signing a will in your name that you did not actually sign—like something out of a movie plot.

Second, to ensure that the documents are recognized by the legal system if, and when, they need to be executed. The last thing you want to happen with your estate plan is for there to be unnecessary legal action because the validity of the documents you signed is questioned. By getting documents notarized, when they need to be executed there is confirmation that you have willingly signed them and they can be legally executed because you followed your state’s regulations for getting them notarized.

How can I get my documents notarized?

Requirements for how to get documents notarized vary by state. Each state has its own laws and regulations governing how notarization works. Differences between states may include identification requirements you can use or if you need additional witnesses as well as training requirements for notaries themselves.

If you need to notarize your documents, you can actually order a mobile notary directly within Wealth.com. We offer a nationwide network across all 50 states of trust-certified notaries who can meet you at a preferred date, time, and location. Your advisor doesn’t need to coordinate this appointment, since our mobile notary preferred provider, Sign Here Ink, manages all orders and scheduling. Our mobile notaries also bring printed copies of your documents to the appointment, so there’s no need to print them yourselves. Once the appointment concludes, the notary will leave the original documents with you to keep and scan a digital version for your advisor same-day to download. It’s that simple! If you’re a Wealth.com user, you can learn more about how to request a mobile notary your Help Center or by asking our AI assistant. 

You can also find a notary at a local UPS or FedEx location. Banks also often have notaries on staff, although you may need to be a customer to use them. You can also search online for local notaries near your home. Note that these options might not have trust-certified notaries who are experts in estate planning documents, which is why we recommend using our mobile notary service.

If your advisor already has an in-house notary, you can also choose the Print & Ship option in your Validation Services menu where printed copies get sent to your address and details for getting them notarized in your state will be included.

Are online notary services also available?

Online notary services are legal to use in some states but you should use caution if you choose to use one. That’s because while they can legally operate in some states, there still may be legal requirements that could conflict or create confusion with the use of an online notary.

For example, New Jersey allows remote ink-signed notarization but doesn’t recognize remote online notarization—the difference being the need for a wet signature. However, that ability to get it remotely can easily cause confusion.

Furthermore, some online notary services may not accurately follow state-specific instructions if they operate in multiple states, opening you up to potential issues in the future.

Legislation in a number of states is likely to continue to be updated, with the hope that remote online notarization becomes a simpler process. We are actively monitoring legislation across the country and will notify you—via instructions when it’s time to sign your documents—if remote online notarization is allowed in your state.

Until then, we do recommend an in-person notary as the best way to ensure that you minimize any potential legal issues if, and when, your documents are executed in the future.

Can I get my documents notarized in another state?

It’s recommended that you follow your state regulations and also discuss with your notary. Technically, a notary can legally notarize documents from any state as long as the notarial act occurs in the state in which they were commissioned because notaries are typically only verifying the signer’s identity and not the document itself.

However, best practice would be to confirm with the notary that they don’t believe this would be an issue. We also recommend extreme caution in this instance that the document is being notarized according to the instructions of the state they were produced in.

What if someone named in my estate plan is also a notary?

It’s not usually recommended that any interested party notarize or witness any estate planning documents.

Certain states will strike the nomination as executor or gift to a beneficiary if a witness is the individual named as either. Even without a specific statutory prohibition in a given state, it opens the door for all kinds of litigation arguments around undue influence and capacity in execution

From Fragmented to Fully Integrated Planning with Premier Planning Group

 

Mike Weckenbrock, a financial planner and attorney, shares how Wealth.com transformed his practice by bringing estate planning in-house. By replacing a slow, expensive, and fragmented traditional model, Wealth.com enables him to deliver a seamless, client-friendly experience while maintaining legal integrity with attorney-built, state-specific documents. The platform simplifies workflows, removes client friction, and allows advisors to offer truly holistic planning. For Mike, it has become one of the most impactful tools in his practice, helping him elevate his value and better serve clients.

The Advisor’s Guide to Separate and Community Property: Navigating State Borders and Tax Benefits

A client moves from Texas to New York. Another inherits assets in Florida. A third is going through a divorce. In each case, the same question quietly determines the outcome: is the asset Separate Property (SP) or Community Property (CP)?

 

1. The Two Systems: Community vs. Common Law

The U.S. is divided into two primary legal frameworks for marital property. Understanding which applies to your client is the first step in any plan.

Community Property States (The “Partnership” Model)

  • Primary States: AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI.
  • Philosophy: Marriage is a 50/50 partnership. Most assets acquired during marriage are owned equally by both spouses, regardless of whose name is on the title.
  • The “Double Step-Up”: Under IRC § 1014(b)(6), when one spouse dies, 100% of the community property receives a step-up in basis to fair market value. This can wipe out massive capital gains for the survivor—a benefit not automatically available in common law states.

Common Law / Separate Property States (The “Title” Model)

  • States: The other 41 states (e.g., NY, FL, IL, OH).
  • Philosophy: Ownership is generally determined by how the asset is titled. If it’s in the Husband’s name, it’s his property.
  • The “Single Step-Up”: At death, typically only the deceased spouse’s interest in the property (usually 50% if held as joint tenants) gets a basis step-up.

 

2. Managing Separate Property in a Joint World

A common pain point for advisors is managing “Separate Property”—assets owned before marriage or received via gift/inheritance.

The Gold Standard for Advisors: Keep it separate. If a client receives a $1M inheritance and deposits it into a joint checking account used for household bills, that asset has likely been commingled. In many jurisdictions, once assets are commingled, they are presumed to be marital or community property, losing their protection in a divorce or from a spouse’s creditors.

How Wealth.com Solves This:

Our platform is designed to accommodate both property types within a single Joint Revocable Trust structure.

  • Delineation: Our trust agreements include a “Character of Property” clause. As long as the underlying accounts are properly labeled, the trust respects the asset’s original character (SP vs. CP).
  • Naming Conventions: To prevent accidental commingling, our Trust Owner’s Manual guides clients on how to title accounts (e.g., “Jane Doe, Separate Property Sub-Trust”) to maintain legal boundaries while keeping everything under one “roof.”

 

3. The “Tax-Only” Community Property Trap

Clients in common law states often envy the “double step-up” tax advantage. This has led to the rise of Community Property Trusts (CPTs) in “opt-in” states like Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

While these trusts aim to grant common-law residents the tax benefits of CP, advisors must be wary:

  • Legal Consequences: You cannot usually opt-in to the tax benefits without also opting-in to the legal burdens. In California, for example, transmuting property to CP means it is subject to a 50/50 split in divorce—no “tax-only” exceptions.
  • Enforceability: Agreements that attempt to claim CP for the IRS but disclaim it for creditors or divorce are legally fragile. Courts often find that if you tell the IRS it’s community property, it’s community property for all purposes.

 

4. When the Rules Change: Relocation

One of the most overlooked risks is “migratory property.”

  • CP to Common Law: If a couple moves from Texas (CP) to Florida (Common Law), their assets usually retain their community property character (and the double step-up potential) unless they affirmatively change them.
  • Common Law to CP: Conversely, many CP states use “Quasi-Community Property” rules, which treat common law assets as community property if they would have been CP had the couple lived there originally.

 

5. Advisor Summary Table

IssueCommunity Property StatesCommon Law / Separate Property States
Step-up in Basis100% of CP gets a step-up at 1st death (IRC § 1014(b)(6)).Only the decedent’s portion gets a step-up.
Creditor AccessCreditors can often reach all CP for one spouse’s debt.Creditors generally only reach assets titled to the debtor spouse.
DivorceOften a strict 50/50 split of all community assets.“Equitable Distribution” (fair, but not always equal).
Best StrategyUse Transmutation Agreements sparingly and with counsel.Consider Opt-In Community Property Trusts for high-basis assets.

 

Sources:
  1. Internal Revenue Service. (2024). Publication 555: Community Property.
  2. Cornell Law School. (2026). 26 U.S. Code § 1014 – Basis of property acquired from a decedent. Legal Information Institute.
  3. American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). (2025). What is Community Property? Resource Center.
  4. California Legislative Information. (2026). Family Code Sections 850–852: Transmutation of Property.
  5. Goosmann Law Firm. (2025). Community Property vs. Separate Property from an Estate Planner’s Perspective

How One Relationship Manager Is Streamlining Estate Planning for Clients With Wealth.com

 

Camryn Brown, Relationship Manager at Symphony Wealth Group, shares how Wealth.com has simplified the estate planning process for both advisors and clients.

Before Wealth.com, the firm referred clients to local attorneys, which often led to a slow and expensive process that discouraged many from moving forward. Since onboarding Wealth.com just a few months ago, the team has already introduced the platform to more than 80 clients.

Camryn plays a hands-on role in guiding clients through the final steps of the process, preparing documents and facilitating signings as the firm’s in-office notary. With Wealth.com, the process is simple and efficient. Clients can complete most of the work from home and often finalize their estate plans in about 30 minutes.

The feedback, she says, has been overwhelmingly positive. Clients are often surprised by how easy the process is.

Symphony Wealth Group Expands Estate Planning Access and Drives Revenue with Wealth.com

 

In this testimonial, Ross Viergever of Symphony Wealth Group shares how Wealth.com transformed the way his firm delivers estate planning to clients.

Ross reflects on what first drew him to financial planning: the ability to make a meaningful impact not just for one client, but for families across multiple generations. At Symphony Wealth Group, many clients fit the profile of the “millionaire next door,” living modestly while prioritizing the protection of their family’s legacy.

Before Wealth.com, referring clients to outside estate planners often created friction. High fees, unfamiliar relationships, and a complicated process meant many clients hesitated to move forward with estate planning.

With Wealth.com, those barriers disappeared. Clients can now complete their estate plans from the comfort of home at a significantly lower cost and with far less complexity. Ross says the most common response he hears from clients is simple: “That was a lot easier than I thought.”

Since launching Wealth.com just six months ago, Symphony Wealth Group has already onboarded 60–70 clients and generated more than $50,000 in additional revenue. More importantly, Ross says, families now have the peace of mind of knowing their legacy plans are in place.

His advice to other advisors considering Wealth.com? Sign up. You won’t regret it.

Bridging Tax and Estate Planning in Your Practice: The Operational Blueprint for Firmwide Integration

One of the more complicated aspects of financial planning is its sheer scope. In order to do your best work, you need comprehensive insight into a client’s full financial picture. But too often, that insight can be lacking and work gets disconnected as you move between taxes, wealth planning, estate, and even day-to-day money issues.

One way that problem is illustrated clearly is through the connection between tax and estate planning.

In practice, these two areas should be completely interconnected. But operationally, they often live in different systems, are governed by different workflows, and built through separate conversations. That separation can limit the depth and efficiency of advice.

If your goal is integrated tax and estate planning, the shift to getting there requires structural change. It requires rethinking systems, data flow, and collaboration across your firm. Wealth.com supports this evolution through a unified planning platform designed to align tax and estate planning workflows inside a single platform.

In this article, we’re spotlighting the case for a unified approach to tax and estate planning, and what you can do to implement it.

 

4 Reasons Why You Need Unified Tax and Estate Planning

You already understand that tax and estate decisions are deeply interconnected. The problem is not awareness. It is execution. When these disciplines live in separate systems, unnecessary risk, inefficiency, and missed planning opportunities follow.

The solution is not more meetings or more spreadsheets. It is operational integration through a unified platform. Here are four reasons why it matters.

1. Manual Work Creates Avoidable Risk

Financial advisors know the friction well. Re-keying tax return data into planning tools consumes time, introduces discrepancies, and limits scalability. Even small inconsistencies can ripple into projections, documents, and compliance reviews.

A unified planning platform eliminates redundant data entry. Shared information across tax projections and estate documents creates a single source of truth. Accuracy improves. Compliance strengthens. Teams spend less time auditing manual inputs and more time delivering strategic advice.

2. Discovering Held-Away Assets Requires Clean Data

Estate planning is only as strong as the data informing it. Client questionnaires rely on recall, and recall is incomplete. Dormant accounts, legacy assets, and overlooked relationships frequently remain undisclosed.

Tax returns introduce objectivity. Income reporting requirements create a built-in audit trail. If an asset produces taxable activity, it appears. That makes tax data one of the most dependable tools for identifying held-away assets and strengthening planning accuracy.

If an asset generates income, it appears on a return. 1099s, K-1s, and Schedule B disclosures often reveal accounts that were never discussed in planning conversations. That makes tax data one of the most reliable sources for uncovering held-away assets.

When tax and estate workflows operate within a unified system, discrepancies surface naturally. Advisors gain clearer visibility into undisclosed or overlooked accounts, strengthening both planning accuracy and client trust.

3. A Unified Approach Powers Forward-Looking Strategy

Tax modeling and estate structuring are often discussed together but executed in isolation. When that operational gap exists, strategic momentum slows. Iteration becomes reactive instead of continuous.

The stronger approach is to model forward-looking tax strategies alongside their estate implications in real time. A change in filing status, the birth of a child, a liquidity event, a relocation, or a shift in income profile should not require separate workflows. These moments should automatically prompt coordinated tax projections and estate plan updates.

When tax and estate planning operate independently, follow-up depends on memory and manual process. In an integrated environment, system design creates built-in triggers. Planning becomes proactive, not episodic.

4. Clients Experience a Holistic Planning Narrative

Clients do not compartmentalize their financial lives. They think in terms of family priorities, long-term goals, and life transitions. Tax, wealth, and estate considerations are intertwined in their minds.

Cross-disciplinary planning allows you to deliver advice in that same integrated way. Tax strategies are framed within estate objectives. Estate structures are evaluated through the lens of tax efficiency. Every recommendation connects back to a unified strategy.

That continuity strengthens clarity and trust. It positions you not as a coordinator of specialists, but as the central advisor who understands how each decision affects the whole.

 

How to Operationalize Unified Tax and Estate Planning

Tax and estate planning are stronger together. The real challenge is moving from agreement to execution. Operational integration requires deliberate technology and capability decisions.

1. Choose a Platform Designed for Integration

Many advisory firms still rely on separate systems for tax projections and estate documentation. Each tool may function well on its own, but disconnected systems create friction, duplication, and blind spots.

An integrated platform should establish a single source of client truth across tax and estate workflows. Data should not be re-entered. Updates in one area should inform the other automatically. Automation should reduce manual reconciliation and allow concurrent plan updates.

Technology alone does not create alignment. Architecture does. If your systems are fragmented, your planning process will be as well.

2. Elevate Tax Expertise Through Advanced Planning Tools

Integration is not just about connecting workflows. It is about equipping advisors to think more deeply and act more strategically.

As tax planning grows more sophisticated, from legislative changes to Roth conversion sequencing to charitable structures and business exit modeling, estate coordination becomes increasingly complex. Without the right tools, even the most skilled advisors have bandwidth limitations.

An advanced planning platform should bring institutional-grade tax capabilities directly into the advisor’s workflow. Scenario modeling, multi-year projections, real-time impact analysis, and automated estate coordination allow advisors to move beyond static calculations. Instead of simply identifying a tax savings opportunity, they can demonstrate how a strategy compounds over time and shapes a client’s long-term legacy.

When technology embeds tax depth into everyday planning, advisors gain confidence, clients gain clarity, and unified planning becomes actionable rather than aspirational.

3. Choose a Partner Backed by Dedicated Legal Expertise

Estate and tax planning operate within a constantly evolving regulatory landscape. Federal legislation shifts. State-level estate, trust, and tax laws change. Court rulings reshape interpretation. Advisors need confidence that the structures and strategies they implement reflect current law, not outdated assumptions.

The right partner should have dedicated in-house legal expertise actively monitoring regulatory developments at both the state and federal levels. These subject matter experts should not sit outside the platform. They should inform the technology itself, shaping document logic, modeling assumptions, and compliance safeguards.

When tax modeling identifies complexity or opportunity, estate documents should evolve accordingly. When trust structures or gifting strategies are introduced, tax consequences should be evaluated within a legally informed framework.

Integrated planning is strongest when the technology is continuously guided by practicing legal expertise. That foundation allows advisors to deliver sophisticated strategies with clarity and confidence.

 

Integrated Tax and Estate Planning is A Strategic Shift

Integrated tax and estate planning requires integration at the systems level, and it also requires strong leadership to bring the people in your firm together in a unified mission. The starting point is to treat tax and estate planning as interconnected components of a single strategy.

As estate complexity increases and your clients expect deeper coordination from their financial professionals, fragmented workflows will increasingly become a barrier to growth.

The firms and advisors who operationalize a unified approach to tax and estate planning can be at the forefront of growing future-ready businesses built on precise planning and consistent client experiences. To learn how Wealth.com integrates estate and tax planning into a unified experience, visit wealth.com/tax. 

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