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Elevate Your Game: Explore the Power of the FP Alpha Estate Lab

This webinar provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the Estate Planning Lab (Version 2).

Hosted by Head of Product Rachel Schwab and Customer Success Manager Josh. Learn how to set up client data, build wills and trusts, model gifting strategies, and generate multi-scenario estate tax reports.

 

Duration: ~54 minutes  |  Presented by: Josh (CSM) & Rachel Schwab (Head of Product)


What You'll Learn

  • How to populate client data using the General Questionnaire, integrations, or manual entry in the Facts tab
  • Building wills and trusts including pour-over wills, revocable trusts (AB, ABC, Disclaimer), and irrevocable trusts (ILIT, SLAT, QPRT, Dynasty)
  • Gifting strategies such as annual exclusion gifts, charitable giving, and custom gifting to individuals or organisations
  • Multi-scenario modelling with up to 3 scenarios, adjustable life expectancy, and federal exemption changes (including 2026 sunset modelling)
  • Flowchart views showing asset flow at Today, First Death, and Second Death, with probate identification per asset
  • Estate tax calculations including federal and state taxes, unlimited marital deduction, and the impact of strategies on total tax liability
  • PDF report generation with customisable scenario downloads and strategy overlays for client presentations

Chapters

Click a timestamp to jump to that section of the webinar.

  1. 0:00 — Welcome & Housekeeping
  2. 3:34 — Introduction to the Estate Lab 2.0
  3. 8:24 — Data & Documents Hub — Populating Client Data
  4. 10:03 — Estate Lab Overview — Navigating the Interface
  5. 10:27 — Facts Tab — Assets, Beneficiaries & Custom Entries
  6. 14:16 — Strategies Tab — Contracts & Beneficiary Designations
  7. 16:36 — Gifting Strategies — Annual Exclusion, Charitable, & Custom
  8. 21:28 — Flowchart View — Today, First Death & Second Death
  9. 25:38 — Scenarios — Toggling Strategies & Life Expectancy
  10. 30:15 — Tax Calculations — Federal, State & Exemption Modelling
  11. 34:42 — Reporting — Downloading Multi-Scenario PDFs
  12. 39:06 — Trust Builder — Revocable & Irrevocable Trust Setup
  13. 44:49 — Q&A Session — Common Questions Answered

Key Takeaways

Data Flows Automatically from the General Questionnaire

Assets, life insurance policies, liabilities, and beneficiaries entered in the General Questionnaire (or via integrations like Salesforce or Orion) automatically populate the Estate Lab's Facts tab. You can also add custom entries directly in the lab, including contingent beneficiaries, charities, and custom relationship labels that aren't yet available in the questionnaire.


The Trust Builder Is Incredibly Flexible

Build revocable trusts (AB, ABC, Disclaimer types), irrevocable trusts (ILIT, SLAT, QPRT, Dynasty), and pour-over wills. Each trust builder is dynamic: as you add assets and beneficiaries, the system recalculates. Use the "Distribute Equally" checkbox to save time, and mark trusts as "For Planning" to distinguish proposed strategies from documents already in place.


Model Up to 3 Scenarios Side by Side

Each scenario can include different combinations of trusts, gifting strategies, and life expectancy assumptions. Toggle strategies on and off per scenario, change which spouse passes first, and adjust the federal exemption amount to model the 2026 sunset. Each scenario is colour-coded (pink, green, blue) so you can clearly see the impact of proposed changes overlaid on the current estate plan.


Probate Tracking Is Now Per-Asset, Per-Timeframe

The new flowchart view tracks probate risk across three timeframes: Today, First Death, and Second Death. This means you can identify assets that become probate-exposed after one spouse passes (e.g., accounts where the primary beneficiary was the deceased spouse and no contingent beneficiary is assigned). This is a significant upgrade from the previous version.


Strategies Directly Impact Tax Calculations

The taxes panel shows real-time federal and state estate tax liability. Turning strategies on and off immediately recalculates the total. In the webinar example, adding an ILIT with a $2M death benefit reduced state estate taxes from over $1M to approximately $708,000. You can also model used exemption amounts and exemption reductions to show clients the combined impact.


Tips & Best Practices from This Webinar

Start with documents, then questionnaire, then lab.

Upload estate documents first to get the snapshot, complete the questionnaire for deeper detail, then use the lab to model scenarios.

Download Estate Lab v1 work to PDF before it retires.

The old lab will be removed by end of Q1. Trusts and wills built in v1 do not transfer to v2 — only questionnaire data carries over.

Add contingent beneficiaries in the Strategies tab.

The General Questionnaire currently only supports primary beneficiaries. Add contingents directly in the lab to ensure accurate probate modelling.

Use "For Planning" to separate recommendations from reality.

Mark any proposed trust or will as "For Planning" so it appears as a strategy overlay rather than an existing document.

Don't model actions the system allows but reality doesn't.

The lab is built for maximum flexibility. It won't stop you from, say, passing a 529 via a will. Use professional judgement.

Use the recalculate button after editing exemptions.

After changing the federal exemption amount, click the blue recalculate button to update tax figures.


Ready to try the Estate Lab?

Log in to your FP Alpha account and navigate to Simulators > Estate Planning Lab.

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