FORT MILL, S.C., May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Oasis Group, the leading research and consulting firm specializing in the wealth management and financial technology sectors, today announced the release of its 2026 Peaks for Estate Planning Platforms report, a comprehensive analysis of the rapidly evolving estate planning technology landscape within wealth management. The research provides financial advisory firms, family offices, and broker-dealers with a practical framework for evaluating leading platforms and aligning technology decisions with their business models, client complexity, and growth strategies.
The proprietary research reflects a fundamental shift in how estate planning is delivered and perceived across the industry. Once a fragmented, document-heavy process typically outsourced to attorneys, estate planning is increasingly becoming a digitally enabled, advisor-led capability integrated directly into the wealth management experience. As a result, firms are leveraging modern platforms to deliver more sophisticated advice, deepen client relationships, and unlock new asset growth opportunities.
“Estate planning has moved from a peripheral service to a central pillar of holistic wealth management,” said John O’Connell, Chief Executive Officer of The Oasis Group. “The firms that embrace modern platforms are transforming how they engage clients and differentiate in a competitive market.”
At the core of the report is The Oasis Group’s proprietary “Peaks” framework, which categorizes platforms based on their current capabilities and ability to execute. Rather than identifying a single “winner,” the framework is designed to help firms identify the best-fit solution based on their specific needs.
Platforms are classified into three categories:
- Summiteers – Leading platforms with comprehensive capabilities and strong execution
- Mountaineers – Solid, competitive solutions with areas for further development
- Climbers – Foundational tools with more limited feature breadth or scalability
In the 2026 report, Luminary, Vanilla, and Wealth.com were recognized as Summiteers, reflecting their strong combination of advanced functionality, innovation, and market execution. fpAlpha and EncorEstate Plans were categorized as Mountaineers, offering differentiated capabilities with continued growth potential. eMoney and MoneyGuide Wealth Studios were identified as Climbers, providing value within broader planning ecosystems but with more limited estate-specific functionality.
Key Market Insights
The research highlights several major trends shaping the estate planning technology market:
- Shift to advisor-led, technology-enabled workflows: Platforms are enabling advisors to take greater ownership of estate planning, reducing reliance on external providers while improving consistency and scalability.
- Rise of estate planning as a growth engine: Firms are increasingly using estate planning to drive client acquisition, deepen relationships, and expand wallet share.
- Integration with the broader wealth tech stack: Modern solutions are designed to connect with CRM systems, financial planning tools, and portfolio platforms, creating a more unified advisory ecosystem.
- Advancements in AI and automation: Capabilities such as document ingestion, data extraction, and AI-driven insights are reducing manual effort and enhancing advisor productivity.
- Improved client experience through visualization: Platforms are delivering clearer, more interactive representations of estate structures, helping clients better understand complex planning strategies.
The report also emphasizes that no single platform is universally optimal. Instead, the right solution depends on factors such as firm size, client demographics, planning complexity, and operational priorities. For example, some firms may prioritize document creation, while others focus on analysis, modeling, or visualization.
The 2026 Peaks report evaluates estate planning platforms using a rigorous, evidence-based methodology designed to reflect real-world advisory workflows. The Oasis Group assessed each solution’s ability to capture and analyze estate data, model complex planning scenarios, generate documents, integrate with broader technology ecosystems, and support effective client engagement.
The evaluation draws on a combination of live product demonstrations, hands-on platform testing, client reference interviews, and extensive rubric scoring across key functional areas such as estate data collection, document creation and extraction, scenario modeling, integrations, client experience, and innovation.
Importantly, the report emphasizes practical usability over theoretical feature sets, focusing on how platforms perform in live advisory environments and how effectively they enable advisors to deliver high-value advice at scale.
“Estate planning technology is no longer optional for firms seeking to deliver comprehensive wealth management,” O’Connell said. “It is a foundational capability that enables advisors to move from reactive conversations to continuous, advice-driven engagement.”
About The Oasis Group
The Oasis Group is a leading research and consulting firm specializing in the wealth management and financial technology sectors. The firm provides in-depth market analysis, strategic guidance, and implementation expertise to help organizations evaluate technology solutions and drive business growth.
For more information or to access the full report, visit https://theoasisgrp.com/.
For The Oasis Group Lisa Aldape VOCATUS laldape@vocatusllc.com
