Beneficiary Advisory for One of Life’s Most Difficult Moments

Comprehensive financial guidance for family members coping with an employee’s death

Financial Counseling for Beneficiaries.

The death of an employee has ripple effects on other employees, managers, your HR team, and most importantly, their family. With emotions running high, the thought of having to unwind the deceased’s financial life only adds to the stress and anxiety of their loved ones. For many, it’s an overwhelming, complicated process and something they have never done before.

What does this have to do with your organization? With Cerity Partners Beneficiary Financial Counseling, you have an opportunity to ease this stress while positively impacting your firm.

Helping a family navigate the maze of financial decisions and paperwork honors the deceased employee’s memory and their contributions to your success.
It also builds loyalty and aids in retention. Employees are more likely to stay with an organization that genuinely cares about their family’s future financial well-being.
Cerity Partners has financial counselors who serve as the dedicated contact for family members, answering questions, submitting forms, and making the necessary phone calls, which allows your HR team to focus on their other responsibilities.

Like life insurance, beneficiary financial counseling services make a meaningful difference in the lives of those left behind — providing a sense of stability when it’s needed most.

Estate Planning

Simple Ways to Help Avoid Probate: Revocable Living Trusts and More

November 18, 2025 - Probate is the legal process through which a deceased person’s estate is administered and distributed. While it serves an important function, it can also be…

When a client lost her husband after 40 years of marriage, she needed much more than a good investment plan. She needed a holistic, proactive, and objective team to guide her as she was confronted with important, and at times irrevocable, decisions in areas that were new to her.
Sean More, Partner

Dedicated Support. Personalized Beneficiary Financial Services.

At Cerity Partners, we don’t just advise. We sympathize and empathize. We listen openly to the employee’s loved ones as they talk about their memories and concerns for the future. Then we help them examine each aspect of the deceased’s financial life and identify the actions that must be taken now and in the future to distribute funds, transfer assets and settle the estate. Our support includes the following services for beneficiaries:

Employee benefit analysis
Estate planning and settlement assistance
Investment advisory services
Social security and government benefit analysis
Insurance planning and placement
Cash-flow and debt management

Our goal is to help family members survive and ultimately thrive in their “new normal.”

Family Office

Webinar Recording: Tax Optimization and Thoughtful Wealth Planning for Liquidity Events

September 23, 2025 - A liquidity event—whether from a business sale, IPO, merger, or other transaction—creates a unique opportunity to design plans that minimize tax exposure and shape a…

Adding Value Without Adding Work

“What’s our role?” “Are we going to receive calls from Cerity Partners in addition to the employee’s family?” “How much time does it take to administer?” We get it. You don’t want to add a benefit that makes the jobs of your HR team even more complex.

Cerity Partners manages the Beneficiary Financial Counseling program for you. Think of us as an extension of your HR team. We work with you to design the benefit and create the launch strategy, then take it from there. We contact the family members, schedule meetings, and guide them through the entire process.

Explore Our Offerings for Corporations and Employees

Executive Financial Counseling >

Your compensation and benefits offerings are a talent retention necessity and, arguably, your executives’ largest source of wealth creation. Executive Financial Counseling helps your senior leaders fully realize these benefits and boost your ROI in the process.

Beneficiary Financial Counseling >

When an employee dies, the greatest gift you can give their family is care and support. Our Beneficiary Counseling Services help beneficiaries navigate the financial challenges that arise after the death of a loved one, helping them adjust to their “new normal.”

Executive Financial Counseling for Individuals & Families >

The financial life of an executive is complicated, and coordinating all the elements takes time. We serve as your personal CFO, providing a more efficient and simpler way to manage your growing wealth.

Financial Wellness Coaching >

Your employees’ financial stress can have a cascading effect on absenteeism, morale, and productivity. Our comprehensive financial wellness coaching helps alleviate this stress, enabling employees to focus on their responsibilities at work.

Economic and Market Outlooks

What’s on Our Minds

Precious metals experienced dramatic declines on Friday following many months of gains, with analysts attributing the crash to factors including Kevin Warsh's Fed chair nomination, Chinese speculation crackdowns, and increased margin requirements—though whether metals recover will reveal if structural forces or mere momentum drove the previous rally.

Individuals and Families

How to Invest Your Bonus Wisely

Annual bonus season is probably the best time for investors to assess their progress toward financial plan goals and reassess the overall investment objectives and asset allocation structured to achieve them.

Estate Planning

Simple Ways to Help Avoid Probate: Revocable Living Trusts and More

Probate is the legal process through which a deceased person’s estate is administered and distributed. While it serves an important function, it can also be time-consuming, expensive, and emotionally taxing. Fortunately, several strategies can be employed to help avoid probate and ensure a smoother transition of assets to loved ones.

Individuals and Families

Retirement Planning for Single Women: How to Prepare

Women already face gender-specific financial planning challenges. These include a longer life expectancy and a pay gap that results in lower salaries and lower lifetime savings unless they save a greater percentage of their salary.

Individuals and Families

Private Placement Life Insurance

The concept behind PPLI is simple: by investing inside a life insurance policy, you take advantage of the favorable tax treatment granted to life insurance. Learn more.

Tax Strategies

Webinar Recording: Q1 Tax Planning Strategies for Executives

Join Principal Joshua Norman as he discusses strategies to address Q1 tax gaps from bonuses and equity vesting.

Family Office

Webinar Recording: Tax Optimization and Thoughtful Wealth Planning for Liquidity Events

A liquidity event—whether from a business sale, IPO, merger, or other transaction—creates a unique opportunity to design plans that minimize tax exposure and shape a lasting legacy. Watch our webinar to learn more.

Corporations

Establishing Sound Retirement Plan Governance

As a retirement plan sponsor, you are responsible for administering the plan and making all material plan decisions. This basic framework helps you conduct overall plan decision-making in an efficient and procedurally due-diligent manner.

Individuals and Families

Splitting Retirement Accounts in Divorce

When going through a divorce, the process of dividing assets can be a frustrating and confusing one. Retirement assets are an important issue in any divorce proceeding, since, after the marital home, they often represent the largest category of marital assets to be divided in a divorce settlement.

Cross-Border Planning

Moving to the UK: The Foreign Income and Gains Regime for US Expats and Returning UK Citizens

In April 2025, the UK replaced the long-standing remittance basis regime with a new foreign income and gains (FIG) regime. The shift moves the UK toward a residence-based system rather than one anchored in domicile, and it reshapes how foreign income, foreign gains, and offshore planning are treated for new UK residents.

Login

Financial Counseling for Beneficiaries.

Simple Ways to Help Avoid Probate: Revocable Living Trusts and More

Dedicated Support. Personalized Beneficiary Financial Services.

Webinar Recording: Tax Optimization and Thoughtful Wealth Planning for Liquidity Events

Adding Value Without Adding Work

Explore Our Offerings for Corporations and Employees

Executive Financial Counseling >

Beneficiary Financial Counseling >

Executive Financial Counseling for Individuals & Families >

Financial Wellness Coaching >

What’s on Our Minds

How to Invest Your Bonus Wisely

Simple Ways to Help Avoid Probate: Revocable Living Trusts and More

Retirement Planning for Single Women: How to Prepare

Private Placement Life Insurance

Webinar Recording: Q1 Tax Planning Strategies for Executives

Webinar Recording: Tax Optimization and Thoughtful Wealth Planning for Liquidity Events

Establishing Sound Retirement Plan Governance

Splitting Retirement Accounts in Divorce

Moving to the UK: The Foreign Income and Gains Regime for US Expats and Returning UK Citizens

Discover Customized Financial Solutions for Your Workforce

Eric Purdy

Book Time Online Now:

Here are some valuable insights to read before your meeting

Video: February 2026 Economic and Market Outlook

How to Invest Your Bonus Wisely

Moving to the UK: The Foreign Income and Gains Regime for US Expats and Returning UK Citizens