Some of those decisions can wait. Many feel like they can’t. All of them arrive while you’re carrying something much heavier than a financial question.
We help widows and widowers understand what they have, clarify what comes next, and build a plan that reflects their life — not their late spouse’s plan.
In the weeks and months after losing a spouse, financial decisions arrive with urgency: beneficiary claims, account retitling, income changes, required distributions, insurance decisions. Most of these don’t wait.
And they often need to be made by someone who may have deferred financial decisions throughout the marriage — or who has never dealt with the specific accounts, advisors, and documents that make up the estate.
We move at your pace. We explain things clearly. We don’t assume you know what you don’t need to know yet.
You do not need to make every financial decision immediately. We help you stabilize cash flow, review benefits and titles, organize accounts, avoid unforced mistakes, and move at a pace that respects grief.
We help widows and widowers understand which financial decisions need to happen immediately, which can wait, and which should wait — because moving too fast on some decisions can create problems that are hard to undo.
Many surviving spouses don’t have a complete picture of the financial accounts, insurance policies, and estate documents that need to be addressed. We help build that inventory — clearly and without pressure.
Social Security survivor benefits, pension decisions, inherited IRA rules, and portfolio income all shift after losing a spouse. We help you understand what your income picture looks like and how to build a sustainable plan from here.
[PLACEHOLDER — inherited IRA / survivor benefit language. Tax coordination disclaimer. Amanda to confirm.]
At some point, the financial plan shouldn’t be a continuation of your late spouse’s plan. It should be yours. We help surviving spouses build a financial picture that reflects their own goals, their own risk tolerance, and their own definition of security.
The families who have been most helped by Stonehearth in this situation aren’t the ones who came in with everything organized. They’re the ones who came in not knowing where to start, and needed someone to sit with them and work through it without an agenda.
Learn how we support widows and widowers →The first conversation is about understanding your situation — not presenting a proposal. No preparation required. No documents to gather. No commitment to make.