Study Shows We’re Not Doing So Well At Getting Our Estate Plans Done

By now it should come as no surprise: estate planning is important. And we live in an age of social media, where messages like that one, can get out to the general public. But despite all the ways information gets out, you may be surprised to learn that when it comes to estate planning, a lot of people are still in the dark.

Estate Planning is Down

Statistics show that actually less, not more people are doing estate planning. There is about a 6% decrease in Americans doing estate planning, but that number actually goes up to 16%, for lower income individuals (defined by the study as those making less than $40,000 per year)—probably perpetuated by the false idea that estate planning is only for the rich (it’s not).

The 2023 study found that there was a decrease in estate planning amongst older Americans—the population that most needs to be thinking of estate planning. One piece of good news is that young people are becoming more aware, because those between 18-34 did not show a decrease in the rates of estate planning.

Many Americans cited in the study that they didn’t have enough assets to bother with estate planning—about 40% of those surveyed cited lack of assets as a reason they didn’t have an estate plan. Other leading reasons were just procrastination, and feeling that an estate plan was too expensive for them.

Only about a third of Americans even have just a basic will-and many who do not have a will, do have young children. This is despite the fact that when they were asked, 64% of Americans acknowledged that having a will was important.

What’s worse is that about 25% of Americans said that not only did they not have a complete estate plan, but they had no intentions or plans to get one. Just over 40% of those surveyed said a medical crisis or diagnosis would be the biggest motivator in creating an estate plan—a poor decision, given that by the time a serious medical condition happens, it could well be too late to create a viable plan.

Business Owners

The study found that over 80% of business owners had old or outdated estate plans. Businesses change over time: they get more valuable or less valuable or incur more debt or expand and their corporate documents are subject to change. That’s why business owners, more than anyone, need to stay on top of revising their estate documents.

Estate Planning by Race

One demographic that is apparently taking notice and being proactive, are Black Americans, who impressively showed a 19% increase in estate planning rates, since 2020. Hispanic Americans, however, went the opposite direction—estate planning in that demographic went down over 20% since 2020.

It’s always time to make, or update, your estate plan.  Call the Torrance will and estate attorneys at Samuel Ford Law today for help create yourstate plan.

Sources

forbes.com/sites/matthewerskine/2024/03/20/the-danger-of-declining-estate-planning-rates/?sh=6308a36f4e33

caring.com/caregivers/estate-planning/wills-survey/