73% of Americans do not have an up-to-date Will
9% of Americans have an out-of-date will and 63% do not have a Will at all.
NEW YORK, NY. – June 21, 2016 – A recent Google Consumer Survey by a company that produces online legal documents suggests that previous surveys may have under-reported the number of Americans without a Will, by not including those who have a Will that is out-of-date. The survey reported that 63% of Americans do not have a Will, showing no real change from 2014. However, a statistic that was not published before now reveals that 9% of Americans have a Will that is out-of-date.
“In essence, although they technically had a Will, it was worthless.”
This means that 72% of Americans do not have an up-to-date Last Will and Testament.
“We really wanted to explore this group after anecdotally hearing from people who had a Will, but had it written before they got married or had children,” explained the CEO of this company.
Particularly, seniors (aged 65+) are the most likely age group to have a Will that is out-of-date (15%). Of the 65% of seniors who said that they have a Will, almost one in four have Wills which are out-of-date.
The survey showed a positive relationship between age and the probability of having a Will:
• 18-24: 85% do not have a Will, 10% have an out-of-date Will, and 5% have an up-to-date Will.
• 23-35: 80% do not have a Will, 6% have an out-of-date Will, and 14% have an up-to-date Will.
• 35-44: 67% do not have a Will, 8% have an out-of-date Will, and 25% have an up-to-date Will.
• 45-54: 53% do not have a Will, 11% have an out-of-date Will, and 36% have an up-to-date Will.
• 55-64: 52% do not have a Will, 8% have an out-of-date Will, and 40% have an up-to-date Will.
• 65+: 35% do not have a Will, 15% have an out-of-date Will, and 50% have an up-to-date Will.
Even when discounting younger adults, 53.5% of Americans aged 35 and older responded to not having a Will; 9.5% responded to having a Will that is out-of-date, leaving only 37% with a Will that reflects their current financial and personal situation.
The income group least likely to have up-to-date Wills was in the $100,000+ annual income range.
The income group most likely to have up-to-date Wills was in the annual income range of $25,000-$99,999.
There were no significant differences when comparing across gender, region, or urban density.
Methodology
The survey was conducted within the United States by Google Consumer Surveys, June 2016, among 2,012 adults aged 18 and older, and has a root square mean error of 1.4%.
Results are weighted by age, gender, and region.
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