Aubry, Jean-Pierre, Alicia H. Munnell, and Gal Wettstein. 2024. “Can Incentives Increase the Writing of Wills?” Issue in Brief 24-9. Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
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Writing a will can improve the transmission of wealth across generations by preventing the dissipation of assets – such as a family home divided among multiple heirs – and by encouraging donors to save for their beneficiaries. Despite the advantages of having a will, the percentage of households with a will is surprisingly low. For those ages 50+, less than half of household heads have a will. By age 70, that share increases to 67 percent, but the shares are much lower for less wealthy households and for Black and Hispanic households. The question is whether targeted bequests can be increased through an intervention that promotes will-writing.
To answer that question, this brief, which is based on a recent study, reports on the results of an online survey and experiment administered by NORC at the University of Chicago.1 The participants are asked a series of questions about whether or not they have a will and why. Those without a will then participate in an experiment where they are randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups to determine whether various incentives would encourage them to write a will.
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