Dive Brief:

• Not only do the majority of Americans not have a will, but most people would be more willing to create one if their employer aided the process, LegalShield’s Aug. 8 report on estate planning revealed. 
• A medical diagnosis or health concern would prompt about half of Americans to make a will; 42% would make a will if they reached an increase in wealth. Retirement or “age milestones,” marriage, death of a loved one, a house purchase and the birth of a child were the next motivators, more than employer-offered benefits.
• Still, nearly 60% said that if their employer offered legal services to help them create a will, they would. 

Dive Insight:

The report also revealed that a gap in understanding exists among workers regarding what benefits packages entail. While 42% said their company doesn’t provide estate planning benefits and 8% said it does, the rest of U.S. workers surveyed could not confirm whether their employer offered voluntary estate planning benefits. 

Since the pandemic, conversations about benefits have expanded. Conversations about mental health and wellbeing have come to the fore, along with long COVID considerations and benefits as both attraction and retention strategy.

While events such as illness diagnoses or life transitions were cited as the catalyst for creating a will, as Ashley Higginbotham, attorney with Deming, Parker, Hoffman, Campbell & Daly LLC said in the report’s announcement: “It’s never too early or too late to bridge the gap.”