TY - JOUR
T1 - Making and Changing Wills: Prevalence, Predictors, and Triggers
AU - Tilse, Cheryl
AU - Wilson, Jill E
AU - White, Ben P
AU - Rosenman, L.
AU - Feeney, R
AU - Strub, T
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Wills are important social, economic, and legal documents. Yet little is known about current will making practices and intentions. A comprehensive national database on the prevalence of will making in Australia was developed to identify who is or is not most likely to draw up a will and triggers for making and changing wills. A national survey of 2,405 adults aged above 18 years was administered by telephone in August and September 2012. Fifty-nine percent of the Australian adult population has a valid will, and the likelihood of will making increases with age and estate value. Efforts to get organized, especially in combination with life stage and asset changes trigger will making; procrastination, rather than a strong resistance, appears to explain not making a will. Understanding will making is timely in the context of predicted significant intergenerational transfers of wealth, changing demographics, and a renewed emphasis on retirement planning. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.
AB - Wills are important social, economic, and legal documents. Yet little is known about current will making practices and intentions. A comprehensive national database on the prevalence of will making in Australia was developed to identify who is or is not most likely to draw up a will and triggers for making and changing wills. A national survey of 2,405 adults aged above 18 years was administered by telephone in August and September 2012. Fifty-nine percent of the Australian adult population has a valid will, and the likelihood of will making increases with age and estate value. Efforts to get organized, especially in combination with life stage and asset changes trigger will making; procrastination, rather than a strong resistance, appears to explain not making a will. Understanding will making is timely in the context of predicted significant intergenerational transfers of wealth, changing demographics, and a renewed emphasis on retirement planning. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976477238&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/2158244016631021
DO - 10.1177/2158244016631021
M3 - Article
VL - 6
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Sage Open
JF - Sage Open
SN - 2158-2440
IS - 1
ER -