People often want one percentage for Americans who have a will, trust, beneficiary designation, and current estate plan. The available studies do not measure all four in the same way. This article keeps the populations, field dates, and document definitions separate.
estate planning document statistics
The clearest recent population estimate comes from the Pew Research Center's survey of 8,750 U.S. adults conducted September 2 through 8, 2025. Thirty-two percent said they had created a will, and 31% said they had created a living will or advance health care directive. Pew reported the results on November 6, 2025. The survey used the American Trends Panel, including 6,156 adults under 65 and 2,582 adults age 65 and older. It is a national adult survey, not an audit of signed documents or legal sufficiency. (Pew Research Center, "Experiences with estate planning and discussing end-of-life preferences," November 6, 2025, accessed August 2, 2026.)
Trust and Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report used a separate national survey of 5,000 U.S. adults fielded January 28 through February 5, 2026. It reported that 26% had a will, 14% had a trust, 19% had a medical power of attorney or advance directive, and 11% had a financial power of attorney. Fifty-six percent reported none of the five documents tracked in that survey. The difference between 32% in Pew and 26% in Trust and Will is not a measured year-over-year change. The surveys used different questionnaires, field dates, samples, and definitions. (Trust & Will, "2026 Estate Planning Report," 2026, accessed August 2, 2026.)
What the numbers measure
| Measure | Result | Population and field date | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults reporting a will | 32% | Pew U.S. adults, September 2 to 8, 2025 | Self-reported possession, not execution or legal review |
| Adults reporting a living will or advance directive | 31% | Pew U.S. adults, September 2 to 8, 2025 | The question groups two terms and does not test state-law compliance |
| Adults reporting a will | 26% | Trust & Will U.S. adults, January 28 to February 5, 2026 | Different survey design from Pew, so the percentages are not directly comparable |
| Adults reporting a trust | 14% | Trust & Will U.S. adults, January 28 to February 5, 2026 | Does not identify trust type, funding, or legal effectiveness |
| Adults reporting a medical POA or advance directive | 19% | Trust & Will U.S. adults, January 28 to February 5, 2026 | A combined category, not a single document type |
| Adults reporting a financial POA | 11% | Trust & Will U.S. adults, January 28 to February 5, 2026 | Does not test current agent, execution, or acceptance |
| Adults reporting none of five tracked documents | 56% | Trust & Will U.S. adults, January 28 to February 5, 2026 | The five-document definition belongs to that survey |
These are prevalence estimates from disclosed surveys. They do not show that a document is valid, funded, located, accepted by an institution, or ready for use.
Definitions for a document-lifecycle study
This article uses the following terms consistently:
- A **will** is a signed testamentary instrument intended to direct property at death. A survey answer saying "I have a will" does not establish that the document meets the law of the relevant jurisdiction.
- A **trust** is a trust instrument or declaration that creates a trust relationship. A respondent's trust answer does not establish whether the trust is revocable, irrevocable, funded, amended, or properly administered.
- A **beneficiary designation** is an instruction on an account, policy, plan, or similar asset that identifies who receives that asset at death. The American Bar Association explains that assets governed by beneficiary designations generally pass under the designation rather than under the will. (American Bar Association, "Beneficiary Designations in Estate Plans," updated 2022, accessed August 2, 2026.)
- A **current document** means the most recent signed instrument or submitted designation that the file identifies as controlling at the review date. "Current" describes version status only. It does not mean legally sufficient, correctly funded, accepted by a custodian, or consistent with the owner's present wishes.
The national surveys above do not publish a comparable U.S. prevalence rate for beneficiary designations. That gap should be stated plainly. A beneficiary form is often held by a plan administrator or insurer, so a will or trust survey cannot stand in for a designation survey.
What research says about revision and review
Trust & Will reported that, among respondents with wills or trusts, 14% had never updated their documents and 13% reviewed them only once per decade or less. The report does not establish whether an update was legally needed, whether the document was signed after a review, or whether beneficiary forms were checked. Those figures describe self-reported review behavior in that survey population. (Trust & Will, "2026 Estate Planning Report," 2026, accessed August 2, 2026.)
Bank of America presents a different population and question. In its 2024 Trends in Trust and Estate Planning survey, legal and financial professionals reported that 27% of clients update plans every one to four years and 39% update them every five to nine years. This is a professional report about clients, not a probability sample of all U.S. adults. It also concerns estate-plan updates, not necessarily each will, trust, or beneficiary form. (Bank of America Private Bank, "When to Update Your Estate Plan: Life Changes to Consider," 2024 survey reference, page updated 2026, accessed August 2, 2026.)
Neither study supports a universal rule that every document should be revised on a fixed schedule. A review should check the document version, signing or submission date, governing jurisdiction, people named, assets covered, and life events since the last review. The professional responsible for the matter must decide whether a change is required.
How to record prevalence without overstating readiness
For an intake or research dataset, keep four fields separate:
1. **Reported ownership:** the person says a document or designation exists. 2. **File receipt:** the review team has received a copy or reliable custodian confirmation. 3. **Version status:** the file identifies the most recent signed or submitted version. 4. **Professional review:** a qualified professional has assessed the document under the applicable law and facts.
Do not collapse these fields into "has an estate plan." A person may report a will while the signed copy is missing. A trust may exist without evidence that assets were transferred to it. A beneficiary designation may be held by a plan administrator and may not match the will. The ABA warns that beneficiary designations need coordination with the broader plan because those assets can pass outside the will or trust. (American Bar Association, "Beneficiary Designations in Estate Plans," updated 2022, accessed August 2, 2026.)
For a repeatable intake sequence, use the estate planning document review checklist. For tax records that may help reconcile assets and ownership, see tax document review services. If a file needs document collection or administrative comparison, contact EstateContractReview to discuss the support scope. These services do not replace legal advice or a professional determination of validity.
Methodology and limitations
This article was researched and updated August 2, 2026. It uses two disclosed national adult surveys for prevalence and revision behavior, one professional survey summary for client review cadence, and American Bar Association material for document-category distinctions. The Pew survey is based on 8,750 adults from the American Trends Panel. Trust & Will reports a 5,000-adult U.S. survey with a January 28 to February 5, 2026 field period. The Trust & Will and Caring.com figures should not be combined with Pew's figures or treated as a trend without a harmonized questionnaire and sample design.
The Caring.com 2024 Wills Survey, conducted with YouGov among more than 2,400 U.S. adults, reported that 32% had a will. That result is useful as another disclosed national survey, but it is not added to the table because its survey wording and field details do not match Pew's or Trust & Will's. (Caring.com, "2024 Wills and Estate Planning Study," 2024, accessed August 2, 2026.)
No valid national statistic was identified for the percentage of U.S. adults with a beneficiary designation or for the percentage whose full document set is legally current. This article does not estimate either figure. Ownership, document receipt, version status, and legal readiness are different observations.
**Professional disclaimer:** This article is general informational content, not legal, tax, financial, medical, fiduciary, or investment advice. Estate-planning documents and execution requirements vary by jurisdiction and facts. EstateContractReview provides administrative and research support and does not determine legal sufficiency, document choice, funding, or beneficiary rights. Have a licensed attorney or other qualified professional review any document before relying on it.