Estate Planning
Estate Planning
A 2015 national survey found most adult children are in the dark about their parents' wills and estate documents. Here's what the numbers mean and how to close the gap.
In March 2015, Princeton Survey Research Associates International called 1,000 adults nationwide and asked a simple but revealing question: do you know whether your aging parents have a will? The answers, later published by Caring.com, exposed a troubling gap. Only 56% of adult children said their parents had a will or living trust, 27% said no, and 16% simply didn't know. The uncertainty deepened from there — most respondents couldn't say when the documents were last updated, where they were kept, or what they actually contained. This guide walks through what the 2015 survey found and offers a practical path for families who want to avoid becoming another statistic in the next version of this study.
A 2015 survey found only 56% of adult children knew their parents had a will, and even fewer knew where those documents were stored or what they contained. Talking early closes the gap.
Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted the telephone interviews between March 5 and March 8, 2015, reaching a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults across the continental United States. The goal was to measure how well adult children understood their aging parents' estate planning, not just whether a will existed, but whether the adult child knew where it was and what it said.
The survey broke the topic into four distinct questions: whether parents had a will or living trust, how recently it had been updated, where it was physically stored, and whether the adult child knew its contents. Each question revealed a different layer of the same underlying problem, families rarely discuss estate planning in enough detail for the next generation to act quickly if something happens.
When asked whether their parents currently had estate documents such as a will or living trust, 56% of respondents said yes, 27% said no, and 16% admitted they simply didn't know. Two percent declined to answer. That means roughly four in ten adult children either believed their parents had no plan in place or had no idea one way or the other.
The survey also found a political split in the responses. Republicans were most likely to report a parent had a will or living trust at 67%, followed by Democrats at 58% and independents at 52%. The gap likely reflects differences in age, income, and family communication patterns across those groups rather than any direct link between politics and estate planning itself.
Among those who knew their parents had a will or trust, the timing of the last update varied widely. Just 19% said it had been updated within the past year, and 40% said it had been updated one to five years ago. Another 7% pointed to a six-to-ten-year window, while 4% said it had been more than ten years, and 6% said the document had never been updated at all.
A full 24% didn't know when the documents were last reviewed. Outdated wills can create real problems, they may not reflect a second marriage, a new grandchild, a sold property, or a change in who should serve as executor or medical proxy. A document drafted decades ago may no longer match a parent's actual wishes.
| Survey Question | Adult Children Who Knew | Adult Children Who Didn't |
|---|---|---|
| Parents have a will/trust | 56% yes | 27% no, 16% unsure |
| Updated within 5 years | 59% (19% <1yr + 40% 1-5yrs) | 24% didn't know |
| Know where documents are stored | 48% | 52% |
| Know the documents' contents | 42% | 58% |
Knowing a will exists is only useful if someone can find it when it matters. The survey found 48% of adult children knew where their parents stored their will or living trust, while 52% did not. That's a coin flip at best, and it means many families would face a scramble during a medical crisis or after a death, searching file cabinets, safe deposit boxes, or an attorney's office with no clear starting point.
The survey also found a gender gap: 52% of men reported knowing the whereabouts of their parents' documents, compared with 44% of women. Age mattered too, among adults 50 to 64, 29% didn't know where the documents were kept, compared with 23% among those 65 and older, suggesting some improvement in communication as families age together.
The deepest gap in the survey involved content. Only 42% of adult children said they knew what was actually written in their parents' will or living trust, while 58% did not. Knowing a document exists and where it sits in a drawer still leaves families unprepared if they have no idea what instructions it contains.
Here the gender pattern flipped compared to the whereabouts question: 49% of women knew the contents versus 33% of men. Among adults 65 and older, 44% still didn't know what was in their parents' documents, showing that even in families where a parent is elderly, detailed conversations about estate plans often still haven't happened.
This survey focused on wills and living trusts, but the same blind spots typically extend to related documents like powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, and advance directives. A family that doesn't know where a will is stored often doesn't know where these other critical papers live either, and those are the documents needed urgently during a medical emergency, not just after death.
When a parent becomes suddenly ill or incapacitated, an adult child without access to these documents may be unable to make medical decisions, pay bills, or even confirm who has legal authority to act. The 2015 findings underline that this isn't a rare oversight, it's the norm for a large share of American families.
Caring.com has repeated versions of this survey in later years, and the underlying pattern tends to persist, most families put off detailed estate planning conversations until a crisis forces the issue. Starting early, while a parent is healthy and can speak clearly to their wishes, makes the eventual transition far less stressful for everyone involved.
A practical first step is a low-pressure conversation focused on logistics rather than emotions: where are the documents kept, who is the named executor, and when were they last reviewed. Framing it as an organizational task, similar to knowing where the house deed or car title is kept, can make the topic feel less morbid and more manageable for both generations.
Of all the findings in this survey, the most actionable is the whereabouts gap: 52% of adult children didn't know where their parents' will or trust was physically kept. That's a solvable problem in a single conversation, unlike drafting or updating a document, simply asking where it's stored takes minutes and removes the single biggest obstacle to acting quickly in an emergency.
Start there. Ask your parents directly, is there a will, where is it kept, and who is the named executor or healthcare proxy. Write the answer down somewhere you'll remember it, not just in your memory. If they don't have documents yet, or haven't reviewed them in years, suggest a visit to an elder law attorney together.
This single step doesn't require reading the document or discussing its contents, both of which can feel intrusive. It simply ensures that when a crisis hits, no one is searching a house room by room while a hospital or bank is waiting on a decision.
Revisit the conversation periodically. Life changes, second marriages, new grandchildren, moves, sold property, and a document that made sense five years ago may need updating. Treating estate planning as an ongoing family checklist rather than a one-time task keeps everyone aligned as circumstances shift.
A 2015 national survey found most adult children don't know if, where, or what their parents' will or living trust says. Closing that gap starts with one direct conversation about location and contents, not legal details.
The 2015 Caring.com survey put hard numbers on a problem many families sense but rarely address: adult children are frequently uninformed about their parents' wills, trusts, and other estate documents. Only 56% knew a will existed, 48% knew where it was kept, and 42% knew what it said. These gaps aren't about neglect, they reflect how uncomfortable estate planning conversations can be. But the fix is straightforward and doesn't require legal expertise: ask where documents are stored, confirm they're current, and revisit the conversation as circumstances change. A single afternoon of direct conversation can prevent a crisis-driven scramble later.
If a parent is aging, facing a health diagnosis, or showing early signs of cognitive decline and you still don't know whether they have a will, healthcare proxy, or power of attorney, treat it as urgent. Waiting until a hospitalization or incapacity can leave the family without legal authority to make medical or financial decisions on their behalf.