Less than half of American adults have wills, leaving families vulnerable to court delays and legal disputes

ROANOKE, Va. — According to Gallup’s latest polling, slightly less than half of American adults have a will. Upper-income Americans are much more likely than lower-income Americans to report having a will. However, estate planning is not only for the wealthy.

When someone dies without a legal will, known as dying “intestate,” the state’s probate court and succession laws determine how property will be distributed, not the deceased or their family.

“If you have done nothing else about planning for your death, then the laws of intestacy are going to come in and they’re going to fill in the gaps. However, they don’t fill in the gaps likely the way that you want to fill in the gaps,” said Don Ford, a probate and estate attorney.

Financial consequences of dying without a will

When someone dies without a will, surviving family members often face months of probate delays, unexpected legal fees, and frozen assets.

“Let’s say mom and dad have amassed a bank account, they’ve got cars, they’ve got a house, things like that, and they might have in their minds how they want to leave that to their kids. But if they haven’t made a will, then state law is going to come in and it’s going to dictate how those assets get divided between their family members,” Ford said.

Family conflicts escalate

Dying without a will also fuels family conflict. Many family members argue about what they believe they’re due or what their loved one promised them before they died. This escalates when a court makes the decisions instead of the deceased.

“You take a scenario where mom and dad have always said, look, when I die, the china goes to our daughter, the guns go to our son. We wanted this to go to this person, this to go to that person. Well, if you haven’t designated that in a will and done something to actually plan for that, the law doesn’t recognize that,” Ford said.

“And so on the back end, mom always told me I was going to get this. Sorry, you don’t get it now. I want part of it also. And I’ve got to write under the law to get part of it. So those conflicts that exist because mom and dad said they wanted things, but they didn’t document it well, really fuel a lot of fights between the siblings or the family members. And it creates a lot of disagreement,” he said.

The best way to avoid these problems is to have a will that clearly lays out your wishes.

Several services around the Roanoke Valley offer assistance, including free services to low-income residents and Veterans.

The Virginia State Bar offers the Wills for Heroes program for first responders.

Copyright 2026 WDBJ. All rights reserved.