Should Young Adults Have a Will? Understanding Estate Planning Early

The Thing Nobody Your Age Wants to Think About

Most young adults, when asked whether they have a will, laugh. It seems like the kind of thing that belongs firmly in the domain of middle-aged property owners with children and pension pots. Not something a twenty-something with a rented flat and a laptop needs to concern themselves with.

But this assumption, while understandable, leads people to leave their affairs genuinely unprotected in ways that can cause real difficulty for the people they love. The reality is that the need for a will does not begin when you accumulate significant wealth. It begins when you have any assets, any preferences about what should happen to you if you are incapacitated, any people you want to protect, or any wishes that differ from what the law would automatically assume.

This guide is a practical, honest introduction to estate planning for young adults. It covers what a will actually does, what happens if you do not have one, what other planning tools exist beyond a will, and how to take action without it needing to be complicated or expensive.

What Is a Will and What Does It Actually Do?

A will, or last will and testament, is a legal document that sets out your wishes regarding the distribution of your assets and, if relevant, the care of any dependants after your death. It typically names an executor, the person responsible for carrying out those wishes, and specifies who should receive what.

A will can cover a wide range of matters: who receives your financial accounts, your personal possessions, your digital assets (including cryptocurrency, online accounts, and creative work), your vehicle, any property you own, and even your pets. It can also name a guardian for children if you have any, express your preferences about funeral arrangements, and leave specific instructions for sentimental items that might otherwise cause family disputes.

What a will does not typically cover: assets held in joint ownership (which usually pass automatically to the surviving joint owner), assets held in a trust, life insurance policies that name a specific beneficiary, and pension death benefits. These are governed by their own legal mechanisms, which is why estate planning is broader than simply writing a will.

What Happens If You Die Without a Will

Dying without a will is referred to in law as dying intestate. When this happens, your estate (the collective term for everything you own) is distributed according to the intestacy rules of your country or state, not according to your wishes.

Intestacy rules vary significantly by jurisdiction, but they share some common features. They are almost universally focused on legal family relationships: spouses, civil partners, and biological or legally adopted children take priority. People who may have been deeply important in your life but have no legal relationship with you, including long-term partners who are not married or civilly partnered, close friends, or chosen family, typically receive nothing under intestacy rules.

In England and Wales, for instance, an unmarried partner receives nothing under intestacy regardless of how long the couple were together or how financially interdependent they were. In Australia, similar rules apply in most states, though some jurisdictions have made provisions for de facto partners. In Canada, intestacy rules are set at the provincial level and vary considerably. In the United States, rules differ state by state, but the absence of spousal protection for unmarried partners is broadly consistent.

Beyond the question of who receives what, dying without a will also means no executor has been pre-appointed. This can add delay, cost, and stress for the family at an already difficult time, as a court must formally appoint an administrator to manage the estate.

Common Situations Where a Will Matters for Young Adults

Even without property or significant savings, a will is worth considering in several situations that are common among young adults.

You Are in a Serious Relationship but Not Married

This is perhaps the most significant gap in intestacy law as it affects young adults. Cohabiting couples are the fastest-growing household type in many countries, yet in most jurisdictions, an unmarried partner has no automatic inheritance rights. If you share a home, finances, or build a life together without marrying, a will is the only legal mechanism that ensures your partner is protected if you die.

You Have Specific Wishes About Personal Possessions

Beyond money, most people have items that carry personal significance: a piece of jewellery, a collection, a musical instrument, letters, or photographs. Without a will, these items pass through general intestacy rules, which may result in them going to a family member rather than the person you would have wanted to have them. Family disagreements over sentimental items are a common and painful source of conflict during bereavement, and a will prevents them.

You Have Digital Assets

Digital assets are a genuinely new consideration that existing estate laws have been slow to address. Cryptocurrency holdings, monetised social media accounts, online businesses, digital artwork, domain names, and royalty-generating creative work all have real monetary value and need to be addressed in estate planning. A will that explicitly identifies these assets and grants access credentials (held securely, such as in a sealed letter with the will) ensures they are not simply lost.

You Have Debt

Some young adults hesitate to make a will because they feel they have nothing to leave. But dying with debt is actually another reason to have your affairs in order. Most personal debts (credit cards, personal loans, student loans in many countries) are settled from the estate before any inheritance is distributed. A will and an organised record of your financial affairs make this process more straightforward for whoever is left to manage it.

You Have Strong Views About Medical Intervention

A will alone does not cover what should happen if you are alive but incapacitated. That requires a separate but related document: an advance directive or living will, and in many countries a lasting or enduring power of attorney. These tools are discussed in more detail below, but they are particularly important to consider alongside making a will.

Powers of Attorney: The Other Half of the Picture

A will only takes effect after death. While you are alive, if you become temporarily or permanently unable to make decisions for yourself, for instance following a serious accident, a sudden illness, or a period of significant mental health crisis, the question of who can act on your behalf becomes urgent.

A power of attorney (called an enduring power of attorney in Australia, a lasting power of attorney in the UK, and a power of attorney or healthcare proxy in other countries) is a legal document that appoints a trusted person to make decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity to do so yourself.

There are typically two types: one covering financial and property decisions, and one covering health and welfare decisions. Having both in place means that someone you trust, rather than a court-appointed stranger, can manage your affairs if the need arises. Setting this up while you are young and healthy is significantly easier and less expensive than doing so in an emergency.

Advance Directives: Expressing Your Medical Wishes

An advance directive (sometimes called a living will or advance decision) is a document that sets out your wishes regarding medical treatment in circumstances where you cannot communicate them yourself. This might include your preferences about resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition, and other life-sustaining treatments.

The specific legal weight given to advance directives varies by country, but in most jurisdictions, a clearly expressed and properly documented advance directive is taken seriously by medical professionals and provides important guidance when families face difficult decisions in acute medical situations. For young people, the thought of needing one feels remote, but it is precisely the unexpected nature of accidents and sudden illness that makes them worth having.

Discussing your wishes with a trusted family member or friend, even without a formal document, can also be enormously helpful. Families often find that not knowing what their loved one would have wanted is one of the most distressing aspects of medical emergencies.

How to Make a Will: Your Options

Using a Solicitor or Lawyer

For most people with any complexity in their situation, using a qualified solicitor or estate planning lawyer is the most reliable approach. They can ensure the will is properly drafted, legally valid in your jurisdiction, and accounts for circumstances you might not have considered. The cost varies by country and complexity, but a straightforward will is generally not expensive relative to the peace of mind it provides.

Online Will Services

A growing number of online platforms offer will-writing services at lower cost than traditional solicitors. These can be appropriate for simple situations, particularly for people who are young, unmarried, without children, and without complex asset structures. If you use an online service, ensure it is specific to your country and that the resulting document is signed and witnessed in accordance with your jurisdiction's legal requirements. An incorrectly executed will may not be valid.

Holographic Wills

In some jurisdictions, a will written entirely by hand, signed, and dated by the testator (the person making the will) is valid without any witness requirements. These are called holographic wills. They are not valid in England and Wales, but are recognised in some Australian states, some Canadian provinces, and a number of US states. If you are in a jurisdiction that recognises holographic wills, this is a low-barrier way to at least create something, though a formally executed will is always preferable.

Will-Writing Charities and Legal Aid

In several countries, charities operate schemes through which solicitors provide free basic wills to certain groups, including young people and those on low incomes. In the UK, Will Aid and Free Wills Month are two annual schemes through which participating solicitors write basic wills in exchange for a charitable donation. These can be an excellent option for those who want a professionally prepared will at minimal cost.

What to Think About Before You Start

Before making a will, it helps to think through several practical questions. Who do you want to benefit from your estate? Who should be your executor (someone organised, reliable, and ideally not too elderly themselves)? If you have a partner, what should happen to shared assets? Who would you want to make financial decisions on your behalf if you were incapacitated? Who should make healthcare decisions? Are there specific items you want specific people to receive?

Write down your answers before speaking with a solicitor or using an online service. Having thought through these questions in advance makes the process much faster and more straightforward.

Keeping Your Will Up to Date

A will is not a document you write once and forget. Major life changes, including marriage (which typically revokes a previous will in England and Wales and some other jurisdictions), divorce, having children, significant changes in assets, or the death of a named beneficiary or executor, all warrant a review. As a general rule, reviewing your will every three to five years or after any significant life change is good practice.

Taking the First Step

Estate planning is not morbid. It is an act of care for the people who matter to you and a way of ensuring that your wishes are respected at the most vulnerable moment. It is also one of the most genuinely responsible adult administrative tasks you can undertake, and for most young adults in straightforward circumstances, it does not need to be complicated or expensive.

If you have been putting this off, the most useful thing to do right now is simply to decide on the key decisions: your executor, your main beneficiary, and whether you want to appoint someone with power of attorney. From there, the actual documentation can follow. Starting the conversation with yourself is the step that most people never take, and it is the one that makes everything else possible.