Will a Will Do?

Most people who have a will feel, understandably, that they have taken care of things. They sat down with an attorney, signed documents, and checked estate planning off a list that had been nagging at them for years. It feels responsible (and it is), but a will is a far more limited instrument than most people realize, and for those of you in your fifties and sixties who have spent decades building meaningful wealth, relying on a will alone is a bit like insuring a large home with a policy that only covers the front door.

This is not a reason to panic, and it is not a criticism of anyone who has a will and nothing more. It is simply worth understanding what a will actually does, what it cannot do, and why the gap between the two matters so much more once your financial life has grown complex.

What a Will Actually Does

A will is a legal document that expresses your wishes about how your assets should be distributed after you die. It names an executor to carry out those wishes, can name a guardian for minor children, and gives the court a road map for handling your estate. It is a foundational document and, for many people in earlier stages of life with modest assets and straightforward family situations, it may be enough.

The operative word there is "may." Because a will has two significant constraints that people rarely appreciate until they are sitting across from a probate attorney, and by then it is too late to change anything. The first constraint is that a will only controls assets that pass through your estate. The second is that, to do anything at all, your will must go through probate.

The Assets Your Will Cannot Touch

Here is where many people are genuinely surprised. A substantial portion of what you own likely passes outside your will entirely, regardless of what that document says.

Your retirement accounts (your 401(k), your IRA, your Roth IRA) are governed not by your will, but by the beneficiary designations you completed when you opened those accounts, possibly decades ago. Your life insurance policies work the same way. Your brokerage accounts, if held jointly with right of survivorship or set up with a transfer on death designation, bypass your will entirely and pass directly to whoever is named. Your home, if titled jointly, does the same.

For many pre-retirees, these beneficiary-designated and jointly held assets represent the majority of their net worth. It is entirely possible, and more common than you might think, for someone to have a carefully drafted will and yet have that govern only a fraction of what they actually own. The rest has already been directed elsewhere, by paperwork that may not have been updated in twenty years, since a previous relationship, or before a child was born. The will you are proud of having may be speaking to a much smaller estate than you imagine.

The Probate Problem

The assets your will does control must pass through probate, which is the court-supervised process of validating your will, paying your debts, and distributing what remains. Probate is public, meaning your estate, your debts, and the names of your beneficiaries become part of the court record that anyone can access. It is slow, often taking months and sometimes well over a year to resolve. Further, it is not free. Attorneys' fees, executor fees, and court costs can meaningfully reduce what your heirs ultimately receive.

None of this is catastrophic if your estate is simple. If you own real estate in multiple states, which is increasingly common among people who have bought a vacation home or a second property, your family may face probate in every state where you own property. Each state has its own process, timeline, and costs.

What a More Complete Plan Looks Like

A revocable living trust is the tool that addresses most of what a will cannot. Assets transferred into a trust during your lifetime pass directly to your beneficiaries at death without going through probate at all, which means privacy, speed, and lower cost for your family. A trust also allows you to add conditions and instructions that a will cannot accommodate. For example, staggered distributions to younger beneficiaries, provisions for a family member with special needs, or clear direction for a family business can all be accomplished through a trust.

Critically, a trust allows for continuity if you become incapacitated before you die. A will speaks only at death. If you are alive but unable to manage your own affairs, your will is silent, and without additional documents your family may need to go to court to establish a guardianship or conservatorship over you. This is also a process that is expensive, emotionally draining, and avoidable.

This is why a complete estate plan typically includes not just a will and perhaps a trust, but also a durable power of attorney (which designates someone to manage your financial affairs if you cannot), a healthcare proxy (which designates someone to make medical decisions on your behalf), and an advance directive or living will (which records your own wishes about end-of-life care so that your family does not have to guess).

The Beneficiary Audit You Probably Need

Before anything else, the single most valuable thing most people can do is conduct a thorough audit of their beneficiary designations. Gather every retirement account, every life insurance policy, every brokerage account with a TOD designation, and look at who is named. Check the primary beneficiaries and the contingent beneficiaries, because if your primary beneficiary predeceases you and there is no contingent named, that asset may end up in your estate after all and go through probate anyway.

Look for ex-spouses still named on accounts opened during a previous marriage. Look for parents named in your twenties before you had children of your own. Look for children named individually rather than as a class, which can create problems if additional children were born after the designation was made. These are not rare edge cases. They are the kinds of outdated paperwork that estate planning attorneys encounter constantly, and they can unravel even the most thoughtfully drafted will.

The Question Worth Sitting With

A will is a necessary document and a meaningful act of care for the people you love. But it is the beginning of an estate plan, not the whole of one, and for anyone who has spent their career accumulating retirement accounts, real estate, taxable investments, and insurance policies, the assumption that a will is sufficient deserves honest scrutiny.

The more meaningful question is not whether you have a will, but whether your entire plan (every account, every document, every designation) reflects the life you actually have today and the wishes you genuinely hold. For most people who take the time to look carefully, the answer reveals at least a few things worth updating, and occasionally something that would have caused real hardship for the people left behind. That is worth knowing now, while there is still time to do something about it.

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IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

This post was created with the assistance of AI tools for research and drafting.  It was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by Georgia Lord before publication.  Please verify any critical information.

These materials are provided for general information and educational purposes based upon publicly available information from sources believed to be reliable—we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials. The information in these materials does not constitute tax or legal advice and may change at any time and without notice. Please consult with a qualified tax professional, attorney, or Wealth Manager regarding your specific situation.

Spire Wealth Management, LLC is a Federally Registered Investment Advisory Firm. Securities offered through an affiliated company, Spire Securities, LLC., a Registered Broker/Dealer and member FINRA/SIPC.