EZLaw Wills and Estate Plan Survey - Press Release
of 2
Transcript of EZLaw Wills and Estate Plan Survey - Press Release
-
8/6/2019 EZLaw Wills and Estate Plan Survey - Press Release
1/2
EZLaw Survey Finds Most Americans Recognize the Importance of aWill or Estate Planning, Yet Few Have Necessary Documents in Place
Results Show Less Than Forty Percent of Parents with Minor Children Have Wills
NEW YORK, July 19, 2011 A new national survey commissioned on behalf of EZLawTM
, an online legal
document creation service from LexisNexis, finds the majority of Americans (60 percent) believe that all
adults should have a will or estate planning documents in place, yet only 44 percent report that they
currently have any such documents. In stark contrast, more than one third (36 percent) of Americans with
minor children do not believe that wills or estate plans are among the most important documents to have
on hand. Rather, adults with minors in the household rank birth certificates (76 percent) and titles/deeds
for property and vehicles (70 percent) as the most important. In addition, although the majority of parents
with minors in the household (75 percent) understand that a court will decide who the childrens legal
guardian becomes if there is no will at the time of both parents death, only 39 percent have any estate
planning documents in place.
The 2011 EZLaw Wills & Estate Planning survey shows parents may not be taking the necessary steps
to ensure their wishes for the care of their children and estate are followed in the event that both parents
were to pass, for example due to an accident, said David Palmieri, vice president and managing director
of Marketing and Consumer Solutions at LexisNexis. Additional research conducted by EZLaw earlier
this year indicates that many parents consider wills to be more appropriate for those with significant
wealth and as a result, they risk leaving the fate of their children in the hands of the courts instead of
being directed by an enforceable legal document.
Reasons given for not making a will or estate planning a priority vary widely. According to the survey, 37
percent of Americans cite a current focus on essentials, such as paying bills and buying groceries, as
the top reason they dont have any estate planning documents . Other reasons cited by survey
respondents include:
Not necessary (18 percent)
Too complicated to deal with right now (16 percent)
Too expensive (14 percent)
Belief that their spouse and/or children will automatically receive any assets that they have (13
percent)
Too time consuming (6 percent)
Other findings indicate that age and gender play a role in whether a person has a will or estate planning
documents. For example, the majority of Americans report that they are most concerned about preserving
their health (70 percent) and having enough money to retire (50 percent) as opposed to protecting their
-
8/6/2019 EZLaw Wills and Estate Plan Survey - Press Release
2/2
financial assets (43 percent), while women are more likely to be concerned about maintaining their weight
(47 percent) than protecting their financial assets (44 percent).
Additionally, Americans 18-34 years old are more likely to report that they are most concerned about
preserving their health (64 percent), having enough money to retire (52 percent) and maintaining their
weight (51 percent) rather than protecting their financial assets (44 percent). Interestingly, one in five
Americans 18-34 years old (22 percent) believe it is becoming less important to have wills because
people are living longer, healthier lives.
One finding from the EZLaw survey indicates that three-quarters of consumers would be more likely to
create or update their will if there was an easy, valid way to do so online, continued Palmieri.
EZLaw.comcan deliver that solution.
Developed by LexisNexis, the EZLaw online service enables users to create a living will, last will and
testament, and/or power of attorney and have those documents reviewed by a qualified lawyer for a fixedcost per document. EZLaw is the first online legal document creation service of its kind that pairs people
with a qualified attorney who will review their documents and consult with them by phone to finalize them.
Currently available to Pennsylvania residents, EZLaw will be introduced in more states soon.
Complete findings from the 2011 EZLaw Wills & Estate Planning survey are available atEZLaw.com.
About the SurveyThe 2011 EZLaw
TMWills & Estate Planning survey was conducted online by TNS on May 19-22 among
1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The margin of error for the total sample is 3.1 percent at the 95percent confidence level. This means that if we were to replicate the study, we would expect to get the
same results (within 3.1 percentage points) 95 times out of 100.
About LexisNexisLexisNexis
(www.lexisnexis.com) is a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions
designed specifically for professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, lawenforcement, accounting, and academic markets. LexisNexis originally pioneered online information withits Lexis
and Nexis
services. A member of Reed Elsevier [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK]
(www.reedelsevier.com), LexisNexis serves customers in more than 100 countries with 15,000employees worldwide.
# # #
Media ContactsJohn Michaels Victoria RupekaLexisNexis Ogilvy PR(202) 857-9121 (212) 880-5230
[email protected] [email protected]
http://www.ezlaw.com/http://www.ezlaw.com/http://www.ezlaw.com/http://blog.ezlaw.com/?p=387http://blog.ezlaw.com/?p=387http://blog.ezlaw.com/?p=387http://www.lexisnexis.com/http://www.lexisnexis.com/http://www.lexisnexis.com/http://www.reedelsevier.com/http://www.reedelsevier.com/http://www.reedelsevier.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.reedelsevier.com/http://www.lexisnexis.com/http://blog.ezlaw.com/?p=387http://www.ezlaw.com/
