Why young adults should write a will—even with little to leave

Erin Atkinson is 27 years old, works in psychological research at a London university, and has already written a will. She rents a modest flat, does not consider herself wealthy, and yet she has made deliberate decisions about what happens to her £7,000 car, a gold necklace from her partner, and a portion of her money. She wants the car to go to her sister. The necklace will return to her partner. And she has specified that some of her estate should support an endometriosis charity—a cause that matters to her deeply. "It felt really empowering that I could have that written down to say I want X amount donated," she says. For most people her age, this would seem premature, even strange. But Atkinson is part of a quiet shift in how young adults think about death and responsibility.

The numbers tell the story. According to the 2025 National Wills Report, only one in five people aged 18 to 24 has a will. That figure rises to 33 percent among those aged 22 to 34, and climbs to 56 percent for people over 55. The gap is stark, and it reflects a widespread assumption: wills are for the old, the rich, or both. Sophia Maslin, who founded Morby, an app designed to make will-writing accessible online, encounters this misconception constantly. "People believe they don't own enough," she says. "But actually, if you've got some sort of savings, investments, pensions, your social media accounts, if you've got pets, even funeral wishes, these are all things to think about." The barrier is not the absence of assets. It is the absence of awareness that assets exist at all.

For Atkinson, the catalyst came from two directions. A friend bought a home and began discussing wills. Then she encountered Maslin on TikTok, where the app founder had shared the story of her cousin, who died young without a will, leaving the family to navigate a legal maze. The story landed. Atkinson also watched her own grandmother's will shape her family's experience after her death—a complex document that, despite its complexity, had provided clarity and reduced pressure on those left behind. "Seeing the will written in a way that was very directive showed me you can take a lot of pressure off the family," Atkinson reflects. The process of writing her own will revealed something else: she had more financial assets than she realized, including premium bonds she had forgotten about.

Eleanor Hodgson, a solicitor at Crombie Wilkinson, points to the practical dimension that young people often overlook. "It's not just your assets that it helps because there's still someone that has to deal with your bank accounts and any debts you have, and it's being able to name a person that can legally deal with that without having to jump through hoops," she says. The difficulties of intestacy—dying without a will—are hard to grasp until they arrive. By then, the person who might have made decisions is gone, and the burden falls on those grieving. Maslin emphasizes the obvious truth that young people resist: "The reality is that unexpected things happen at every stage of life."

For Atkinson, the will also became a place to record things that matter emotionally rather than financially. She has specified a poem to be read at her funeral, and the drink she would like served. These details might seem small, but they are not. They are instructions for how the people she loves should remember her. "For me, writing a will wasn't about expecting the worst," she says. "It was about taking responsibility and making life easier for the people I care about." The process did not feel morbid. It felt like care.

The practical barriers to writing a will have begun to lower. Morby and similar apps allow people to draft wills online at reduced cost. Will Aid, a charity program, partners with volunteer solicitors every November to write basic wills for free. The steps are straightforward: name your beneficiaries—family, friends, or charities; choose an executor, the person who will carry out your wishes; decide who should care for your pets; and record your funeral preferences. The final step is crucial: keep the will somewhere safe and tell someone you trust where it is. If a will cannot be found, it creates delays and may mean your wishes are never followed. The infrastructure for early estate planning exists. What remains is the shift in thinking—the recognition that planning for death is not morbid, but an act of love toward those you leave behind.