A 2007 survey found that the majority of American adults remain without wills.

• More than 55% of all adult Americans do not have a will.
• 32% of African American adults have wills
• 26% of Hispanic American adults have wills
• 52% of Caucasian American adults have wills

Living Wills and Health Care Proxies have risen in popularity since 2004.

• 41% have living wills in place (10% more than those who had one 3 years ago).
• 38% of American adults have a power of attorney for health care (a health care proxy) (compared to 27% in 2004)

Why do so many Americans turn a blind eye to planning?

• One in ten (10%) of American adults who do not have any elements of an estate plan say it is because they do not want to think about dying or becoming incapacitated
• One in ten (9%) of adults say they don’t have an estate plan in place because they don’t know who to talk to about creating such documents
• One in four (24%) say their biggest reason for not having a plan is a lack of sufficient assets.