Aneyefor News

COLUMBUS, OHIO, USA – September 14, 2026 – The estate-planning divide in America is not distributed evenly.

In a national survey of 5,000 U.S. adults conducted in early 2026, 60% of women reported having none of the five estate-planning documents measured by researchers. Among men, the figure was 50%.

The differences extended across individual documents. In the survey, 22% of women reported having a will compared with 31% of men. Trust ownership was 11% among women and 19% among men. (Trust & Will)

The numbers do not establish a single reason for the disparity.

But Samantha Halvorson, CEO and founder of LegacyGuard Estate Planning, believes they should provoke a question that businesses sometimes avoid:

When a large group of consumers is consistently not participating in a service category, is the problem entirely with the consumer, or is it worth examining the experience the industry has created for them?

“If your market data shows one group participating at a meaningfully lower rate, good leadership does not start by blaming the customer,” Halvorson said. “You look at the product. You look at communication. You look at accessibility. You look at where people disengage. Then you ask whether the industry has made it unnecessarily difficult for that customer to see herself in the solution.”

It is a question Halvorson approaches from several directions.

She leads an estate-planning company. She is also a mother of five. And much of the motivation behind LegacyGuard came from witnessing what can happen to a family when important decisions remain unresolved until after a loss.

“Estate planning is often marketed as a wealth conversation,” Halvorson said. “For a lot of women, I think the more relevant conversation is responsibility. If something happens to me, who can take care of what I currently take care of? Who can act? Who has instructions? What does my family need from me that they may not realize I am managing today?”

A Difference Worth Examining

The 2026 Trust & Will Estate Planning Report found gender differences across every document category it measured.

Men were more likely in the survey to report having a will, trust and financial power of attorney. Women were more likely to report having no documents at all. The report’s authors said the difference could reflect a mix of factors, including who initiates financial conversations, differences in financial confidence and how estate-planning services have historically been designed and marketed. (Trust & Will)

Those explanations remain hypotheses rather than proof of what causes the difference.

Halvorson thinks that uncertainty makes the subject more worthy of attention, not less.

“A 10-point difference should not lead to a convenient conclusion,” she said. “It should lead to better questions. What does each group believe estate planning is for? What prevents them from starting? Who do they trust? Does the process feel built around their actual life, or around an outdated image of who an estate-planning customer is supposed to be?”

Those are business questions. They are also design questions. And Halvorson believes the companies that answer them well will help determine what the next generation of estate planning looks like.

The Traditional Image of an “Estate”

One possible obstacle begins with the industry’s own language.

The word “estate” can summon images of significant wealth, large investment portfolios and complicated tax planning.

But the decisions involved in estate planning extend far beyond wealthy households.

Who can make medical decisions? Who can manage finances during incapacity? What happens to a home? Who receives personal property? What happens to a business? Who cares for minor children? Who can access information the family needs?

Those questions can exist at almost every income level.

Yet the 2026 survey found another divide that illustrates how strongly consumers still associate planning with assets. Among Baby Boomers who did not have a will or trust, 35% said they did not have enough assets to need one. (Trust & Will)

Halvorson believes that perception has consequences.

“If consumers believe estate planning begins at a certain net worth, the industry has framed the category too narrowly,” she said. “The need for someone to make decisions during incapacity does not begin when your investment account hits a particular number. The need to create clarity for your children does not belong exclusively to wealthy families.”

For women in particular, Halvorson wants the conversation to include the practical responsibilities people carry within households.

An estate plan does not simply answer, “What do I own?” It can also force a person to answer, “What depends on me?”

“One of the most important assets in a household may be the knowledge one person carries,” Halvorson said. “The passwords, the accounts, the recurring obligations, the children’s information, the people to call, the decisions that person makes almost automatically. Families often discover the value of that invisible infrastructure only when the person managing it is suddenly unavailable.”

Designing Around the Consumer

The broader legal industry is already confronting changing consumer expectations.

Clio’s 2025 research on solo and small law firms describes legal consumers as increasingly expecting seamless experiences, transparency and efficiency. The report also found widespread adoption of technologies such as video conferencing, electronic signatures and cloud-based systems among smaller firms, while flat-fee models have become increasingly common. (Clio)

Halvorson sees those changes as part of a larger transition in professional services.

Expertise still matters. But consumers increasingly expect expertise to be delivered in a way they can understand and navigate.

“For decades, professional services could get away with saying, essentially, ‘This is complicated because the subject is complicated,'” Halvorson said. “Consumers do not accept that as readily anymore. Complexity may exist behind the service. That does not mean the customer experience itself has to be confusing.”

LegacyGuard has built its approach around guided estate planning, consumer education and attorney-backed documents rather than expecting clients to navigate the process without support.

Halvorson says the objective is not to eliminate the professional expertise involved in estate planning. It is to make that expertise easier for ordinary families to use.

“The best businesses do not make customers prove they are sophisticated enough to buy from them,” she said. “They build an experience sophisticated enough to serve the customer where she actually is.”

A CEO’s View of the Opportunity

Halvorson believes the gender numbers ultimately reveal something larger than a marketing opportunity.

They reveal people who may be entering emergencies without having made decisions they would have preferred to make themselves.

The same 2026 national survey found that 42% of Americans said they would not know what to do if a family member passed today. (Trust & Will)

For a CEO working in estate planning, Halvorson says that is the outcome worth changing.

“Businesses talk constantly about underserved markets,” she said. “But in estate planning, underserved has a very human consequence. It can mean a family reaching a crisis before anyone has been given authority, instructions or a clear path forward.”

She believes the industry has an opportunity to become more inclusive without lowering the standard of professional planning.

Make the language clearer. Make pricing easier to understand. Make the process easier to navigate. Explain why each decision matters. And stop assuming estate planning belongs to a narrow demographic.

“If women are participating at a lower rate, I want to understand why,” Halvorson said. “Not because women need a different standard of estate planning, but because every consumer deserves a process that makes it possible to understand the value, make informed decisions and protect the people depending on them.”

About Us

LegacyGuard Estate Planning provides a guided approach to revocable living trust planning for individuals, families and business owners. The company focuses on making estate planning easier to understand through consumer education, a simplified planning experience and attorney backed estate planning documents designed for the client’s state and individual circumstances.

CONTACT:

Website: https://legacyguardep.com/

Email: [email protected]

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Company Name: LegacyGuard Estate Planning
Contact Person: Samantha Halvorson
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Country: United States
Website: https://legacyguardep.com/