For parents, a will is less about money than about people. It’s where you name who would raise your children and who would manage anything they inherit. If anyone depends on you, write a will this month, however little you own.
Skip the will and your state’s default rules take over. If you and your children’s other parent both die, a judge picks who raises them. The size of your estate changes none of that.
Most parents haven’t done it. In Caring.com’s 2025 survey, only 24% of adults had a will, and parents of children under 18 made up the largest group without one. Believing there’s not enough to leave is one of the top reasons people give.
A will’s first job is naming the guardian yourself, plus a backup in case your first choice can’t serve. Without one, the court makes the choice based on what it finds is in your child’s best interest.
Its second job is the money. Default rules can hand part of it straight to your kids. In South Carolina, for example, a surviving spouse gets half and the children split the rest. Money a minor inherits outright goes to a court-appointed guardian who reports to the judge, usually until the child turns 18, when it becomes theirs to spend.
Write it this month. The National Council on Aging recommends an estate planning attorney when minor children are involved, and an online will maker is the budget route for a simple estate. Either way, name a guardian plus a backup, an executor to settle your estate, and a trustee to manage your kids’ inheritance until an age you choose. Sign it in front of the witnesses your state requires, because a will that skips the formalities can be ruled invalid.
Then check your beneficiary forms. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts go to whoever those forms name, whatever your will says. Naming a minor child there sends the payout to court as well, so name the trust or a custodian for your child instead.
Pull the will out again after every birth, marriage, divorce, or move to another state.
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