August is Make-A-Will Month: Are your clients as covered as they think?

Every August, National Make-A-Will Month gives you a reason to raise a topic most clients quietly avoid: what happens to their assets, their minor children, and their wishes if they become incapacitated or pass away. It's a low-pressure calendar hook for a high-value conversation and it's one worth having with every client and prospect.

Only about a quarter of American adults currently have a will in place. That statistic alone should tell you how much opportunity sits untouched in your book of business. And for the clients who do have documents, many haven't looked at them in years, meaning a marriage, divorce, new child, relocation, or a sold business may have quietly made their plan obsolete.

Why "I have a will" isn't the same as "I'm covered"

This is the misconception worth clearing up first. A will does not avoid probate, the court process that validates a will and oversees how an estate gets distributed. It simply gives the probate court instructions to follow. Without a will or with one that's outdated or improperly executed, a client's estate is settled according to their state's intestacy laws, the default rules a court applies when there's no valid will to follow, and they rarely match what the client actually wanted. That can mean:

• A judge, not the client, decides who raises their minor children
• Assets pass to family members in a state-mandated order that may not reflect who the client actually wanted to provide for
• Unmarried partners typically receive nothing
• The process moves through a public, court-supervised process that can consume a meaningful share of the estate's value and take many months (sometimes years) to resolve

Even a well-drafted will still requires probate. The real differentiator is proper use of trusts and other non-probate transfer tools. That’s the only way to actually avoid the delays, costs, and loss of privacy that come with probate. It’s the conversation worth having proactively this August, before a client's family has to learn these distinctions the hard way.

Segment the conversation: taxable vs. non-taxable estates

For non-taxable clients: pour-over will and revocable living trust

For clients comfortably below current federal and state estate tax exemptions ($15M for individuals and $30M for married couples in 2026, though several states set their own, often much lower, thresholds), the priority is probate avoidance, privacy, and control.

• Revocable Living Trust - The client transfers ("funds") assets into a trust during their lifetime, typically serving as their own trustee and retaining full control. Because the trust, not the individual, legally owns those assets, they pass to beneficiaries without probate once properly funded. It also provides continuity if the client becomes incapacitated, since a successor trustee can step in without court involvement.
• Pour-Over Will - This works alongside the trust as a safety net. Any assets the client acquires later and never gets around to retitling into the trust are "poured over" into it at death. It won't itself avoid probate for those stray assets, but it ensures nothing accidentally falls into intestacy or ends up outside the plan.

The combination gives most clients a private, efficient, easily updated plan without paying for complexity they don't need.

Testamentary trust for estate-taxable clients

For clients whose estates may approach or exceed those thresholds or who live in one of the states with a lower state-level exemption (Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, or D.C.), the planning conversation shifts toward tax efficiency and multi-generational control.

A testamentary trust is created within the will itself and only comes into existence after death, once the will is probated. It's commonly used to:

• Manage and control how/when inheritances are distributed to minor children or beneficiaries who may not be ready to manage a lump sum
• Provide for beneficiaries with special needs without disrupting eligibility for government assistance
• Address blended-family situations where outright distributions could create conflict
• Layer in tax planning provisions intended to preserve more wealth for heirs

Because a testamentary trust is created through the probate process, it doesn't avoid probate the way a funded revocable trust does. For taxable clients, it's often one piece of a broader plan that may also include lifetime trusts or gifting strategies. It remains a foundational tool for controlling distributions and managing tax exposure after death.

Your August make-a-will month checklist

1. Audit your book. Flag clients and prospects with no will/trust, or documents older than 3–5 years, or predating a major life event (marriage, divorce, a new child, a move, a business sale).
2. Segment by tax exposure. Route non-taxable clients toward foundational documents (pour-over will and revocable trust); route taxable clients toward attorney-supported testamentary trust planning.
3. Correct the biggest misconception up front. Make sure clients understand that a will alone does not avoid probate. This reframes the conversation around what actually does.
4. Give every client a concrete next step. Whether that's an invitation to generate a digital profile on the firm’s preferred estate planning platform,  or a warm handoff to an attorney that supports the technology or partners with the firm, don't let the conversation end without action attached.

Estate planning gaps are one of the few practice risks that are entirely preventable with a proactive nudge and August hands you the calendar-perfect reason to send it.

Sarah McDaniel is head of Enterprise Enablement at Vanilla.