Estate planning drives 1 in 6 legal calls as trust demand surges

Estate planning has become the single most common reason Americans call a lawyer, and new data released this month shows the gap between recognizing that need and acting on it remains wide open for financial advisors willing to close it.

According to data from LegalShield Intelligence, which analyzed roughly 150,000 monthly consumer calls placed to the tech platform's network of provider attorneys, estate planning now drives roughly 1 in 6 legal inquiries, up from about 1 in 9 in 2016. Within that category, questions about trusts have grown sevenfold over the past decade and now account for nearly 1 in 5 estate planning calls.

The surge coincides with what Cerulli Associates estimates will be a $124 trillion transfer of wealth in the United States through 2048 as Baby Boomers pass assets to spouses, children and grandchildren, with more than $1 trillion expected to move annually by the early 2030s. Blended families, multi-state property holdings and staged inheritances are pushing more households toward trusts rather than a standalone will, LegalShield said.

"People used to think trusts were only for the ultra-wealthy," said Rebecca A. Carter, a LegalShield provider lawyer with Friedman, Framme & Thrush. "Not every family fits that distinction, but the Baby Boomer generation possesses about half of the wealth in the country. Families want to have control of where that goes."

Read more: Great Wealth Transfer gets reality check, but opportunities still abound for advisors

The awareness-action gap persists

Despite the rise in inquiries, ownership of basic protections remains stubbornly low. LegalShield's companion survey, fielded in July among 1,850 U.S. adults, found 94% of Americans believe a will is important, yet only 46% actually have one. Separately, a third of respondents reported having none of a living trust, financial power of attorney or healthcare directive in place.

That figure lines up closely with Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report, a survey of 5,000 U.S. adults conducted in late January and early February, which found 56% of U.S. adults have no estate planning documents at all – no will, trust, medical power of attorney, financial power of attorney or HIPAA authorization – essentially unchanged from 55% a year earlier. Notably, will ownership actually fell five points year over year, from 31% to 26%, while trust ownership rose three points to 14%, a shift Trust & Will researchers say suggests the minority who are acting are choosing more comprehensive planning vehicles.

Cost is widely assumed to be the top obstacle, but LegalShield's data suggests otherwise. More than a quarter of respondents believe a complete estate plan costs more than $2,500, and nearly one in five have no idea what it costs. Yet among those missing key documents, simple procrastination was the most-cited reason at 27%, ahead of cost, confusion or not knowing where to start.

Trust & Will's national survey found a similar pattern, with 27% citing a belief they don't have enough assets to need a plan, 23% citing procrastination, and 17% saying they don't know where to start – though the report noted those two easiest-to-collapse barriers, cost and not knowing where to start, have each dropped roughly 10 percentage points since 2025.

In another study by BNY Wealth, which focused on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, 53% acknowledged that their own estate plans are still not yet fully complete.

Advisors are becoming the preferred entry point

For financial advisors, the more consequential data may come from Trust & Will's separate 2026 Financial Advisor Report, based on a June survey of 1,500 U.S. adults. It found 61% of Americans now say financial advisors should offer estate planning as part of their services. More striking for practice management: 68% of clients who already have an advisor say they would consider switching to one who offers estate planning services, including nearly 40% who call themselves "very likely" to switch.

That risk is loaded more heavily among the next generation. Among advised Gen Z and Millennial clients, roughly 8 in 10 say they would consider switching advisors over the issue, compared with about a quarter of advised Baby Boomers. The same younger cohorts are also driving overall advisor adoption: 31.2% of Americans now have a financial advisor, up from 26.9% in 2025, with Gen Z adoption climbing from 28.2% to 41.7% and Millennial adoption from 28.5% to 38.5%, even as Baby Boomer adoption slipped from 31.1% to 24.3%.

Read more: The money conversation no one wants to have despite the inevitability

Advisors who raise the subject appear to be having an impact. More than 80% of advised respondents said their financial advisor has brought up estate planning at least once, and 56% said the conversation made them feel more urgency about creating or updating a plan, with almost none reporting the opposite effect.

Economic conditions appear to be reinforcing the trend. Roughly half of Americans said economic conditions over the past year made them more motivated to get their estate planning in order, and 54% reported increased financial anxiety over the same period – both figures skewing highest among Gen Z and Millennial respondents.