Do I Need a Will in My 20s?

For many adults in their 20s, a will is useful even when the estate is small. If you have kids, the case stops being optional: estate planning for parents covers the three decisions that protect them.

You're 25. You've got a car worth less than your student loans, a savings account that made you cry last Tuesday, and a Roth IRA a coworker guilt-tripped you into opening. A will feels like a thing for people with beach houses and grandkids. It isn’t.

A will lets you direct probate property and name the person you want to administer the estate. Without a valid will, state intestacy law determines the heirs and a court appoints the estate representative when administration is required.

In Caring.com's 2025 survey, 24 percent of surveyed U.S. adults reported having a will.^[1] A will can still matter at 25, even when the estate is small, because it records who should receive probate property and who should handle the estate.

If you die without a will, you don't avoid the paperwork. You just don't get a say in it.

Every state has intestacy law, which identifies heirs and their shares when probate property isn’t controlled by a valid will. The result depends on the state, marital or legally recognized partnership status, children and other descendants, parents, and other relatives.^[2]

That list follows legal family relationships and may exclude an unmarried partner, friend, or chosen family member who’s central to your life.

Someone may still need to file court forms, notify heirs and creditors, inventory assets, and complete the state's administration process. A will can nominate that person and provide instructions, but it doesn't automatically eliminate probate.

Depending on state law and the way assets are titled, intestacy may not provide a share to:

• An unmarried partner. Some jurisdictions recognize registered domestic partners or other legal statuses, but living together or being engaged doesn’t automatically create inheritance rights in many states.
• A friend or chosen family member. Intestacy statutes generally use legally defined family relationships.
• A charity or other organization. A statutory heir list doesn’t add an organization based on an undocumented preference.
• A preferred caregiver for a pet. State law treats pets as property, and a separate care and funding plan may be needed.

A valid will can direct probate property outside the default heir list. Beneficiary designations, trusts, transfer-on-death arrangements, and certain forms of joint ownership can also control specific assets outside a will.

For a pet, name a willing caregiver, discuss the plan with that person, and consider a pet trust or other lawful funding arrangement available in the state.

"I don't have an estate" is the number one reason people your age skip this. You do. An estate is just everything you own and everything you owe. There's no minimum. Some estates are negative numbers.

Take an actual inventory:

• Your car, even the one that makes that noise.
• Checking, savings, whatever's in Venmo and Cash App.
• Your 401(k) and Roth IRA, which are probably worth more than you think.
• Crypto and brokerage accounts. If nobody can find your keys, that money is gone forever. Not tied up. Gone.
• Life insurance through your job. A lot of people have a policy worth a year of salary and have no idea.
• Your photos, your accounts, your camera roll. Ten years of your life lives there.

Two things to know about that list. First, some assets may pass outside a will. Retirement accounts and life insurance commonly follow valid beneficiary designations, subject to the account terms and applicable law. Review those forms after a marriage, divorce, death, or other major change.

Second, your online accounts have their own rules. Most states have adopted a law that gives an executor limited access to digital accounts, and the big platforms have their own tools, like Apple's Digital Legacy, Google's Inactive Account Manager, and Facebook memorialization.^[3] You can set those up in about ten minutes tonight.

A will applies after death. Separate documents address medical and financial decisions during life.

An advance directive can record treatment preferences and name a healthcare agent for times when you can’t communicate or make the decision. Without a valid appointment, state surrogate law determines who may decide, and the priority varies by state.

A durable financial power of attorney can authorize someone to handle specified financial matters during incapacity. Without one, a court proceeding may be needed if no other person has authority to manage an account or obligation.

State forms are often available without charge, but signing, witness, notarization, and agent requirements vary. Use the current form and instructions for the applicable state.

Some adults with straightforward estates use a state form or reputable online service. A lawyer is useful when state rules are unclear or the plan involves minor children, a blended family, a business, property in more than one state, a beneficiary receiving means-tested benefits, a likely dispute, or other complexity.

A will is valid only when it meets the state's capacity, form, signature, witness, and any other execution requirements. Those rules vary, including rules about electronic wills, notarization, and whether a beneficiary may serve as a witness.^[4]

Do this in one sitting:

• Update your beneficiaries. 401(k), IRA, life insurance. Ten minutes, free, and it overrides your will. Start here.
• Do the advance directive. Name your person. Tell them.
• Write the will. Name who gets what, and name who's in charge of making it happen.
• Set your digital legacy contacts. Apple, Google, Facebook. Ten minutes.
• Tell one person where all of it lives. A will can’t guide the estate until the original document is found.

Review the documents periodically and after a marriage, divorce, birth or adoption, death of a beneficiary or agent, move to another state, major asset change, or change in the person you want to serve.

Planning now gives the people handling a future emergency or estate clearer instructions and contact information.