A family called me after their mother died. She had a will that was properly signed and perfectly valid. However, it didn’t tell anyone who had legal authority to care for her minor children in those first critical days, who could handle financial matters while her estate was being settled, or how she wanted her kids raised.
She had done some estate planning. She just hadn’t done enough.
August is Make-A-Will Month, and the urgency is real. Trust & Will’s 2026 Estate Planning Report, a nationally representative survey of 5,000 U.S. adults conducted in early 2026, found that only 26% of adults currently have a will, down from 31% the year before, and 56% have no estate planning documents at all.
Make-A-Will Month is a valuable reminder to get something in place. But a will and a comprehensive estate plan are not the same thing, and too many families discover the difference only when it is too late to do anything about it.
So, what does your family actually need?
Why Will Ownership Is Falling, Not Rising
People put off creating a will for remarkably consistent reasons: they believe they are too young, think they don’t have enough assets to make estate planning worthwhile, find the conversation uncomfortable, or simply haven’t gotten around to it.
Make-A-Will Month exists because sometimes we all need a little nudge. And that nudge matters. Taking the first step is far better than doing nothing at all.
But there is another problem that gets far less attention: many people who do have wills are relying on documents that are outdated, incomplete, or don’t accomplish what they think they do.
A will drafted when your first child was born may not account for another child, a divorce, a remarriage, or the fact that your chosen guardian has since moved across the country. A will sitting untouched in a drawer for 15 years may name someone who is no longer able or willing to serve, or who has since passed away.
Having a will is important. But having one and assuming your family is fully protected can create a false sense of security.
What a Will Can Do (And What It Cannot)
A will does several important things. It can direct how certain assets are distributed, nominate a guardian for your minor children, name the person you want to administer your estate, and document your wishes for your property.
But what a will cannot do is rarely explained when someone signs one.
A will does not avoid probate. Assets passing under a will generally go through probate, a court-supervised process that can take time and create additional expenses for your estate. Depending on the assets involved and how they are titled, your family may also face delays in gaining access to property or funds while the estate is being administered.
A will also does nothing to protect you if you become incapacitated rather than die. If an accident or medical event leaves you unable to make decisions for yourself, other legal documents, such as financial and medical powers of attorney, are needed to give someone the authority to act on your behalf.
And a will generally does not control assets that pass by beneficiary designation or other non-probate arrangements. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, payable-on-death accounts, and certain jointly owned property may pass outside your will entirely. If those designations are outdated, your will generally cannot override them.
A will is an important piece of estate planning. It simply isn’t the whole plan.
The Piece Most Parents Forget Entirely
If you’re a parent with minor children, the most urgent reason for a comprehensive plan may not be your assets at all.
It’s your kids.
Most parents who create a will understand the importance of naming a long-term guardian. But fewer think about what could happen immediately after an emergency, before a long-term guardian can step in.
Who is authorized to pick your children up from school or daycare? Who can make sure they are cared for by someone you know and trust? Who knows whom to call, where the important documents are, and what you wanted to happen?
In my planning sessions, I ask parents to think not only about who should raise their children long term, but also about who could step in immediately if something happened. For many families, these are questions they have never considered.
And choosing a guardian is only the beginning.
Does your chosen guardian know how you want your children raised?
Have you talked about your values surrounding education, technology, money, faith, family relationships, and other issues that matter deeply to you?
Would your guardian have the financial resources needed to care for your children without creating an unnecessary burden?
What happens if your first choice later becomes unable or unwilling to serve?
This is where the Kids Protection Plan® comes in. It’s designed to address not only long-term guardianship but also the practical details surrounding an emergency. It helps ensure that the people you choose know what to do, and that your wishes for your children are clearly documented.
A will can nominate a guardian. A comprehensive plan prepares the people you trust to step in when your children need them most.
What Estate Planning Looks Like When It Actually Works
Make-A-Will Month is a good prompt. But the goal isn’t a signed document sitting in a drawer.
The goal is a plan that works when your family actually needs it.
Through the Life & Legacy Planning® process, I work with families to create a coordinated plan designed around their lives. That may include strategies to avoid probate where appropriate, immediate protections for minor children through a Kids Protection Plan®, and the right people serving in the right legal roles. It also means coordinating with financial advisors, accountants, and other professionals so every piece of the plan works together.
Just as importantly, the plan isn’t meant to disappear into a drawer for the next 20 years. Life changes. Children grow up. Relationships change. Assets change. Laws change. The plan needs to keep up.
Documents are tools. A will is a tool. A trust is a tool. Powers of attorney are tools.
The real value of estate planning comes from determining which tools your family actually needs, putting them together correctly, and keeping the plan current as your life evolves.
A Plan Built Around What You Actually Value
Many estate planning conversations begin with fear. What happens if I die? What happens to my children? What happens to everything I’ve worked for?
Those are important questions. But good planning doesn’t have to end there.
A Life & Legacy Plan is also an opportunity to think deliberately about what matters to you and what you want to leave behind.
Who do you trust with your children’s well-being, and have you told them why?
What do you want your children to understand about the way you approached money, responsibility, relationships, and family?
What does it mean to you to be a thoughtful steward of the relationships and wealth you’ve spent your life building?
These aren’t questions a form can answer. They’re conversations.
The right planning process creates space to have those conversations and then builds the legal documents around the answers. The result reflects not only what you own, but also who you are, what matters to you, and what you want the people you love to know.
Planning from that perspective doesn’t just make the process more meaningful. It can create a better, more useful plan because your family is left with more than paperwork. They are left with clarity about what you intended.
Why This Is Not a DIY Decision
I’ve taken calls from families who used an online form and thought they were done. The documents may have checked some of the right boxes, but important pieces of the overall plan were missing.
Maybe only one guardian was named, with no backup. Maybe there was no incapacity planning. Maybe beneficiary designations hadn’t been reviewed in years. Maybe the documents were never properly coordinated with the family’s assets.
Online platforms have made it easier than ever to generate legal documents. What they cannot do is understand the nuances of your family.
A form doesn’t know that your child has special needs and may require careful planning to preserve eligibility for certain benefits. It doesn’t know that the beneficiary designation on an old life insurance policy still names someone you would no longer choose. It doesn’t know that the person you named as guardian years ago is no longer the person you would trust to raise your children today.
Those are the details that turn a collection of documents into an actual estate plan.
As a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm, we ask those questions and build the plan around the answers. And the relationship doesn’t end when the documents are signed. As your life changes, your plan can change with it. When something happens, your family knows who to call.
What You Can Do Right Now
August is Make-A-Will Month. Use it as the reminder you may have been waiting for.
Create a will if you don’t have one. Review the one you already have if it’s been sitting in a drawer for years. But don’t stop there.
Estate planning isn’t ultimately about creating documents. It’s about making sure the people you love aren’t left trying to figure out what you would have wanted during one of the hardest moments of their lives.
Our firm helps families build Life & Legacy Plans designed to create real, lasting protection for the people they love most. We take the time to understand your family, your assets, your concerns, and your values, then design a plan that works when it matters.
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call, and let’s find out where your family stands: https://mistelilaw.setmore.com
For more on Texas estate planning, and to learn about estate planning lawyer Tom Misteli and The Misteli Law Firm, visit www.mistelilaw.com.
