Lifestyle

6 Things Estate Attorneys Say You Should Never Put in a Will

By Erica Coleman · July 12, 2026

Only 24% of Americans had a will in 2025, down from 33% just three years earlier, according to Caring.com’s most recent estate planning survey. For the people who do have one, a surprising number make the same handful of mistakes — mistakes that can cost their families money, time, and unnecessary court battles.

Estate attorneys see the same errors repeatedly. Here’s what they say to leave out.

Retirement accounts and life insurance policies. These pass to whoever is named as beneficiary on the account itself — not whoever is named in your will. If the two documents conflict, the beneficiary designation wins, every time. Attorneys say outdated beneficiary forms are a common source of family disputes, especially after a divorce or remarriage, when someone updates their will but forgets the paperwork sitting with their 401(k) provider or insurance company.

Sensitive personal information. “I regularly explain to clients that Social Security numbers, financial account information and passwords to accounts should never be provided within the will itself,” Ashley N. Higginbotham, a supervising attorney at Deming Parker, told Kiplinger. The reason is straightforward: once you die, your will is filed with the probate court and becomes a public record. Anyone can view it, including people who have no business having your account numbers or passwords.

Funeral instructions. It seems logical to put your final wishes in your will — until you consider the timing. Wills are often not located or read until days or weeks after someone dies, well after funeral arrangements have already been made. Attorneys recommend a separate letter of instruction instead, shared directly with family members while you’re still alive to discuss it.

Firearms, left without a plan. Guns are heavily regulated at both the state and federal level, and attorneys increasingly recommend a separate gun trust — sometimes called an NFA trust — to transfer them legally. Leaving a firearm to someone through a will alone risks putting a weapon in the hands of someone who isn’t legally authorized to receive it.

Large fixed-dollar gifts. If your will promises a specific dollar amount to one person and “the rest” to everyone else, you’re betting on your estate staying a certain size. “If your estate ends up being smaller than expected… your children likely won’t receive anything,” estate attorney Andrew Rosenberg told Kiplinger, describing cases where a fixed bequest ate up an entire shrunken estate before other beneficiaries saw a dime. Attorneys generally recommend leaving percentages or shares instead of flat dollar amounts, so the plan adjusts if the estate’s value changes.

Property already covered by joint ownership or a trust. Assets held in joint tenancy, or property already placed in a trust, transfer automatically outside of probate. Listing them again in your will doesn’t just create redundant paperwork — it can create genuine confusion about which document actually controls that asset, and open the door to disputes among people who assumed the will had the final word.

None of this means a will isn’t necessary — it remains the document that names a guardian for minor children and directs how the rest of your estate is handled. But a will is one piece of a larger plan, not the whole plan. Beneficiary forms, trusts, and separate letters of instruction all carry legal weight of their own, and getting the right information into the right document is what actually protects a family from the confusion an estate plan is supposed to prevent.