Make-A-Will Month Is Here at Phoenix Law. But a Will Isn't a Plan.
October 01, 2026
A family once called me after losing their mother.
She had a will. It was properly signed and legally valid.
But it did not explain who had legal authority to care for the children during the first 72 hours. It did not address who could keep paying the mortgage while accounts were tied up in probate. And it did not explain how she actually wanted her children to be raised.
She had completed some estate planning.
She just had not completed enough.
October is Make-A-Will Month at Phoenix Law, and the need is real. Trust & Will’s 2026 Estate Planning Report, based on a nationally representative survey of 5,000 U.S. adults, found that only 26% of adults currently have a will, down from 31% the year before. It also found that 56% have no estate planning documents at all.
The reminder to make a will matters.
But a will and a complete estate plan are not the same thing, and many families do not learn that difference until it is too late to make changes.
Here is what your family really needs.
Why Will Ownership Is Falling, Not Rising
People delay estate planning for many of the same reasons year after year.
They believe they are too young.
They think they do not own enough to need a plan.
They find conversations about death uncomfortable.
Or they simply keep telling themselves they will take care of it later.
Make-A-Will Month exists because many people need that extra push to finally act.
And taking some action is better than doing nothing.
But there is another issue that matters just as much.
Many people who already have wills are relying on documents that are outdated, incomplete, or do not accomplish what they think they do.
A will created when your first child was born may no longer address a second child, divorce, remarriage, or the fact that the guardian you named has moved across the country.
A document sitting untouched in a drawer for fifteen years may name someone who has since died or someone you would no longer choose today.
The bottom line: having no will is a serious problem.
But having a will and assuming your family is completely protected can create problems too.
What a Will Can Do and What It Cannot
A will performs several important functions.
It can direct who receives certain assets.
It can name a guardian for minor children.
It can express your wishes about your belongings and estate.
But what a will cannot do is often not fully explained when the document is signed.
A will does not automatically avoid probate.
In many cases, assets passing through a will still go through probate, a public court process that can take months or even years and create additional costs for the estate.
During the process, access to certain assets may also be delayed.
A will also does not protect you if you become incapacitated rather than die.
If an accident, stroke, or other medical emergency leaves you unable to make decisions, your will does nothing because it only becomes relevant after death.
You generally need separate legal documents, such as a healthcare directive and financial power of attorney, to give trusted people authority to act for you.
A will also does not automatically control assets that have beneficiary designations.
Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and certain jointly owned assets may pass outside the will. If those beneficiary designations are outdated, the will may not be able to change the result.
The bottom line: a will is an important part of estate planning.
By itself, however, it may not provide the protection most families believe it does.
The Piece Most Parents Forget Entirely
For parents of minor children, the most urgent part of planning may not involve money at all.
It may involve the children themselves.
Here is something many parents never think about.
If both parents die or become unavailable, there can be a period before a court or formal legal proceeding determines long term guardianship.
During those first hours or days, who has legal authority to pick your children up from school?
Who can take them to a doctor?
Who can make sure they are staying somewhere safe and familiar?
A will may name a long term guardian.
But it may not fully address what happens during that first critical period.
During planning sessions, I ask parents whether they have thought about who has authority during those first few days, not just who should eventually become the permanent guardian.
Most have not.
And even after naming a guardian, there are still important questions.
Does that person understand how you want your children raised?
Have you talked about your values related to education, technology, money, faith, and family?
Will the guardian have enough financial support to care for the children without creating a serious burden?
What happens if your first choice later becomes unable or unwilling to serve?
This is where a Kids Protection Plan® becomes important.
It goes beyond simply naming a guardian. It is designed to help protect children immediately, reduce gaps between an emergency and formal legal proceedings, and provide clearer guidance to the people stepping into your role.
A will names a guardian.
A Kids Protection Plan helps prepare that person to actually step in.
The bottom line: the first 72 hours matter just as much as the long term plan.
Most families have not fully planned for either.
What Estate Planning Looks Like When It Actually Works
Make-A-Will Month is a useful reminder.
But the goal is not simply to create a signed document and put it in a drawer.
The goal is to create a plan that actually works when your family needs it.
Through the Life & Legacy Planning® process, I work with families to create a more complete plan.
That may include strategies designed to avoid probate where appropriate, protect children through a Kids Protection Plan, put the right people into the right legal roles, and coordinate planning with financial advisors and accountants so the different pieces work together.
The plan also needs to be reviewed as life changes.
Documents alone cannot accomplish all of that.
A relationship with a trusted advisor can.
A will is a tool.
A trust is a tool.
Powers of attorney are tools.
The real protection comes from using those tools thoughtfully within a plan built around your actual family and circumstances.
The bottom line: a Life & Legacy Plan is designed around your real life, not just the minimum paperwork required by law.
A Plan Built Around What You Actually Value
Many estate planning conversations begin with fear.
That is understandable.
People worry about death, incapacity, court proceedings, taxes, and what could happen to their children.
But families often feel the greatest peace when they move beyond fear and begin thinking clearly about what matters most to them.
A Life & Legacy Plan is not only a legal structure.
It is also an opportunity to make choices based on your values.
Who do you trust to care for your children?
Have you told that person why you chose them?
What do you want your children to understand about money, responsibility, relationships, and family?
What does being a thoughtful steward of everything you have built mean to you?
These are not questions an online form can answer for you.
They require conversation.
The right planning relationship gives you the space to think through those questions and create documents based on something real, not simply what you own, but what you believe and what you want to leave behind.
Planning from that perspective does not just make the process more meaningful.
It can create a plan your family can actually understand and use because it reflects your real intentions.
The bottom line: the strongest plans are not built only around fear.
They are built around your values.
Why This Is Not a DIY Decision
I have spoken with families who used online forms and believed everything was finished.
The will may have been technically valid.
But perhaps it named only one guardian with no backup.
Maybe it contained no incapacity planning.
Maybe beneficiary designations were still connected to old accounts or people who had died years before.
Online platforms have made it easier than ever to generate legal documents.
But a form cannot fully understand your family.
It cannot recognize every issue in your personal circumstances.
It cannot know whether a child has special needs that may require a specific trust structure.
It cannot automatically know that a beneficiary designation still names someone who died years ago.
And it cannot stay connected with your family after the documents are signed.
At Phoenix Law we ask deeper questions and help you create a plan based on the answers.
The relationship also does not end when you sign the documents.
When something happens, your family knows who to call.
The bottom line: a form may create paperwork.
At Phoenix Law we help you create a plan around the people you love.
What You Can Do Right Now
October is Make-A-Will Month at Phoenix Law.
Use it as your reason to finally take action.
But do not stop at a will.
As a Personal Family Lawyer Firm, I help families build a Life & Legacy Plan that goes beyond individual documents and creates meaningful protection for the people they love most.
I take the time to understand your family, your assets, your goals, and the situations your loved ones may face so the plan is designed to work when it actually matters.
To learn more about how we can assist you and your loved ones, schedule a FREE discovery intake call using our online form, or call 501-300-7526 (PLAN) to schedule your FREE discovery intake call.
This article is a service of Phoenix Law, your trusted Arkansas Life & Legacy Planning and Arkansas estate planning attorneys in Sherwood, Arkansas. We do more than draft documents. We help you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death for yourself and the people you love. That is why we offer a Life and Legacy Planning Session, during which you can become more financially organized than ever before and make the best possible choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life and Legacy Planning Session.
This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you need legal advice specific to your circumstances, that advice must be obtained separately from this educational material.
