Talking about what happens after you’re gone is never easy. It means picturing a version of your life that hasn’t happened yet, one where someone else is raising your kids, dividing up your belongings, or making decisions you always assumed you’d make yourself. That discomfort is exactly why so many people who fully intend to write a will still haven’t gotten around to it.
This is where Make a Will Month comes in. It’s a reminder, observed every August, that this is worth finally getting to.
What Is Make a Will Month?
Make a Will Month isn’t a government holiday, and there’s no legal deadline attached to it. Nothing actually changes if the month passes and you still don’t have a will in place. It’s an awareness effort supported by attorneys, financial planners, and consumer advocacy groups, and it exists because of a finding that shows up year after year: most adults know they should have a will, and most still don’t have one.
That gap usually isn’t about procrastination in the ordinary sense. It’s that estate planning keeps getting placed behind whatever feels more urgent that week, and then it happens again the next week, and the week after that. National Make a Will Month 2026 exists to interrupt that pattern, even if just for a moment, and put a direct question back in front of people: if something happened tomorrow, is this actually taken care of?
Why Is Make a Will Month in August?
There’s no official record explaining why August was chosen specifically, but the timing does make sense once you look at where it falls on the calendar. School hasn’t started yet. The fall rush of deadlines and year-end financial planning hasn’t arrived. It tends to be one of the quieter stretches of the year, which makes it a more realistic time to deal with something that usually loses out to whatever feels louder on a given day.
Travel plays a role too. August tends to be a heavy month for it, whether that means a flight to see family or a weekend trip upstate, and travel has a way of making these questions feel less abstract. A delayed flight or a long drive can be enough to make someone think, briefly and uncomfortably, about what would actually happen to their family if something went wrong. August Make a Will Month is really aimed at that window, before it closes back up and the thought gets filed away again.
Best Ways to Be Prepared
No one is expected to walk into an attorney’s office with everything figured out. Estate planning involves a lot of moving pieces, and it’s completely normal to have questions along the way. A little preparation beforehand just makes the process go more smoothly.
- Take stock of what you actually have. This includes the obvious things, like your home or co-op, retirement accounts, and any life insurance. It also includes items that are easy to overlook and still count toward an estate, like a car that’s still being paid off or a storage unit you haven’t opened in years. You don’t need exact figures yet, just a reasonably clear picture of what you own.
- Think about who should serve as executor. This person is responsible for the practical work that follows: paying off debts, filing paperwork, and making sure everything ends up where you intended. It’s usually a spouse, an adult child, a sibling, or someone else you trust completely, and it’s worth naming a backup in case your first choice isn’t able to step in.
- Decide who would raise your children, if you have them. This tends to be the part people put off the longest, and it’s often the part that matters most. Naming a guardian yourself is the only way to keep that decision in your own hands, rather than leaving it to a court with no real context about your family.
- Be specific about who receives what. Beyond the larger divisions of an estate, think through anything that carries real meaning, a family ring, a particular property, something with history behind it. Vague instructions tend to create exactly the kind of disputes a will is supposed to prevent.
- Check the beneficiary forms on your existing accounts. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death bank accounts pass based on whatever form is currently on file, not on what your will says. If that form hasn’t been updated since a divorce or remarriage, it’s worth a second look.
- Consider a healthcare proxy and power of attorney alongside your will. These are separate documents, but most people put them in place at the same time, since together they cover who can make decisions on your behalf if you’re ever unable to make them yourself.
We Help You Create a Will in New York
New York has specific requirements for how a will has to be signed and witnessed, and a will that falls short of those requirements can be challenged or invalidated entirely. That means all the planning behind it accomplishes nothing at the exact moment your family needs it to hold up.
Understanding New York’s rules around wills can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to sort through it alone. The team at NY Wills & Estates is here to help guide you through creating a will in New York with patience, honesty, and experience, whether you’re starting from scratch or updating a will that’s overdue for it.