You should make a will as soon as you turn 18 and own anything of value or have anyone who depends on you, and you should revisit it every time your life changes in a way that would change who inherits, who raises your children, or who manages your affairs. The question of when to make a will has two answers that work together: a floor set by age and capacity, and a series of life events that make the document urgent rather than optional.
The floor is simple. Every state requires you to be at least 18 and mentally competent, following the model of the Uniform Probate Code. A few states lower the age for people who are married, legally emancipated, or serving in the military, but 18 is the standard. Mental competence, called testamentary capacity, means you understand what you own, who would normally expect to inherit from you, and how your will distributes your property. That’s a lower bar than most people think. The practical trigger isn’t age alone, though. It’s the first time your life contains something or someone a court would otherwise have to sort out without you.
Why Waiting Is Costly
If you die without a will, the legal term is intestate, and every state has a rigid formula for distributing what you leave behind. A surviving spouse doesn’t automatically inherit everything. In many states, if you had children from a prior relationship, your spouse receives only the first $150,000 plus half the remaining estate. If you have surviving parents but no children, your parents may be entitled to a share you assumed would go entirely to your spouse. Parents, siblings, and more distant relatives enter the picture when there’s no spouse or children.
The money is only part of it. Without a will, a court appoints an administrator who may not be anyone you’d have chosen. If you have minor children, a judge selects their guardian. Contested appointments and family disputes can drag probate out for months or years. These are the outcomes a will exists to prevent, and they’re the reason the right time to make one is before you think you need it.
Life Events That Should Trigger a Will
Getting Married
Marriage changes your legal and financial identity in ways that make a will immediately important. Intestacy formulas don’t always deliver what couples assume they will, especially when parents or children from prior relationships are in the picture. A will lets you override the defaults and specify what your spouse actually receives.
Having or Adopting Children
Naming a guardian for minor children is the single most important reason young parents need a will. It is the only reliable way to tell a court who should raise your kids if both parents die. Without that nomination, a judge decides based on whatever information is available, and the result might be a relative you’d never choose or a custody fight that leaves your children in limbo. Judges give strong weight to a parent’s documented preference, even though the nomination isn’t absolutely binding.
A will also lets you set financial protections for children. You can name a trustee to manage inherited assets until a child reaches an age you specify, rather than handing the full inheritance to an 18-year-old.
Divorce
Most states automatically revoke bequests to a former spouse once a divorce is finalized, but that safety net has gaps. The revocation may not reach bequests to your ex-spouse’s relatives, provisions in documents the statute doesn’t cover, or nominations of your ex as executor or guardian. The safest move is to rewrite your will as soon as the divorce is final rather than relying on statutory defaults to clean up after you.
Blended Families
Stepchildren have no automatic inheritance rights in most states. If you die without a will, stepchildren receive nothing unless you’ve legally adopted them, which catches a surprising number of families off guard after years of functioning as a single household. If you want stepchildren to inherit, name them explicitly in your will and specify what they receive. Vague language or an assumption that your spouse will “take care of it” creates exactly the kind of ambiguity that leads to litigation.
Moving to a New State
A will that was valid where you signed it is generally recognized in your new state under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, but recognized doesn’t mean problem-free. Your new state may have different rules about spousal inheritance, witness requirements, or how property transfers. After a move, have a local attorney review your existing will and confirm it works under your new state’s rules, or draft a new one.
Financial Milestones That Create Urgency
Buying a Home
A home is typically the largest asset most people own, and how it’s titled determines whether it passes through your will at all. Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship transfers automatically to the surviving co-owner outside of probate. Property held in your name alone goes through probate, and without a will, intestacy rules decide who gets it. Even jointly held property eventually needs a plan, because when the last surviving owner dies, that property must go through probate unless another mechanism, like a living trust, is in place.
Starting or Owning a Business
Business interests create problems that most other assets don’t. If you die without a will, your ownership share gets distributed by intestacy law, which could hand pieces of your company to multiple relatives who have no interest in running it and no obligation to cooperate with each other. The result is often a forced sale at a steep discount. A will can direct your business interest to a specific person and, paired with a buy-sell agreement, keep the company operational.
Accumulating Digital Assets
Cryptocurrency holdings, online accounts with monetary value, and social media profiles with significant followings are estate assets that need planning. Nearly every state has adopted some version of a law governing fiduciary access to digital assets, but these laws generally require that your executor have explicit authorization. Your will can grant that authority and name a specific person to manage your digital property.
Don’t put passwords or private keys in the will itself. Wills become public record during probate. Store access credentials in a separate secure document and tell your executor where to find it.
Health Changes and the Capacity Window
A diagnosis of dementia, Alzheimer’s, or another progressive neurological condition creates a shrinking window. People in early stages often retain full legal capacity to sign a will, but that capacity erodes as the disease advances. Once a court would find you unable to understand the nature of your property and the effect of signing, the window closes permanently. Waiting too long after a diagnosis also invites will contests from family members who argue you were already too impaired when you signed.
Serious illness or upcoming surgery prompts many people to finalize a will, and the timing makes sense, but the document is stronger if it’s created during a period of relative health and stability. A will signed the day before major surgery, while technically valid if you have capacity, is easier for challengers to attack than one signed six months earlier during routine planning.
Pair the Will With a Power of Attorney
A will does nothing while you’re alive. If you become incapacitated but don’t die, your will sits dormant and no one has legal authority to manage your finances or make medical decisions on your behalf. A durable power of attorney handles that. It names someone to act for you during your lifetime if you can’t act for yourself, and the authority terminates the moment you die, at which point the will takes over. The two documents work as a pair, and creating one without the other leaves a gap.
What a Will Doesn’t Cover
Not everything you own passes through a will. Life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts, pensions, annuities, and property held in a living trust all transfer directly to named beneficiaries regardless of what your will says. Payable-on-death bank accounts and transfer-on-death brokerage accounts work the same way. If your beneficiary designations are outdated, your will can’t override them. Review those designations whenever you update your will, because an old beneficiary form naming an ex-spouse will usually win over a newer will that says otherwise.
How Often to Revisit It
Even a well-drafted will goes stale. The general recommendation is to review your estate plan every five years, even if nothing dramatic has changed. Tax laws shift, relationships evolve, and the executor you named a decade ago may no longer be the right choice. Any major life event — marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a significant inheritance, a new business, a serious diagnosis, or a move to a different state — should prompt an immediate review.
Updating a will doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. Minor changes can be made through a codicil, a formal amendment signed and witnessed with the same formalities as the original. For larger changes, drafting an entirely new will that explicitly revokes the old one is cleaner than tracking multiple documents. Destroy old copies once the new version is finalized, and make sure your executor knows where to find the current one.