Working Paper: NBER ID: w21692
Authors: Marco Francesconi; Robert A. Pollak; Domenico Tabasso
Abstract: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we make two contributions to the literature on end-of-life transfers. First, we show that unequal bequests are much more prevalent than generally recognized, with more than one-third of parents with wills planning to divide their estates unequally among their children. Plans for unequal division are particularly concentrated in complex families, i.e., families with stepchildren and families with genetic children with whom parents have limited or no contact. Second, we find that many older Americans have no wills. Although the probability of having a will increases with age, 30 percent of individuals aged 70 plus are without a will and, of the people who died between 1995 and 2012, nearly 40 percent died intestate.
Keywords: Bequests; Family Complexity; End-of-Life Transfers
JEL Codes: D13; J12; K36
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| having stepchildren (J12) | likelihood of having a will (D14) |
| lack of contact with genetic children (J12) | likelihood of having a will (D14) |
| having stepchildren (J12) | intention to leave unequal bequests (D64) |
| lack of contact with genetic children (J12) | intention to leave unequal bequests (D64) |
| parental contact with genetic children (J12) | intention to leave equal bequests (D64) |
| complex family structure (J12) | likelihood of unequal bequests (D14) |
| not having a will (D14) | gap in end-of-life planning literature (D14) |