How Gender and Other Identity Factors Influence Attitudes Toward Will Making: Lessons from Australia

This essay aims to stimulate interest in further empirical study of attitudes toward will making by reporting the results of a 2022 survey conducted in Australia of the general population (n=1202) and legal professionals (n=112). We asked participants for their views about the ideal age at which to begin the will-making process and the relative contributions of the client and attorney to any resulting will. There was a discernible gender-based difference in views on both questions. Women preferred to initiate those conversations approximately six years earlier than men did and, especially at earlier life stages, preferred less professional input into the will making process than men did. Income and education levels appear to have no impact on individuals’ responses to these questions. The sample population was sufficiently homogeneous that it is not possible to draw conclusions about how religious background or political views may impact preferences about when the first will-making conversation should occur or the desired relative contribution of the legal professional to the ultimate will.