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Can Incentives Increase the Writing of Wills? An Experiment

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  • Jean-Pierre Aubry
  • Alicia H. Munnell
  • Gal Wettstein
Abstract
Writing a will can improve the transmission of wealth across generations, by preventing the dissipation of assets such as a family home when divided among multiple heirs, as well as, potentially, by focusing the mind of donors on their legacy and promoting savings. However, many individuals do not have a will, a particularly common situation among Black and lower socioeconomic status individuals. This paper reports on a randomized control trial testing whether the occasion of getting a mortgage might be an opportune time to encourage individuals to write a will. The findings are that the mortgage setting is already overwhelming for many individuals and is not a good time for additional bureaucratic burdens. This is particularly true for Black and less financially-sophisticated individuals. Furthermore, offering modest monetary incentives to write a will is suggestively effective, but mostly for those individuals who have little need of a will and are most sophisticated in their thinking about it. Thus, the findings suggest that the setting of when to approach individuals about writing a will is extremely important and that such overtures are most likely to succeed in contexts where individuals are not overly preoccupied with more immediate concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Pierre Aubry & Alicia H. Munnell & Gal Wettstein, 2023. "Can Incentives Increase the Writing of Wills? An Experiment," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2023-27, Center for Retirement Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2023-27
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