# Will Aid shares survey results on will-making

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/10/10/will-aid-shares-survey-results-willmaking/
- Published: 2008-10-10T15:44:17+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/Willaid_2008_1223653415.jpg)

Will Aid, the charity will-making scheme, has published the results of its 2008 
survey into wills and will-making.

Alarmingly it has found that 60% of adults have not written their Will. Of these,
50% say they simply haven’t got around to it, with 26% believing they are too young
and almost 23% thinking they have no possessions or money to leave.

Ironically, 17% of these people have themselves experienced problems with an inheritance.

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The research was carried out by Lightspeed Research during March 2008 with a nationally
representative sample of 2,000 adults in England, Wales and Scotland.

It found that the most effective prompt for writing a Will is the death of a loved
one (27.7%), followed by the birth of children or grandchildren (23.5%) and pressure
from a partner (21.2%).

The message about the importance of leaving a legacy to charity still has some way
to go, according to the research. Only 4.5% of respondents had promised a legacy
to charity in their Will with a further 10.2% “intending” to do so.

Those under 24 years old were the most likely to intend to leave a legacy to charity(
18.20%) but the 25-34 year olds are the most likely never to have thought of it.
Encouragingly, the over-55s are very aware of legacies, with only 16.5% saying that
they have never thought of it.

Over 7% of people from the East have already left a legacy and over 13% in the South
intend to do so. Respondents from Scotland are most likely to believe that their
loved ones should receive all their assets.

Will Aid is a partnership between solicitors and nine leading UK charities – ActionAid,
British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Help the Aged, NSPCC, Save the Children UK, Sight
Savers International, SCIAF and Trocaire.

It’s annual Will Making Month begins next month.

www.willaid.org.uk/press/research-77

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