6 Reasons You're Putting Off Writing A Will And How To Overcome Them

When Ellen and Carl Otterness' daughters were young, the couple wrote wills. Their primary goal was to name a guardian for their children if something happened to both of them. Then they didn't think about it … for decades. Their now-adult daughters are both over 40, with husbands and kids of their own.

Why didn't they update their will? It simply wasn't on their radar. "A will never goes out of date," says Ellen, 71, who lives in Downers Grove, Ill. "But we went to a seminar about wills and trusts about seven years ago, and they were talking about the advantages of putting your property in a trust, and that sold me."

In addition to putting their home into a living trust, they wrote new wills with a provision that if one of their daughters predeceases them, her portion will go to that daughter's surviving children (Ellen and Carl's grandchildren).

"Our life is not complicated, but it could get complicated at some point," explains Ellen. "It was a practical decision and we wanted to do whatever we could to make it easy on our kids when that happens. And more so, I wanted to make sure that the grandchildren were protected and included in it."