Are bequests preceded by a will? Evidence from Europe, US, and Australia

How can accidental bequests be distinguished from planned bequests is a crucial question when accounting for bequest behavior. It is not easy to answer this question, because there is no direct indication of willingness to bequeath that must precede the execution of bequests. The aim of this article is to assess how often bequeathing is planned using Polish, European, US, and Australian data. Four areas of analysis are used in this study, three of which use writing down a will as an explicit indication that bequests had been planned in advance. The proportion of individuals planning to bequeath must be at least as large as the proportion of individuals writing down a will. Finally, in the fourth exercise subjective probabilities to bequeath are used. The main finding of the empirical analysis is that at least a non-negligible part of bequests are left intentionally. It implies that further research on why people exactly plan to bequeath is needed.