Wills, Public Policy, and Financial Well-Being Among Surviving Spouses

Abstract The loss of a spouse is widely recognized as a large financial shock to many households. In this paper, we use harmonized, cross-national survey data from the Health and Retirement Study, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to study will use, inheritance policies, and retained wealth among surviving spouses. We document significant cross-national variation in will use and default spousal inheritance regimes in the absence of a will. Many people die intestate in all study countries, even when they had anticipated leaving a bequest. The vast majority of decedents preparing wills include their spouses, and on average these spouses retain more wealth than spouses of intestate decedents.