Your client has a Will. Would their family know what to do? Questions to ask your clients
Quick Answer: What should advisors ask after a client has a Will?
Ask your client: “Does your family know where your Will is, who to call for help, and why you made the decisions you did?” If they’re unsure, you’ll know that they need help to capture what’s missing. Then ask whether they’d like to introduce you to the family member or executor who will be handling their affairs.
You may have advised a client for twenty years without ever meeting the person who will one day call about their estate.
Picture your client’s daughter at the kitchen table. Her father died last month. Her brother has found a copy of the Will. There’s a folder of statements beside it. She’s gathered sticky notes from valuables around the house, each with someone’s name on it. Some notes are years old. None explains the choice.
“Who did Dad speak to about all this?”
She knows he had an advisor. She might even remember your first name. But she has never met you, and she isn’t sure which questions you can help her answer.
Your client may have a perfectly good Will. Their daughter still needs to know where the current documents are, which accounts exist and who to call. She may also be trying to remember what her father said about the cottage. Did he hope the family would keep it? Had he explained that to anyone?
Those are difficult questions to piece together when the person who knows the answers is gone.
A reason to ask this October
National Estate Planning Awareness Week in the U.S. runs from Oct 19, 2026 to Oct 25, 2026. It’s a useful opening for a conversation with clients on either side of the border: “If your family needed to step in, would they know where to start?”
At your next client meeting, try making it concrete: “Think about the person who would get that first call. What would they have to go looking for?”
Then wait. “My daughter knows” is a place to begin, not an answer. Does she know which drawer? Has she seen the record? Does she have your number?
If there’s a gap, work on that one thing together. Record where the documents are kept. Put a name and number beside the account. Capture the client’s explanation of a decision the family might otherwise misunderstand.
This is what the Trusty Estate Binder is for. Everything your client captures in the app — the accounts, the documents, the people, and the reasons behind their decisions — comes back as one printed record you hand them. Ask who needs to know it exists, and where it will live.
Then, with your client’s permission, offer an introduction: “Would it help if we invited your daughter to join us for a few minutes next time?”
She doesn’t need to hear every detail of her father’s finances. She can meet you, understand how you help and ask a question of her own. You can begin a relationship while her father is there to make the introduction.
For your practice, that introduction matters. The next generation gets to know you through something useful you did for their family, before they have to decide who to turn to.
Back at that kitchen table, she would have somewhere to start.
“I know who we can call.”
People Also Ask
When is National Estate Planning Awareness Week 2026? National Estate Planning Awareness Week runs from Oct 19, 2026 to Oct 25, 2026, the third full week of October. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted the designation in 2008.
How can financial advisors use Estate Planning Awareness Week? Use it to ask clients whether their family knows where to find documents, who to call and what decisions need explaining. Help address one gap and, with the client’s permission, arrange an introduction to the family member who may need your help.
What should a family know if a client has a Will? They should know where the current Will and other documents are kept, what accounts exist and who to contact. They should also know where to find the client’s wishes and explanations for decisions the documents may not describe.
Why do heirs change advisors after an inheritance? An inheritance can prompt heirs to reconsider who advises them, particularly if they have no relationship with their parent’s advisor. Wealth Professional reports that 18% of investors are likely to switch advisors when inheriting $500,000–$1 million, rising to 24% for inheritances of $1 million or more.
