The Californer - 62% of Gen X have no estate planning documents — Trust & Will research identifies "the Sandwich Gap"

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New 2026 data finds Americans most responsible for parents and children are the least protected themselves

SAN DIEGO - Californer -- Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report identifies a significant inversion in U.S. estate planning preparedness: the generation carrying the most financial responsibility for others — Gen X — is the least protected. The study, conducted by Talker Research among 5,000 U.S. adults, names this pattern the Sandwich Gap.

Among Gen X adults, 62% have no estate planning documents — a higher unprotected rate than Millennials (58%), Gen Z (54%), or Baby Boomers (48%). 56% of all U.S. adults have no estate planning documents, while 73% rate estate planning as important — a 29-point gap between intention and action that Trust & Will has tracked across consecutive years.

KEY FINDINGS

62% of Gen X have no estate planning documents — the highest unprotected rate of any American generation in 2026.
Only 24% of Gen X hold a will, 10% hold a trust — compared with 37% will ownership among Baby Boomers and 18–21% trust ownership among Millennials and Gen Z.
56% of all U.S. adults have no estate planning documents — while 73% say estate planning is important to them.
68% of adults in serious or engaged relationships have no estate planning documents — a higher unprotected rate than divorced, separated, or widowed Americans (55%).
42% of Americans wouldn't know what to do if a family member died today — rising to 56% among those with no estate planning documents at all.
27% of those without a plan cite "not enough assets" as the main reason — followed by procrastination (23%), not knowing where to start (17%), cost (15%), and complexity (12%).

COMMENTARY

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Cody Barbo, Co-founder and CEO of Trust & Will, said:
"What the 2026 data keeps coming back to is readiness; not whether people care, because most do, but whether they've done anything about it. The Sandwich Gap is the sharpest version of that problem. Gen X is running the most complicated financial households in America right now, and the majority of them have nothing in writing. No will, no trust, no named guardian. When something goes wrong for that family, the absence of a plan doesn't just create legal complexity. It leaves the people they love without clear direction at the worst possible moment. That's the gap we're focused on closing."

FURTHER READING

Primary source — Trust & Will: The Sandwich Gap
Full report — Trust & Will 2026 Estate Planning Report
Independent analysis — Talker Research
Survey methodology — Talker Research methodology

ABOUT TRUST & WILL

Trust & Will is the leading digital estate planning platform in North America, simplifying the process of creating, managing, and storing wills, trusts, guardianship, and probate plans. Trust & Will has helped more than one million families plan their estates and is committed to making estate planning accessible to every American. For more information, visit trustandwill.com.

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ABOUT TALKER RESEARCH

Talker Research is a U.S.-based market research and content firm specializing in commissioned consumer studies for media, brand, and corporate audiences. The Talker Research research team are members of Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR). Talker Research is also part of AAPOR's Transparency Initiative, which is designed to promote methodological disclosure.

Findings from this study are available at talkerresearch.com.
Independent analysis: talkerresearch.com/the-sandwich-gap/