Here’s a stat that should make you uncomfortable: only 24% of Americans even have a will. And a good chunk of the people who do have one? They’ve stuffed it full of things that don’t belong there. Things that will slow down probate, confuse your family, or flat-out get ignored by a judge.
I get it. You sat down, maybe with a $30 kit from Walmart or a legal website, and you tried to be thorough. You wanted to cover everything. But a will isn’t a catch-all document. It’s a specific legal tool with specific limitations. Put the wrong stuff in there and you’re not protecting your family — you’re handing them a mess.
Here’s what needs to stay out.
Your Passwords, PINs, and Bank Account Numbers
This one surprises people. You’d think your will is the perfect place to leave your login credentials, crypto keys, and bank account info so your family can access everything. But here’s the problem: when you die, your will gets filed with a court. It becomes a public record. Anyone can look it up. Anyone.
That means your Social Security number, your Chase login, your Coinbase password — all of it is sitting in a courthouse file that strangers can access. Identity theft doesn’t stop when you die. Some thieves actually target deceased people to collect Social Security benefits or open credit lines in their name.
Instead, put all of that information in a separate, private document. A simple typed sheet in a sealed envelope works fine. Tell one or two people you trust where to find it. You can even state in your will that a “personal property memorandum” exists without listing the details inside the will itself. A small fireproof safe from Home Depot (around $35-$50) is a solid place to keep it.
Life Insurance Policies and Retirement Accounts
Your 401(k), IRA, pension, and life insurance policy all have something in common: they already have named beneficiaries. When you die, those assets go directly to whoever you designated — they skip probate entirely. That’s actually a good thing. It’s faster and cleaner.
But if you also mention those same assets in your will and name a different person? You’ve just created a legal headache. The beneficiary designation on the account almost always wins, but now your family is confused, maybe angry, and possibly hiring lawyers to sort it out.
The real move here is to check your beneficiary designations every three to five years. Update them after every marriage, divorce, birth, or death in your family. That five-minute phone call to Fidelity or your insurance company matters more than anything you write in your will about these accounts.
Funeral Instructions
You want to be cremated. Or you want a specific song played. Or you absolutely do not want Uncle Larry giving a eulogy. Fine. But your will is the wrong place for any of that.
Why? Because wills typically aren’t read until days or weeks after someone passes. Probate takes time. Your family will have already planned the service, picked the casket, and booked the church before anyone cracks open that document.
Write a separate letter of instruction. Keep it with your important papers. Better yet, have a direct conversation with your spouse, kids, or whoever would be making those decisions. Tell them what you want. Hand them a written copy. It’s awkward, sure. But it’s the only way to make sure your wishes are actually followed.
Property You Own Jointly
If you and your spouse bought a house together as joint tenants — which is how most married couples hold title — that house automatically passes to the surviving owner when one of you dies. No probate needed. Same goes for joint bank accounts.
Putting jointly owned property in your will doesn’t override that automatic transfer. What it does is create confusion. If your will says “I leave the house to my daughter” but the title says joint tenancy with your wife, the title wins. Now your daughter is upset, your wife is stressed, and someone might be calling a lawyer.
If you’re not sure how your property is titled, check the deed. Your county recorder’s office has it on file, and many counties let you look it up online for free. Know what you actually own versus what you co-own before you start making promises in a will.
Gifts With Strings Attached
“My son gets the truck, but only if he stays married to his current wife.” “My daughter gets the house, but only if she never sells it.” “My nephew gets $50,000, but only if he finishes college.”
These kinds of conditional gifts feel like common sense when you’re writing them. But they’re a nightmare in practice. Many conditions — especially ones that restrict marriage, religion, or other personal choices — are unenforceable or outright illegal depending on your state. And even the ones that might technically be legal make the estate incredibly hard to settle. Who decides if the condition was met? What if it’s disputed?
If you genuinely want to control how and when someone receives their inheritance, you need a trust, not a will. A trust lets you appoint a trustee who manages the money and releases it according to your rules. That’s how you say “my kid gets access at age 25” and actually have it stick.
Anything Involving a Special Needs Beneficiary
This is one of the most expensive mistakes families make. If you have a child, sibling, or other loved one who receives government benefits like Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), leaving them money directly in your will can disqualify them from those programs. Those benefits are means-tested, meaning the person can’t have more than a certain amount of assets.
So you leave your disabled son $100,000 thinking you’re helping him, and instead he loses his healthcare coverage and monthly income until that money is spent down. That’s not what anyone wants.
The right tool here is a supplemental needs trust (also called a special needs trust). It holds the money separately, a trustee manages it, and it supplements — not replaces — government benefits. The beneficiary still gets Medicaid. They still get SSI. And they also have extra money for things those programs don’t cover. Talk to an estate planning attorney about this one. It’s too important to DIY.
Money for Your Pets
Look, I love my dog too. But in the eyes of the law, animals are property. They can’t own things. They can’t inherit money. If you write “I leave $10,000 to my cat Mr. Whiskers” in your will, that money goes to your residuary beneficiary — whoever gets the leftovers — and your cat gets nothing. Well, your cat doesn’t understand money anyway, but you know what I mean.
What you can do is leave money to a trusted person along with instructions to care for your pet. Or, in many states, you can set up a pet trust. It sounds fancy, but it’s just a legal arrangement where someone is responsible for using designated funds to take care of your animal. Some estate planning services can set this up for a few hundred bucks.
Business Interests
If you own a small business — even a side hustle with an LLC — think twice before tossing it into your will. The probate process takes an average of 9 to 15 months. During that time, your business is in limbo. Decisions can’t easily be made. Partners are stuck. Employees are in the dark.
A running business needs a succession plan that kicks in immediately — not one that waits for a judge. If you have partners, you probably need a buy-sell agreement. If it’s just you, talk to an attorney about transferring ownership through a trust or operating agreement so the transition happens fast and clean.
Firearms
Guns are heavily regulated. Federal and state laws dictate who can own them, with restrictions based on age, criminal history, mental health records, and more. If you leave a firearm to someone in your will who isn’t legally allowed to possess it, you’ve created a legal problem for your estate and potentially a criminal one for the recipient.
Estate attorneys increasingly recommend a gun trust (sometimes called an NFA trust) for transferring firearms. It keeps the process legal, avoids probate, and makes sure the person receiving the weapon is actually authorized to own it.
Angry Messages to People You’re Cutting Out
You can absolutely disinherit someone. That’s your right. But using your will as a place to air grievances? Bad idea. Writing something like “I leave nothing to my son because he married that awful woman” does two things: it hurts people after you’re gone, and it gives that person ammunition to contest your will in court.
If you’re leaving someone out, keep it simple and unemotional. Something like “For reasons known to me, I make no provision for [name]” is enough. It makes clear the omission was intentional, which is the important part. Save the drama for Thanksgiving — at least there it stays off the public record.
The biggest takeaway here? A will is one piece of your estate plan, not the whole thing. Trusts, beneficiary designations, separate instruction letters, and direct conversations with your family all play a role. Get the right stuff in the right document, and you’ll save your family time, money, and a whole lot of headaches.
