The Peace of Mind Report: How Estate Planning Shapes Mental Health in America

Americans are anxious. About money, about the future, about everything we can’t quite control. We track our sleep, buy weighted blankets, and download mindfulness apps that tell us to breathe through the chaos. Yet for all our attempts to manage stress, a new national survey suggests peace of mind might be hiding somewhere far less expected—in a stack of legal documents.

Trust & Will’s Peace of Mind Report, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults evenly split between those with (planners) and without an estate plan (non-planners), found something remarkable: the simple act of planning for the future is strongly linked to better mental health today. People who’ve completed a will, trust, or healthcare directive report less anxiety, better sleep, greater optimism, and a stronger sense of control and preparedness.

What happens when you stop avoiding the future

It turns out that planning for death may be one of the best ways to feel more alive.

You can see the divide immediately in the numbers. Non-planners are nearly five times more likely to feel anxious every day (14% vs. 3%) and four times more likely to say stress keeps them from relaxing daily (13% vs. 3%). They’re also three times more likely to lose sleep nightly from worry (12% vs. 4%). Planners still feel stress—it’s not a magic cure—but their stress is occasional, not constant. They tend to live in the middle ground, where worry flickers instead of burns.

There’s a psychological logic to this. An estate plan doesn’t remove uncertainty, but it gives it boundaries. It answers the quiet “what ifs” that linger in the background of our thoughts: What happens if I get sick? Who makes decisions for me? Will my family know what to do? Once those questions have answers, the mental load lifts.

Order as the antidote  

The sense of calm that comes with organization is measurable. Eighty-two percent of planners say they feel at peace about how their affairs would be handled if something happened to them, compared to just half of non-planners. Nearly as many (76%) say they worry less because their plans are organized, versus 41% of those without a plan. And 84% of planners say their loved ones know their wishes—a kind of emotional insurance that money can’t buy.

Optimism rises alongside organization. Nearly eight in ten planners (78%) feel positive about the year ahead, compared to just over half of non-planners (54%). When asked if they feel confident to handle life’s curveballs, 80% of planners said yes, while only 57% of non-planners could say the same. The act of getting one’s affairs in order, it seems, doesn’t just protect the future—it changes how people move through the present.

Estate planning is also a physical expression of control. Seventy-two percent of planners have clear medical decision plans in place, versus just 34% of non-planners. Fifty-five percent feel prepared for unexpected life events (only 27% of non-planners can say that). And when it comes to basic organization, 78% of planners know exactly where their key documents are and how to access them, compared to fewer than half (49%) of non-planners.

That order creates confidence. Estate planning doesn’t just secure assets, it gives people structure and confidence. That mental lift is as important as any legal document.

Of course, awareness has its own cost. Interestingly, planners often report higher anxiety about specific estate-related issues than non-planners. Four in ten (43%) worry about burdening loved ones with paperwork or decisions, and 40% report high anxiety about family conflict over their estate—rates roughly twice as high as non-planners. Awareness, after all, cuts both ways. Once you’ve stared down the realities of illness, probate, or family tension, you can’t un-see them. But that kind of anxiety is productive; it’s the tension that drives preparation, not paralysis.

Non-planners, by contrast, may experience a quieter kind of dread—the kind that hides in the background until crisis hits. The data suggests they feel less anxious about specifics largely because they haven’t faced them yet. Estate planning doesn’t create new worries so much as convert hidden ones into action.

When planning becomes connection

That readiness also shows up in how people communicate. Estate planning doubles family dialogue: two-thirds of planners said they’d talked with loved ones multiple times over the past year about their wishes; more than a third of non-planners admitted they’d never had the conversation at all. Those talks—about medical choices, financial matters, end-of-life preferences—are uncomfortable, but they replace guesswork with understanding. They also make estate planning less about documents and more about connection.

As one planner put it in open-ended feedback, “It’s the first time I’ve felt like my family actually knows what to do if something happens to me.”

The financial side tells a subtler story. Nearly half of Americans—whether they’ve planned or not—say day-to-day expenses and long-term financial security cause them stress. In that sense, estate planning doesn’t erase money anxiety; it reframes it. Planners are slightly more likely to worry about legal costs or complexity (49% vs. 38%), probably because they understand what’s involved. But knowledge is a different kind of stress; it’s the kind you can plan around.

Conclusion: Peace of mind is the real legacy

All told, the Peace of Mind Report reveals that estate planning acts almost like a mental health intervention disguised as paperwork. It replaces abstract fears with tangible control, shifts anxiety from constant to occasional, and turns silence into conversation. 

For a country where stress has become background noise, that’s no small thing. Planning for the inevitable, it turns out, might be one of the most life-affirming things we can do.

Key Takeaways, Statistics, and Findings

Stress, Anxiety & Mental Health

• 14% of people without an estate plan feel anxious nearly every day, compared to just 3% of planners.

• 13% of non-planners say stress disrupts their ability to relax every day, while only 3% of planners say the same.

• 12% of non-planners lose sleep from worry every night, versus 4% of planners.

• 14% of non-planners feel overwhelmed by daily responsibilities nearly every day, compared to 4% of planners.

• Non-planners are between 3× and 5× more likely to experience daily, chronic stress and anxiety than planners.

Peace of Mind & Emotional Well-Being

• 82% of planners feel at peace knowing their affairs would be handled if something happened to them, compared to 50% of non-planners.

• 76% of planners say they worry less because their plans are organized, while only 41% of non-planners agree.

• 84% of planners say their loved ones know their wishes, compared to 59% of non-planners.

• Planners are roughly twice as likely to strongly agree that their affairs are in order and their loved ones are informed.

Optimism, Confidence & Outlook

• 78% of planners feel optimistic about their personal life in the year ahead, compared to 54% of non-planners.

• 80% of planners say they feel confident handling unexpected challenges, while only 57% of non-planners feel the same.

• Planners are 23–24 percentage points more likely to feel positive and resilient about the future than non-planners.

Preparedness, Control & Organization

• 72% of planners have clear medical decision plans in place, compared to just 34% of non-planners.

• 55% of planners feel prepared for unexpected life events, while only 27% of non-planners do.

• 78% of planners know exactly where their important legal and financial documents are, compared to 49% of non-planners.

• 82% of planners have securely stored their important documents, versus 48% of non-planners.

• 82% of planners say at least one trusted person knows how to access their documents if needed, compared to 55% of non-planners.

• Overall, planners are 28–38 percentage points more organized and prepared across all key measures.

Family Communication & Relationships

• Nearly 7 in 10 planners (66%) had multiple conversations (2+ times) with their loved ones compared to just 30% of non-planners.

• 21% of planners had 4-5 conversations about their wishes last year, compared to just 7% of non-planners.

• 37% of non-planners say they have never talked with their loved ones about their estate plans, compared to just 14% of planners.

• Estate planning roughly doubles the likelihood of open, ongoing family dialogue about the future.

Estate-Specific Awareness & Anxiety

• 40% of planners worry about potential family conflict over their estate, versus 21% of non-planners.

• 43% of planners worry about burdening loved ones with decisions or paperwork, compared to 31% of non-planners.

• 41% of planners say they feel high anxiety about legal costs or delays in settling their affairs, compared to 26% of non-planners.

• While planners report slightly higher estate-specific anxiety, these concerns reflect awareness and engagement, not poorer well-being.

Financial Stress & Awareness

• Roughly half of all Americans—planners and non-planners alike—say day-to-day expenses and long-term financial security cause high stress.

• 24% of planners worry “a lot” about legal costs or complexity if something happens, compared to 19% of non-planners.

Future Intentions & Action

• 57% of planners say they are likely to update their estate plan in the next six months, showing ongoing engagement.

• Only 23% of non-planners say they are likely to start a plan soon, while 40% admit they won’t and 36% remain undecided.

Survey Methodology

This study was designed to examine the relationship between estate planning and mental health outcomes among U.S. adults. The research tested the hypothesis that individuals with an estate plan report lower stress, greater peace of mind, more optimism about the future, and stronger feelings of preparedness compared to those without one.

The questionnaire consisted of 10 core questions, in addition to screener items for estate plan status and demographics. The instrument measured self-reported anxiety and stress, peace of mind, optimism, financial strain, preparedness, estate-specific worries, organization of documents, communication with loved ones, and likelihood of taking action in the near future.

This random double-opt-in online survey of 1,000 U.S. adults was commissioned by Trust & Will and conducted by market research company Talker Research, in accordance with the Market Research Society’s (MRS) code of conduct. The survey was fielded between September 17 and September 24, 2025. The sample was evenly split between 500 respondents with an estate plan (planners) and 500 respondents without an estate plan (non-planners).

The margin of error is +/- 3.10 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and sampling controls were put in place to achieve the desired distribution of respondents.

This survey was overseen by Talker Research, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).

Dynamic sampling techniques were used to adjust targeting and achieve quotas specified in the sampling plan. Those who did not fit the required profile (for example, lacking clarity on estate plan status) were screened out of the survey.

Survey Administration

The survey was conducted online in English. Respondents were directed to a secure online survey platform and awarded points for completion, with a small cash-equivalent monetary value. A link to the full questionnaire can be provided upon request.

Data Quality & Exclusions

Interviews were excluded from the final dataset if they failed quality checks. These included:

• Speeders: Respondents who completed the survey in less than one-third of the median interview length.

• Open-ends: All verbatim responses were reviewed for inappropriate or irrelevant content.

• Bots: Captcha technology was enabled to identify and disqualify non-human responses.

• Duplicates: Survey software utilized digital fingerprinting to prevent multiple completions by the same respondent.

Limitations

It should be noted that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and therefore results may not be generalizable to the entire U.S. population.