What do you hope to leave behind for your loved ones? Beyond the financial aspect, how do you want your legacy to be felt and remembered? These questions lie at the heart of every estate plan and inform discussions about what someone plans to leave behind: homes, savings, heirlooms, and other assets. However, the most meaningful legacies often come as moral guidance, personal values, and life lessons. These legacies are most often passed on through ethical wills, also known as legacy or guidance letters or values statements).
Ethical wills have roots in ancient religious cultures, where elders passed spoken messages to the next generation. Now embraced by people of many cultures, ethical wills have evolved into nonlegal documents to pass intangible things to loved ones. Where a last will and testament is the document addressing the legal aspects of your estate and legacy, an ethical will can be a last way to share values, hopes, and strategies with your loved ones. Wills tell how things should be distributed, ethical wills can explain the why behind your estate plan.
Ethical wills are as relevant as ever and can help you leave meaning — not just money — as part of your legacy.
A History of Ethical Wills: From Ancient Patriarchs to Modern Families
One example of an ethical will practice can be found in the Christian bible, from the Book of Genesis. In this story, the patriarch Jacob, nearing death, calls his twelve sons to his bedside and talks to them. He speaks about his hopes for each son’s future.[1] He gives blessings and specific moral instructions for each son’s future conduct. His words provide an early example of an ethical will blending guidance, values, and hope for the next generation.
That ancient practice of fusing blessing, instruction, guidance, and hope did not end in ancient times. The oral tradition later sparked written ethical wills that Jewish families carried through medieval Europe and into modern life. Even now, millennia later, many families create ethical wills alongside legal estate planning documents to give loved ones a lasting legacy of personal story, wisdom, and values.
What Ethical Wills Are—and Are Not
In a modern sense, an ethical will allows you to leave behind your own set of guiding principles—your personal “shalls” and “shall nots”—which can be just as foundational to your estate plan as your last will and testament.
What an Ethical Will Is:
- A record of your values, beliefs, and intentions—not your property
- A guide for loved ones, offering context for decisions you have made in life and in your estate plan
- A thoughtful tool for reflection, helping you articulate what really matters to you and what you hope to pass on beyond material belongings
What an Ethical Will Is Not:
- A legally binding document; it cannot distribute property or enforce financial decisions, which remains the role of a last will and testament or a trust
- A replacement for formal estate planning; ethical wills complement, rather than replace, traditional legal tools
- Something to create only at the end of your life; while many people do in fact write them later in life, an ethical will can be created at any age, updated over time, and shared whenever it feels meaningful
Legal documents might name who gets your house, savings, or include spendthrift or special needs trusts. They might tie distributions to ages or milestones for beneficiaries. An ethical will can share the reasoning behind those choices and provide personal context. It can build on conversations and lessons shared during your lifetime. Think of it as your lasting message meant to guide and encourage loved ones.
What to Include in an Ethical Will
You are under no legal obligation to create a last will and testament or an ethical will. About two‑thirds of Americans do not yet have a will or estate plan.[2] When asked why, most people say they “haven’t gotten around to it” or they mistakenly believe they lack sufficient assets to need a plan.
You might have similar reasons for not creating an ethical will. Or you may be unsure what to say or how to begin. You might feel you already said what you needed through life, words, and actions. You may trust that your legacy will be understood without writing it down.
When deciding whether to create an ethical will, consider this simple exercise: Ask yourself, if you had one last chance to tell loved ones what truly matters, would you want to? What would you say? Many are surprised how much clarity and comfort writing an ethical will brings to both family and themselves. What seems optional at first often becomes a meaningful chance to articulate beliefs and intentions that might otherwise go unspoken.
When and How to Create an Ethical Will
Whether we live in a palatial estate or manage a modest home, our legacies are shaped by values. The lessons we teach, beliefs we hold, and values we share matter beyond material possessions. An ethical will lets you express those deeper legacies in writing rather than through property or wealth. It can preserve what matters most in life for future generations.
There is no “right time” to create an ethical will, but time to complete one well is limited. Starting earlier lets you think, edit, and present it in a shareable, lasting format. Waiting until a deathbed moment may leave little time to choose your words carefully. Creating it early lets you ensure your message sounds right to you.
Distilling a lifetime of experience is no small task, yet many find it meaningful to write or record one at life’s milestones. People often start ethical wills at times like a child’s birth, retirement, or after recovering from illness. An ethical will can grow and change as your perspective shifts with age. Your views at age 40 likely differ from your views at age 70. That evolution itself becomes part of your legacy.
Ethical wills have evolved over time from oral proclamations to written letters. Today, they can take almost any form that feels authentic to you:
- A handwritten letter or journal
- An audio recording or voice memo
- A video message or short documentary
- A digital time capsule through a service such as Storyworth[3] or My Life in a Book[4]
- A personal scrapbook
- An artistic legacy, such as a poem, song, or curated playlist
- A shared online document that grows with family contributions
There is also no single correct way to share an ethical will. Some people choose to keep it private until their death, entrusting a copy to their attorney or executor. Others share it during life as part of a family gathering, holiday letter, or milestone celebration so loved ones can discuss and reflect on it together.
We are here to Help!
However you choose to deliver it, your ethical will can become a lasting part of your legacy and may be what your loved ones remember most when everything else fades into the background. Family heirlooms do not have to be limited to physical possessions. They can just as powerfully take the form of insights gained from lived experience, preserved and passed down from generation to generation. Nielsen Law PLLC Provides family-focused estate and business planning to individuals and families in Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and the Central Texas area. For more information, and to learn about our firm, please contact us to learn how.
[1] Gen. 48:1–49:28 (New International Version), https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2048-49&version=NIV.
[2] Victoria Lurie, 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study, Caring (Sept. 17, 2025), https://www.caring.com/resources/wills-survey.
[3] StoryWorth, https://welcome.storyworth.com/home.
[4] My Life in a Book, https://mylifeinabook.com.
