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Will Interviews, Young Family Clients And The Psychology Of Testation, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

The psychology of testation—the human content in will interviewing and consequent "estate planning"—is a mixture of attitudes toward death, attitudes toward property, and attitudes toward giving. This article is an attempt to examine this human content in five specific lawyer-client settings. The clients are young married couples with small children; they are people to whom death would seem remote, whose property is skimpy and largely devoted to dependent support, and whose attitudes toward giving are likely to be narrowly focused on members of their immediate families.