A Brief (and Surprisingly Human) History of Estate Planning

Estate planning often feels like a modern invention — something cooked up by lawyers, tax codes, and people with very organized filing systems. It’s easy to assume it didn’t really exist before retirement accounts, trusts, or documents with lots of initials in the title.

In reality, estate planning is one of the oldest human habits we have. When you think about it, it makes sense that we’ve always been concerned about helping the generation that follows us.

As long as people have owned things, cared about other people, and worried about what might happen next, they’ve planned for death, incapacity, and the orderly transfer of responsibility. The tools have evolved, but the motivations have remained remarkably consistent.

Estate Planning in the Days Before Lawyers

Some of the earliest known wills come from ancient Egypt, more than 4,000 years ago. These were simple written instructions directing how land, household goods, and personal property should be distributed after death. What surprises many people is that Egyptian women could own property and leave it by will — something that would later disappear in many cultures.

These documents weren’t just for pharaohs. Ordinary people used them to avoid chaos, care for family members, and reduce disputes. Even at the dawn of recorded history, estate planning wasn’t about wealth — it was about keeping life from unraveling.

Rome: The Original Estate Planners

If modern estate planning feels oddly Roman, that’s because it is.

Ancient Rome formalized the idea of a written will, complete with witnesses, rules, and enforceability. Romans planned for guardianship of children, disinheritance of heirs (with appropriate formality), and even created primative trust-like arrangements where one person held property for the benefit of another.

This wasn’t limited to emperors or senators. Middle-class Romans used wills regularly. Many of the rules that still govern probate courts today can trace their lineage directly back to Roman law.

Rome didn’t invent estate planning — but it turned it into a system.

When Planning Became Unequal

During medieval Europe, estate planning took very different forms depending on who you were.

For most people, property passed according to custom, family expectation, or church oversight. Written wills existed, but oral declarations were common, and disputes were handled by ecclesiastical courts. Planning was informal and often imprecise.

For the wealthy and powerful, estate planning became much more deliberate. Nobles used wills to control land across generations, appoint guardians, and preserve political and economic power. Property was often “entailed” so it could not be broken apart. Estate planning became a way to preserve dynasties, not just families.

The Trust: An Accidental English Invention

One of the most important tools in estate planning — the trust — emerged almost by accident in medieval England.

The context matters. During the Crusades and other long religious pilgrimages, English landowners would leave home for years at a time. Before departing, they often transferred their land to a trusted friend or relative with informal instructions: hold this for me while I’m gone, and give it back when I return.

This arrangement was known as a “use.”

Here’s the problem: English common law courts recognized only the legal owner — the person whose name was on the land. If that trusted friend decided not to give the land back, the law offered no remedy. The land was legally his.

Enter the Church courts, which stepped in to enforce the moral obligation of the arrangement. Over time, this separation between legal ownership and beneficial ownership hardened into doctrine. What began as an act of trust — literal trust — became the legal trust.

So yes, this was truly an English invention, born not from tax planning, but from:

• Long absences

• Religious pilgrimages and Crusades

• The risk of death far from home

• A need to protect families during uncertainty

In that sense, early trusts were a bit like insurance. They were a way to manage risk when life was unpredictable and travel was dangerous. If you didn’t come back, at least your family wouldn’t be left empty-handed.

Centuries later, trusts still do exactly that — manage risk, provide continuity, and protect people from uncertainty.

Estate Planning Comes to America

American estate planning inherited much of England’s system. Wills were common among landowners, probate courts formed early, and trust-like arrangements were used even before they were formally named.

As wealth shifted from land to businesses, bank accounts, and investments, estate planning evolved alongside it. By the twentieth century, planning wasn’t just about death. It was about incapacity, family dynamics, and long-term financial security.

Same Questions, Better Tools

Modern estate plans deal with things ancient Egyptians never imagined: retirement accounts, digital assets, blended families, multi-state living, and increasingly complex tax systems.

But the underlying questions haven’t changed much in thousands of years:

Who decides if I can’t?

Who gets what?

Who takes care of the people I love?

How do I reduce confusion and conflict?

Estate planning has never really been about documents. It’s about continuity — making sure that life goes on smoothly when you’re no longer able to manage it yourself.

And that concern is as old as civilization.

Why This Still Matters

People sometimes avoid estate planning because it feels morbid or unnecessary. But historically, estate planning has always been an act of optimism. It assumes that life continues — just without you at the center of it. The forms have changed. The instincts have not.