TORONTO, March 3, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- For International Women's Day, Willful is highlighting the critical — and often unpaid — role that women play in incapacity and estate planning in Canada
A new study from Willful, Canada's leading online estate planning platform, found that Canadian families appoint women more often to step in during a crisis, from making medical and financial decisions when they're incapacitated, to handling estate settlement after a death.
Ahead of International Women's Day on March 8, Willful conducted an internal analysis of 85,587 wills and 121,598 incapacity planning documents, which allow someone to name a substitute decision maker for healthcare and finances. The analysis shows that women are appointed to these key decision-making roles more often than men.
A will names an executor to wrap up someone's life after they pass away, from closing accounts to dealing with assets to managing funeral and burial plans. Willful's analysis shows women are more often chosen as executors, with 53% naming a woman and 46% naming a man.
When choosing who can make medical decisions for them if they are incapacitated, Canadians select women more often than men, with 55% naming a woman and 45% naming a man. The majority of men (86%) rely on women to make medical decisions on their behalf if they become incapacitated.
"As a mom of two toddlers, I've experienced firsthand the mental load and invisible work women do to keep families running, and our analysis suggests that pattern shows up in estate planning too," said Erin Bury, Co-Founder and CEO of Willful. "More often than not in an emergency, women are the ones making healthcare decisions, keeping finances moving, and handling the logistics after a death. That responsibility can be time-consuming, difficult to navigate, and fraught with emotion, and it doesn't always come with compensation, even when it demands countless hours of our time."
When something goes wrong, families depend on women
Canadians overwhelmingly turn to women to make medical decisions for them when they can't rely on a spouse or partner, whether it's a sister (63%) or a friend (63%). When people turn to their parents to make medical decisions on their behalf, 7 in 10 (71%) turn to their mother.
Even when a man is named as the primary executor of a will or decision maker in incapacity planning, women are more commonly selected as backups, indicating that families view women as the reliable second choice when the first is unavailable — 57% of backup executors and 64% of backup medical decision-makers are women.
In many cases, women carry the responsibility without financial benefit
Executors and decision-makers can spend significant time managing legal, financial and administrative responsibilities and having difficult conversations. While women are frequently appointed to manage finances and healthcare decisions in incapacity planning documents, they're often not named as a beneficiary in the related will.
When families name a woman to make medical decisions on their behalf, Willful found that one-third (34%) are not listed as beneficiaries in a related will. Similarly, when a woman is named to manage the finances for someone who is incapacitated, such as paying bills or dealing with real estate, 33% are not the primary recipient of their assets.
Although executors are generally entitled to compensation under provincial guidelines, healthcare decision-makers are typically unpaid, and financial attorneys are often reimbursed only for expenses — meaning that many of these responsibilities, often assigned to women, come with limited or no financial compensation.
How you can reduce the burden before a crisis hits
Willful encourages Canadians to use International Women's Day as a prompt to talk about the unpaid work that often shows up during a health crisis or after a death, who is expected to carry it, and whether that burden is shared. Putting a plan in writing, and making it easy to act on, can reduce stress and confusion for the people you appoint.
To set up executors and incapacity planning decision-makers for success, Canadians can:
- Complete and continuously update their will and incapacity planning documents, for example, power of attorney documents and living wills, so someone has legal authority when it matters.
- Tell the people they have appointed to key roles, confirm they are willing to take on these roles, and talk through what the role could involve.
- Store documents where they can be accessed quickly, and share where to find them before an emergency happens.
- Create an estate inventory so key accounts, insurance policies, debts, and important contacts are easy to locate.
- Highlight to your executor that they can hire an accountant or other professionals to help when the time comes, and it's an expense of the estate.
Canadians can create or update a will and incapacity planning documents online at willful.co, and use Willful's estate inventory tool to organize key information for the people they appoint.
About Willful
Willful makes it affordable, convenient, and easy for Canadians to create a legal will and other estate planning documents online by following a clear step-by-step process. Willful's platform was developed in collaboration with leading estate lawyers, and has pricing plans starting at $99. Willful is available in all 10 provinces, with a fully bilingual offering in Quebec. Since launching in 2017, Willful has helped Canadians create over 500,000 documents. To get started, visit willful.co
Survey Methodology
Willful conducted an internal analysis of anonymized, aggregated platform data for wills and incapacity planning documents created between February 1, 2024 and January 31, 2026. The dataset includes 85,587 wills and 121,598 incapacity planning documents created by 85,587 unique users across Canada. All results are reported in aggregate and reflect behaviour on Willful's platform during the analysis window.
Media Contact
Charlize Alcaraz, Category Communications, 1 437-983-3317, [email protected]
SOURCE Willful
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