I found this article from Australia to offer an interesting estate planning comparison between the United States and Australia.  The references to Australian gangsters was too unfamiliar to interest me, but I was struck by the conclusion that estate planning is on the rise but wills are on the decline.  Wills are being replaced by trusts and other nonprobate devices.  I think that's true here in the U.S. as well.  That's why I don't put much stock in the news reports about some dead celebrity's will.  Many times the will filed with the court offers little insight to the estate plan because the planning was done through strategies that maximize privacy, such as trusts and family partnerships -- not a bad idea given what we've seen of paparazzi and other media assaults.