Many of us are worth far more dead than alive. That is because of retirement plans, life insurance policies, accidental death benefits, etc. Thus a couple worth perhaps tens or a few hundred thousand dollars alive may be worth many times that dead.
Taxes can also become a consideration.
Principally, because most people are not at all pleased by what will happen if they die without a Will. The illustration below shows what would happen to the property in a person's name if he were to die without having a properly-executed Will in force. Despite the fact that he probably thought that everything would go to his spouse, he delayed too long, and, unless his assets were relatively modest, the results were not at all what he thought they would be. Take the case of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, a fairly young couple with one child. Both parents worked at good jobs, each earning about the same as the other, and they had started to accumulate some assets.