Your Sims 4 Sim Can Write a Will. Most Players Never Bother
Death in The Sims 4 used to be simple: a Sim died, the household got sad for a while, and whatever they owned just... stayed in the house. No paperwork, no last wishes, no drama beyond the tombstone.
Life and Death added something the game never had before — an actual legal document. Sims can now write a will, and what's in it decides who gets the good furniture, who raises the kids, and whether the family heirloom ends up cherished or pawned off for cash.
Anyone Old Enough Can Write One
Once a Sim reaches their teen years, they're eligible to start a will. There are several ways to do it: create one directly from a computer under the Household tab, hire an Inheritance Lawyer over the phone, catch a lawyer NPC at the weekly Ravenwood Family Day event, or visit the Town Hall in Mourningvale, part of the Ravenwood world the pack introduces. However a Sim gets there, the finished document lands in their personal inventory and can be edited any time before they die.
A Will Covers More Than Money
Writing a will isn't just about splitting Simoleons. Sims can dictate their funeral arrangements — whether they want a tombstone or an urn — leave a personal note behind, decide which household takes in their dependent children or pets, and specify exactly which items count as heirlooms and who inherits them. Money can be split by percentage across different households rather than handed to a single heir, which matters a lot for players running multi-generational or rotational saves.
Some instructions only trigger if the will's author dies; others only kick in if the entire household is gone. That split matters for legacy players specifically, since it lets a founding Sim plan for scenarios where their whole family line ends, not just their own death.
Heirlooms Aren't Just Regular Objects
Certain items in the pack — like the Inexorable Grandfather Clock or the Quilted Memories quilt — are built specifically to function as heirlooms, but almost any eligible household object can be turned into one manually. Once an item is marked as an heirloom and passed down, it carries a mouse-over identifier showing its history, including any personal message the original owner attached.
Heirlooms aren't static once they're inherited, either. The Sim who receives one can interact with it in several ways — reflecting on the original owner, passing it along to yet another Sim, or pawning it for cash. That last option isn't free of consequences: pawning an heirloom can strain relationships with other Sims who cared about where it ended up, turning a simple inventory item into a genuine source of family friction.
How The Inheritance Actually Gets Delivered
When the will's author dies, the will itself gets mailed to whoever was named in it. From there, the recipient can either read it out loud or hand it off to someone else first. Reading it out loud is what actually triggers the transfer — any dependents named in the will automatically join the new household, and every inherited heirloom lands directly in that household's inventory.
Not Every Death Pays Out
Life and Death didn't retire the game's older, looser inheritance systems — it built proper wills on top of them. Sims can still occasionally get a random phone call from a distant relative's estate, a holdover from Eco Lifestyle, offering a lump sum of cash with no strings attached, or with conditions like getting married within a set number of days to actually collect it. But the will system is the first version of inheritance built specifically for planning ahead, rather than being a surprise windfall.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Sim need money saved up for a will to matter?
No — a will can control funeral arrangements, dependents, and heirlooms even with a modest amount of Simoleons involved; it isn't only useful for wealthy households.
Can a will be changed after it's written?
Yes, a Sim can revisit and edit their will at any point before they die.
What happens if an heir doesn't have anywhere to live?
If the heir isn't settled into a household before the will is read, they can end up without the inherited property actually working as intended, so it's safer to place them in a home first.
Is writing a will required to play Life and Death?
No — it's entirely optional. Sims who never write one simply skip the system, and death plays out closer to how it worked before the pack.
Sources
This piece describes a fictional in-game system from Life and Death and reflects official EA guides and community testing rather than a full developer breakdown of every edge case.