What happens when only one spouse wants to do their will?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Gwen, you're on WDBO, go ahead. Gwen: Hi, I have a husband that doesn't feel the need right now for a will. We're both 70 years old and he's not in good health, I'm in a little better health. What can I do without him to provide for our children, if that's even possible because we do have a joint property and a car and different things like that? I don't know what I can do to protect our children without him involved right now. Attorney Tom Olsen: Well, Gwen, first of all, if you're like most married couples, you own everything jointly. That means if one of you passes away, the survivor will automatically own it all, no probate required, probate will come into play when a second of you passes away. If your husband were to pass away now you own everything jointly and then you can come down and see us and we can do documents for you to help you to avoid probate. Gwen, when we do documents for people, remember, we typically do four documents, only one of those talks about what happens when you pass away. That's the will. Three of the documents that we do for you will be used during your lifetime. A living will, pull the plug, don't keep you alive by machines document. A health care surrogate so if you're not able to, you're appointing somebody to decide what doctors, what hospital, what medications. The financial power of attorney so if you're not able to, you're appointing somebody to pay your bills and manage your affairs for you. Gwen, yes, we can certainly do those documents for you, even if your husband does not want to participate in it, but hopefully, if he sees you make a point to come and see us, that might motivate him to get his done as well. Gwen: Okay, well, I appreciate that. [laughs] It'll give me some comfort moving forward. Attorney Tom Olsen: Gwen, good for you. We'd love to take care of you Gwen at the Olsen Law Group, remember that. We offer people a free initial counsel to talk about their estate planning. We can do that in person or we can do that over the phone. Gwen, call the Olsen Law Group in Orlando next week and schedule your free counsel to talk about your will and estate planning. Hey folks, my name is Tom Olsen. The name of the show is Olsen on Law. You're listening to WDBO.