Legal readiness important before deployment

  • Published
  • By Gerry J. Gilmore
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  American servicemembers have deployed across the globe for months at a time since the beginning of the war against global terrorism.

Therefore, it is important military members vigilantly ensure a constant state of legal readiness, according to Capt. Brian K. Keller, a Marine Corps lawyer. He is the officer-in-charge of the Marine legal assistance office at Henderson Hall, Va.

Keller said that servicemembers should take time long before deployment becomes a possibility to consult a military attorney for evaluation of their legal readiness. This not only includes wills and powers of attorney, but also a laundry list of other issues.

Military attorneys can help servicemembers complete that list, but once deployment comes into view, Keller said, it is often too late to attend to the appointments, paperwork and actions needed to ensure legal readiness.

The military provides free legal assistance to servicemembers and their dependents, Keller said. Military attorneys handle traditional transactions like arranging wills and powers of attorney. They can also counsel servicemembers on a wide range of topics, including insurance matters, consumer- and civil-law issues, court hearings and child-support obligations.

Powers of attorney are powerful legal documents that authorize a designated representative to conduct specific transactions in the name of the absentee, Keller said.

Yet, a general power of attorney without limits could give holders "unlimited powers to do whatever they wanted to with your assets," he cautioned.

Depending on the situation, authorizing general powers of attorney can "be a terrible thing to do," Keller pointed out. Instances of misuse of powers of attorney have been known to occur during and after deployments. Therefore, he recommended that powers of attorney should be limited "to about a one-year time span," and should be given sparingly and only to trustworthy and financially responsible people.

Servicemembers will find it is difficult to revoke powers of attorney when deployed overseas, Keller said. To effectively revoke powers of attorney, "you not only have to give the revocation to the holder," but also to anyone who may rely on the power of attorney such as businesses, banks or mortgage lenders.

To mitigate possible misuse of powers of attorney, Keller said it is a good idea "to have a special power of attorney that's limited to a certain amount of time" and spells out exactly what the holder is authorized to do.

For example, powers of attorney can be written to only authorize the issuance of checks in specific amounts and to pay specific bills, he said.

A will is another important legal document servicemembers should periodically review and update as needed, Keller said. This is typically because of circumstances such as new members to the family, divorce, changes in assets and other factors.

Divorced or separated servicemembers with child-support payments or other financial obligations should ensure that such monies continue to be provided to the appropriate agency or person during periods of deployment, he said.

If child-support obligations will become exceedingly financially burdensome or impossible to meet during deployment, servicemembers must request a decrease of the court-ordered amount well before deployment, Keller said. Waiting too long may waive any possibility of a decrease.

All in all, keeping up with legal affairs benefits both individual servicemembers and military readiness, Keller said.

Servicemembers with their legal affairs in disarray and hard-pressed to effectively tackle those problems often become overwhelmed and consequently "can't do their jobs appropriately," Keller said.

“(In the long run) they'll incur more financial damage if they don't set up preventative (legal) measures beforehand," Keller said.

The need for servicemembers to attend to legal-readiness issues is no less important than carrying the proper homeowner's or automobile insurance policies, Keller said.

“There's no way the military can verify each servicemember's legal readiness," he said. Being prepared legally is the responsibility of the servicemember and his or her family.