This guest post is from Carly Huffman, Regent Law 3L & current Wills, Trusts, & Estates student:
Typically, a durable power of attorney is a document authorizing a party to act on behalf of the person granting the power of attorney when the grantor becomes incapacitated. However, these documents are also prevalent among military families when their loved one prepares for or is on deployment.
A deployed Sailor or Soldier may be perfectly capable of making legal decisions about finances, housing, or insurance for their family. However, these tasks become difficult, if not impossible, when that family member is on deployment. Even with the ever-advancing technologies that we enjoy today, deployed service members are often unreachable for days or weeks at a time due to the nature of their work. Even the most valiant effort to ensure all accounts are in both spouses’ names and all passwords and financial information is shared can prove unsuccessful due to the hectic time leading up to deployment. For all these reasons, military families are encouraged to execute powers of attorney before deployment so that the spouse or family member at home can complete necessary tasks on behalf of the deployed member, such as accessing family finances, paying taxes, or receiving medical benefits.
Even though the documents may be left
untouched during the deployment, they are a great backup plan in an emergency.
Legal services to execute a power of attorney are accessible to all service
members at no charge – even more of a reason to ensure your family is set up
for success during deployment!
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