Whether you are stationed at Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever, or employed as a civilian with the federal government, your estate planning needs may not be the same as most civilians. The core documents are the same, a will and/or a trust, financial and medical powers of attorney, and a living will, but your needs and benefits to manage are different. Specifically, your government benefits package intersects with your estate plan in ways most people never think about until something goes wrong.
Generally, military and federal benefits (SGLI, TSP, FEGLI, etc.) are similar to civilian equivalent life insurance and/or IRA/401k products. The difference lies primarily in the frequency and urgency of maintaining and reviewing your estate plan and beneficiary designations. Especially for active duty military, you should review and update your estate plan and beneficiary designations every time you move or deploy.
In terms of planning for the event of death, you have the same options as everyone else – will or revocable living trust. But military families and federal employees move around more frequently than most civilians, which is just a fact of life for you. As such, maintaining estate planning documents so they are enforceable State to State is vital. While estate planning documents are given the same full faith and credit in other States so long as they were valid in the State you created them, there are enough differences and nuances in individual State laws, specifically around medical decision making and living wills, that it is always worth reviewing and comparing your existing documents to the new State’s laws.
Just as importantly, you must maintain and align your property with your estate plan with every move. For example, if you created a revocable living trust and put your house in another State in the trust but you sold that house and bought a new one when you moved to Colorado, you need to make sure that new property is put into the trust. You should also take the time to review your beneficiary designations on your SGLI, TSP, and/or FEGLI accounts to make sure your trust is the ultimate beneficiary.
Deployment creates another specific kind of estate planning urgency. If you are deploying, you need someone at home who is legally authorized to handle financial matters in your absence, and you need that authorization in place before you leave, not afterward. As such, you should, at a minimum, have a durable financial power of attorney and durable medical power of attorney in place before you deploy.
If you are active duty, reserve, a veteran, or a federal civilian employee, we THANK YOU for your service, and at The Law Office of Kevin R. Hancock, we honor you with a 10% discount on all services. If we can be of service, we are here to help! God Bless America, and Happy 250th!
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