EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Specific federal statues involving wills and powers of attorney, allowed the 96th Test Wing’s legal office to turn a typical 10-plus page will execution into a one-page document that can be completed in approximately 10 minutes.
This new process for active duty who need rapid legal assistance due to deployment taskings, etc., can now be completed through a mobility processing line if needed and doesn’t require a computer or printer. This small change shrinks the legal processing time from hours to just minutes in cases where time is critical.
Federal law requires all states and U.S. territories to honor wills, POAs, and living wills prepared for personnel entitled to military legal assistance and exempts these documents from any state requirements regarding form or formality.
The new process allows us to quickly take care of the legal needs of our deployers so they can focus on mission accomplishment, not legal readiness,” said Eric Mejia, 96 TW judge advocate general. “It also frees up deployers’ time to complete other pre-deployment tasks, spending significantly less time at the legal office.”