Langley legal prepares Airmen for deployment, life events

The Langley Legal Office at Joint Base Langley-Eustis is the one stop shop for all legal matters, concerning an upcoming deployment or personal matters.  

The Legal Office can help ensure not only the member, but their family is legally secure and prepared.

According to U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Matthew Palmer, 633rd Air Base Wing legal assistance NCO in charge, the biggest thing to consider while preparing to deploy is making a will. Although not mandatory, Palmer believes wills are a good idea even when not deploying, especially for people with spouses and children.

“It’s 45 minutes to draft it and then an hour with an attorney,” said Palmer. “At any given day, I have three attorneys. It doesn’t take long before we are booked, so we’re are trying to get ahead as far as deployment readiness goes.”

A specialized will, called a living will, can give the power to make important decisions in the case that the service member becomes terminally ill, is likely to pass away or have a low likelihood of recovering. Without a living will, the next of kin is given the final choice.

While deployment readiness is the big picture, wills are obtainable at any time. The Legal Office offers services to retirees and their dependents, active duty and their dependents, Air National Guard and reserve members on Title 10 orders.

Along with having a will, having a power of attorney is just as important. There are two types of power of attorneys—special and general.

“Power of attorneys give another person the ability to do something that you could do legally in their place,” said Palmer. “General power of attorneys cover everything in theory. The specials are narrow in scope—sell a car, and buy a house, what have you. Since they are more narrowly defined they are more widely accepted. The advice we give people is that if you know of a specific thing that is going to happen that somebody else needs to do, addressing it with the special instead of a general is probably the safer route.”

Although members can get an appointment with the legal office relatively quick, the office encourages them to not wait for a 48-hour notice to get legal matters done.

In order to obtain a will, a worksheet must be filled out either by hand or through the legal website. The worksheet gives the office time to draft a will before an appointment with an attorney. Once the worksheet is complete, a ticket number is given making them eligible to call for an appointment.

Power of attorneys are handled on a walk-in basis.