Traci Voelke, the Staff Judge Advocate's Chief of Client Services (SJA), left, educated Service members, retirees and DoD civilians about the options available to create a durable estate plan, especially for those going on temporary duty assignments, with about 70 attendees at the Fort Belvoir HR building, Jan. 29.
Mission First: Safeguard Your Family through Estate Planning
The arrival of the new year has brought a new goal for many Service members and retirees: estate planning to prepare for an unknown future while protecting their Families.
Fort Belvoir’s Garrison Office of Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA) Client Services Division held an informational seminar on January 29th at the DHR Building. Facilitators Traci Voelke, SJA Chief of Client Services, and Miles Thigpen, SJA Legal Advisor, revealed a depth of interest in this topic.
Voelke said the session went very well.
“We had about 70 people there, from active duty, retirees and some employees where their jobs overlapped. We had Miss Gwendolyn Lott there, the Human Resources Retirement Service Officer to assist, as well as financial planners in the audience answering questions, so it was a nice, diverse group,” Voelke said.
She explained that the objective was to educate the community to learn about available resources and take control of their future.
Photo by Chief Warrant Officer Nathan Nazareno
“We are really focused on Soldier readiness, and our goal is to prepare everybody for the possibility that something will happen to you, whether you become incapacitated, or you pass away,” Voelke said. “We could open up more services to retirees, so they can also have some similar preparations, making sure that their affairs in order and that their final wishes are known to their family.”
These services are customized to your needs, and free of charge to active-duty Service members, their Families, DoD civilians and retirees. Voelke said protecting your future begins with a phone call.
“If you need more tailored estate planning services, you can make an appointment with our office where we have attorney/client privilege, and we can help get your documents in order to prepare you for your end of life or incapacity, and that is offered at no cost as well,” said Voelke.
To begin the process, you will first be sent a worksheet from SJA to get a picture of what you own and how it is titled, to present the best options and to understand what you will need to bring to your appointment.
In addition to making decisions about your healthcare and financial well-being, having an estate plan in place offers several benefits:
· Ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes
· Avoid probate and minimize taxes
· Appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated
· Provide for your loved ones and protect their well-being
This is something that OSJA is quite experienced with, as 30 to 40 percent of Client Services involves estate planning.
“We’re trying to prepare our active-duty Soldier to get ready to deploy or go on temporary duty,” adding that the Client Services office is a legal ‘jack of all trades.’
The other portion of their workload involves military and administrative appeals, landlord and tenant disputes, family law and immigration.
If you’ve never experienced it in your own family, Voelke said one of the greatest gifts of this planning is clarity for those left behind.
It's extremely important because after you pass, there's a lot of paperwork, no matter how prepared you are,” she said. “If you want to make sure that your assets get to the people who you want, and that you get buried in accordance with your wishes, all this is very important.”
Client Services is located in the old schoolhouse, 9990 Belvoir Drive, and the main number is 703-805-2856.
Paul Lara, Public Affairs Specialist, and Chief Warrant Officer Nathan Nazareno, Legal Administrator, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate