Legal Assistance Office

Per regulation, the following persons are eligible to receive legal assistance, but may be limited based on current staffing numbers within the Legal Assistance Office. 

•Active Component members of the Armed Forces and their Family Members.

•Reserve Component members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty more than 29 days, and their Family Members.

•Active and Reserve Component members of the Armed Forces who are receiving military retirement or disability pay ("gray" card retired Reserve Component members are not eligible for assistance).

•Department of Defense civilian employees against whom pecuniary liability has been recommended under AR 735-5.

•Department of Defense civilian employees who are to deploy to a combat zone, but only for matters related to their imminent deployment.

Our office provides a wide range of legal services under Army Regulation 27-3. Powers of attorney and notaries are available on a walk-in basis during all office hours. Our attorneys assist clients with many areas of practice including family law (divorce, paternity, support, adoption), real and personal property (landlord tenant, housing), consumer law (debt collection, garnishment, SCRA), civilian administrative (name changes, immigration and naturalization), military administrative (Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss, OER and NCOER appeals, General Officer Memoranda of Reprimand rebuttals, Article 138 complaints, security clearances). Estate planning services (wills, health care directives, durable powers of attorney) are offered. Power of Attorney and notarial services are on a walk-in basis. Most other Legal Assistance services require an attorney appointment.

A Power of Attorney (“POA”) is a legal document that you can make to give authority to another person to act on your behalf. There are three (3) types of POAs: (1)General POA; (2) Special/Specific POA; and (3) Health Care POA.

A General POA allows a person to give broad powers to a person or organization to act on his or her behalf. The powers may include, but are not limited to, handling financial and business transactions, settling claims, and/or filing taxes.

A Special/Specific POA allows a person to specify exactly what powers an agent may exercise on his or her behalf. These powers may include selling property and/or managing real-estate.

A Health Care POA grants a person’s agent the authority to make medical decisions for him or her if he or she is unconscious, mentally incompetent, or otherwise unable to make decisions on his or her own.

A POA may be needed when a Soldier is deploying or if the Soldier, and/or his or her family, believes there may be unforeseen events occurring in the future that would require someone else to act on his or her behalf. It is important that the person you are giving authority to is someone you trust. Legal Assistance can help you tailor your POA exactly how you wish.

To request an appointment with one of our attorneys, please send a blank email to our Rapid Appointment Request email. 

There are very few legal issues that we are able to assist you with that require seeing an attorney immediately or on the same day. If you notify our front desk that you must see an attorney immediately, an attorney will speak with you to evaluate your situation and determine whether a same day appointment is necessary. If you are having a legal issue with an upcoming suspense (example a FLIPL, GOMOR, or civilian court date), do not wait to until the last minute to come into our office to make an appointment. Come as soon as you receive notice of the action or court date. We may not be able to assist you if you wait until the last minute to seek legal assistance.

A Family Care Plan is mandatory under AR 600-20, paragraph 5-5, when:

(1) a Soldier has a child or children and no spouse;

(2) a Soldier has a child or children, has a spouse, but is not living with the spouse; and

(3) the family is dual military. If a required Soldier does not have a Family Care Plan, the Army may separate the Soldier under AR 635-200, paragraph 5-8.

The Military Lending Act (“MLA”) is a program that provides certain protections in lending for service members who are called to Active Duty. The MLA standards affect (1)Payday Loans; (2) Vehicle title; (3) refund anticipation, deposit advance, and installment loans (4) unsecured open-end lines of credit; and (5) credit cards.

The MLA caps financial products’ interest at 36%, which is called the Military Annual Percentage Rate (“MAPR”). The MLA Rule makes it so that banks will no longer: require service members to submit to mandatory arbitration and tedious legal requirements; require Soldiers to waive their Service members Civil Relief Act rights; require Soldiers to provide a payroll allotment; allow continual refinance of a payday loan; allows institutions to obtain a post-dated check; and allows institutions to access a bank account or a car title.

These new rules are intended to help Service members, but it is strongly recommended that all Service members become better educated about the types of credit he or she can receive.