Legal Issues Confronting Soldiers Deployed to Poland and Elsewhere

by Capt. Robert McKendry, Fort Bliss Legal Assistance Office

It is important for Soldiers and leaders alike to know their legal rights and potential complications that may face them when deployed. This article focuses on experiences from the EUCOM theater (specifically Poland), but many of these issues are applicable regardless of deployed location.

Divorce Issues

Unfortunately, the most common legal issue that has arisen in the EUCOM theater is the issue of divorce, specifically given the complications of a service member initiating a divorce back in the U.S. while they are out of country away from their spouse. The more complex scenario is when a dependent spouse is attempting to serve their service member spouse while the service member is forward. Service members must know their rights in that proper service is required by the dependent spouse. For one, in many countries, including Poland, service must be conducted in accordance with the Hague Service Convention. Under the HSC, a spouse having a commander or NCO serve the service member divorce papers would not be considered proper service. Instead, the service must be coordinated through a “central authority” to have the service member properly served.

Even if service is proper, service members are allowed to request a mandatory 90-day stay of proceedings in accordance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act if their military service would hinder their participation in the proceeding. In a case where a service member would still be hindered in participation past the 90-day window and the court is not amenable to virtual participation, an increasingly commonly used method to hold proceedings would be to request the court to order mediation in the interim. This has potential to further postpone court proceedings, allowing the service member an opportunity to try to mediate out of court with their dependent spouse or at least provide them more time for preparation for any future proceeding.

Landlord-Tenant Issues

As the U.S. military continues to grow in new regions of the world, such as Poland, local nationals tend to adapt to service members living in the area. Since the first batch of Soldiers have done formal Permanent Changes of Station moves to Poland, some Polish landlords have begun to take advantage of the U.S. military PCS dynamic by changing rates based on rank and dependents and withholding security deposits following later PCS moves out of Poland, since they know many U.S. service members are not able to stay in the country long enough to properly appeal these withholdings.  While Army Judge Advocates are not experts on Polish law, they can work closely with Polish Attorney Advisers, so it is important for a service member to report these issues as soon as they arise in order for Army Legal Assistance attorneys to coordinate with Polish national attorneys to contest any landlord withholdings.

Wills & Estate Planning Issues

An increasing amount of service members have found themselves retiring in different parts of the world they have served outside of the United States. Accordingly, it is important for these service members to understand what effect that might have on their estate planning and other documentation, such as medical directives. Regarding wills, it is important to note that many nations, including Poland, do not have the same laws regarding estates and intestacy. As such, it is important to coordinate with local national attorneys if you plan to live outside the United States after your military career to ensure that your estate planning documents, to include your will, will be properly honored, rather than to leave it to the discretion of the local national government as to whether or not they will honor your intent in those documents.  This also goes for advance medical directives, because Poland, as well as other countries, might abide by the wishes of a medical directive but not follow the directive of a proxy, despite the intentions you may have outlined in your AMD.

Other Developing Legal Issues

As the U.S. military grows its footprints in Eastern Europe, new issues continue to develop in relation to our servicemembers and local national law. These include child custody issues and immigration issues concerning service members who marry local nationals.  Army JAs continue to grow their legal knowledge in these areas and continue to learn how Polish and other Eastern European nations’ laws impact the personal lives of our service members and how the legal assistance community can better assist.

To speak with an attorney in the Fort Bliss Legal Assistance Office on these or any other topics, please schedule an appointment by emailing usarmy.bliss.hqda-otjag.mesg.bliss-legal-assistance-office@army.mil at any time or calling (915) 568-7141 during business hours.