Deployment prep is a strange mix of urgency and thoroughness — there’s a hard deadline, and a lot riding on getting the details right before it arrives. A handful of legal documents come up repeatedly for military families getting ready for a deployment, and having a clear checklist in hand before your appointment saves time you don’t have to spare.
Documents that come up most often
- General or special power of attorney — authorizing a spouse or family member to handle finances, property, or specific decisions while the service member is deployed. I cover the mechanics of POAs in more depth in a dedicated article.
- Medical power of attorney for the service member’s own healthcare decisions, and separately, for any dependents who may need decisions made on their behalf while a parent is unavailable.
- Guardian designation for children, naming who takes on caregiving responsibilities if the remaining parent is also unavailable for any reason.
- Wills and updates to existing wills, particularly if family circumstances have changed since the last one was executed.
- Vehicle and financial account authorizations so bills, registrations, and routine matters can be handled without the deployed service member’s in-person signature.
A note on where to get these notarized
Many installations have a legal assistance office that provides notary services at no cost to service members for military-related documents — that’s often the right first stop, particularly for documents that need to be executed specifically under military legal assistance programs. A civilian mobile notary is a good option for family members who aren’t on base, for documents outside what the installation’s office handles, or simply for scheduling flexibility around a compressed pre-deployment timeline.
The paperwork is rarely the emotionally hard part of a deployment, but it’s the part that’s easiest to put off. Getting it handled early takes one thing off a list that’s already too long.
Timing matters
Try not to leave this for the final days before departure. Appointments booked with some lead time leave room to fix a missing document or a signature issue without the stress of a closing window.
Preparing for a deployment?
We can come to you and work around a compressed pre-departure schedule.