Designing wills & trusts to protect military families as they protect us all.
Just like a mission, your future needs plans.
As a military spouse of 15 years, I feel a strong commitment to help military service members and their families. If you are a military service member, military spouse, or veteran, I am here to support you with the legal knowledge of military estate planning and tax provisions crucial to protecting your assets.
Comprehensive estate planning for military families requires incorporating into your estate plan special resources available through the Department of Veterans Affairs and other military-specific retirement and insurance plans.
Common Military Benefits
The following benefits are exclusively available to military families and are important to consider when planning for the future. However, none of these benefits can take the place of proper estate planning. A military family should also plan for things like disposition of property, contingent care of children, and the selection of agents who will oversee financial and healthcare decisions in the event they cannot do so themselves.
The benefits described below should be considered important tools to use in conjunction with more traditional estate planning devices such as wills, trusts, financial powers of attorney, and medical directives.
SGLI
Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance is low-cost life insurance for eligible service members, available for up to $500,000 (in 2024). Eligible service members are enrolled automatically, but can change or decline coverage.
Survivors Pension
A pension is available to qualified surviving spouses and unmarried dependent children of “wartime veterans” who meet certain requirements, including an income and net worth limit.
Burial Benefits
Eligible veterans, service members, spouses and dependents can qualify for benefits such as an allowance for burial and funeral costs, allowance for the cost of a plot or internment, and transportation reimbursement.
Is a will or trust still necessary?
YES! These benefits typically do not allow you to name other beneficiaries or to include instructions about how you want your assets to be distributed past the initial recipient at your death. Safeguarding assets left to a minor child via these benefits is also limited or impossible. In addition, you have no control over decisions the government makes as to who qualifies to receive these benefits.
FSGLI
Family Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance is available to spouses and dependent children of service members covered by SGLI. Coverage is available up to $100,000 for a spouse (in 2024) and up to $10,000 for a dependent child.
VA DIC
VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is potentially available to the surviving spouse, child, or parent of a service members who dies in the line of duty or from a service-related illness or injury.