Email   Print   Share By Capt. MaCayn May, Legal Assistance Attorney

Facebook Digg Delicious September 20, 2012 | News

One of the benefits of military service is access to a Legal Assistance Office. The primary purpose of a LAO is to boost morale, improve mission readiness and help create a better quality of life for Soldiers and their Families.

In order to take full advantage of this benefit, it’s important to know what your LAO can do for you.

At its most basic level, the LAO is meant to give you the opportunity to sit with an attorney and discuss your issues. From there it depends on what kind of help you need. Legal assistance attorneys can send letters on your behalf or prepare letters for you to send. When necessary, a legal assistance attorney can also negotiate an opposing party and try to settle disputes.

Unfortunately, legal assistance attorneys cannot represent you in court. They can, however, guide you through the process and help you prepare and review documents for use in court. Even with a legal assistance attorney helping you, it may not be in your best interest to represent yourself in court. In those cases, a legal assistance attorney can help you find free or reduced-cost legal representation where available.Legal assistance paralegals also provide valuable services, such as notaries, and can help you with creating powers of attorney.

The LAO generally deals with seven major case types: civilian administrative, Family law, military administrative, consumer law, real property and estate planning.

Civilian administrative covers exactly what it sounds like it should, such as assistance with name changes.

Consumer law covers everything related to buying, selling, contracts and credit. If you are having problems with a business, want to challenge your credit report or need help understanding a contract, the LAO can help.

Real property cases involve off-post housing and land. If you are having issues your landlord, your first stop should be the housing office. If the Housing Office is unsuccessful, they will give you a referral to the LAO. We can also help if you are facing mortgage issues or foreclosure.

Family law is one of the most common cases in the LAO. If you qualify for the step-parent adoption or pro se divorce clinic, the LAO can draft all your documents and guide you through the entire process. Even if you do not qualify for one of the clinics, we can provide advice and review documents for divorces, adoptions, child custody and support, including

support under Army Regulation 608-99.

Military administrative issues are another major area the LAO covers.When faced with adverse administrative action, you are typically given a chance to submit a rebuttal statement. The LAO can help you draft your rebuttal to reprimands, Financial Liability Investigations of Property Loss, line of duty determinations or referred evaluation reports.The LAO can also help you appeal those same issues. Sometimes all you need is a legal assistance attorney to help you understand Army regulations or address issues with your command.

Estate planning is the last major area of law for the LAO. Estate planning covers two basic documents: wills and medical directives. A will expresses how you want your property distributed upon your death. Medical directives cover medical powers of attorney and living wills. The LAO provides wills and medical directives every Wednesday on a walk-in basis.

The Legal Assistance Office’s mission is to help you and should be your first stop anytime you are facing a legal issue.The LAO is located on the corner of 72nd Street and Santa Fe Avenue. To set up an appointment, come to the office or call 287-7901.