After several long years and 100s of revisions, the Your Military Family’s Confidently Prepared™ Life Binder is finally available for purchase! This great tool will make your life more organized and provide a guide to help others help you if this is a situation. What Is This Binder? The Confidently Prepared™ Life Binder is a… | Read More…
Military Divorce: Stuff You Need To Know
Divorce is essentially a civilian matter. However, if either party is in the military or a veteran, there are certain aspects of military pay and benefits that need to be considered. All too often, I hear from one party who got the short end of a military divorce. Usually, that happens by accident. If the… | Read More…
Home of Record and State of Legal Residence: Things You Need To Know
The military can be confusing, with all its special terms and acronyms. One of the terms most often misused is home of record. The term comes up in questions about taxes and driver’s licenses and final moves. On rare occasions, when talking about final moves, it’s being used properly. The other 99.9% of the time,… | Read More…
Understanding The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act and How It Applies To State Taxes
Important note: This information was accurate at the time of publishing. The law has been further updated. For up-to-date information, see Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Text As It Applies To Spouses and Taxes. This article is remaining here for historical purposes. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA) is an important law, but it is very… | Read More…
How To Renew Your Driver’s License When You’re Out-of-State
Military families move around a lot, and that can make many things complicated. Thankfully, most states let you retain your out-of-state driver’s license if you are living elsewhere only because of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders. But what happens when your driver’s license is expiring? How can you renew it without traveling to that… | Read More…
Pilot Program Will Help Pay For In-Home Childcare For Military Families
Struggling to find workable childcare in five of the largest military communities in the United States? The Department of Defense is creating a pilot program to offer fee assistance for in-home care. As with all things DoD, there are a myriad number of requirements and rules to follow. First things first: No date has been… | Read More…
Do I Need A General or Specific Power of Attorney?
If you ask around about powers of attorney, you will hear all sorts of information, and lots of it contradicts itself. So, what is the real deal? When do you need a power of attorney, what kind do you need, etc? Every person has a different situation, so every person has a different answer. The… | Read More…
Social Security for Military Spouses – What You Need To Know
One of the MANY subjects on which I’ve seen some serious misinformation is about social security benefits for military spouses. This is sort of weird, because there are no special rules for military spouses. The rules are the same for all spouses. And it may be one of the largest streams of income in retirement…. | Read More…
Unemployment Benefits for Military Spouses
In many cases, military spouses who give up their jobs due to Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders may be eligible for unemployment benefits. At this time, 46 states offer unemployment benefits to military spouses who must leave their job due to a military move. The states that don’t offer this benefit are Idaho, Louisiana,… | Read More…
How To Get Your First Military Dependent ID Card
When your spouse joins the military, there’s a lot going on! You’re separated while they are at their basic military training, and they’re learning new things, and then there’s the military world to figure out. Or, your new spouse is already in the military and you’re learning a whole new life all at once! One… | Read More…