10 U.S.C. § 1044B
Section 1044b · Military powers of attorney: requirement for recognition by States
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Bartholomew v. Blevins (2012)
Most recently applied in 193 So. 3d 644 - Lennie W. Dingler v. Martha Patricia Ferguson (November 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Instruments To Be Given Legal Effect Without Regard to State Law.—A military power of attorney—
(1) is exempt from any requirement of form, substance, formality, or recording that is provided for powers of attorney under the laws of a State; and
(2) shall be given the same legal effect as a power of attorney prepared and executed in accordance with the laws of the State concerned.
(b) Military Power of Attorney.—For purposes of this section, a military power of attorney is any general or special power of attorney that is notarized in accordance with section 1044a of this title or other applicable State or Federal law.
(c) Statement To Be Included.—(1) Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, each military power of attorney shall contain a statement that sets forth the provisions of subsection (a).
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not be construed to make inapplicable the provisions of subsection (a) to a military power of attorney that does not include a statement described in that paragraph.
(d) State Defined.—In this section, the term “State” includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and a possession of the United States.