If you are stationed at Fort Carson, working at Peterson Space Force Base, supporting operations at Schriever, or employed as a civilian with the federal government in Colorado Springs, your estate planning situation is not the same as a standard civilian’s. The core documents are the same, a will, a trust, powers of attorney, a living will, but the questions you need to answer are different, and the stakes of getting them wrong are different too. Your government benefits package intersects with your estate plan in ways most people never think about until something goes wrong.

Colorado Springs has one of the largest concentrations of active duty, reserve, and retired military personnel and federal civilian employees in the country. That population deserves estate planning guidance that accounts for military life, not just a generic will signed before a deployment and never looked at again. This post covers what makes military and federal employee estate planning distinct, which accounts and benefits you need to address specifically, and why reviewing your plan after a PCS move to Colorado is worth doing sooner rather than later. If you want a broader look at how estate planning needs to shift across a military career, our earlier guide on your military life in stages covers that ground well.

Why Colorado Springs Military Families Need a Specialized Estate Plan

A standard estate plan covers who gets your assets, who makes decisions if you cannot, and how to avoid or simplify probate. For most families, that covers it.

For military families and federal employees, the list goes further. You have government-provided life insurance that operates entirely outside your estate. You have retirement accounts governed by federal law, not Colorado law. You may face deployment or extended leave that creates real incapacity risks on a timeline that does not allow for delays. And if you move frequently, estate planning documents from another state may not reflect Colorado’s requirements or your current family situation.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Colorado Springs is home to more than 40,000 active duty service members and their families, plus tens of thousands more in federal civilian roles supporting military operations. Most have SGLI coverage, TSP accounts, or FEGLI enrollment, all of which require coordination with the rest of a complete estate plan.

What Makes Estate Planning Different for Military and Federal Employees?

The biggest difference is that military and federal benefits sit outside the typical estate planning structure. Your will does not control where your SGLI proceeds go. Your trust does not automatically capture your TSP. These accounts pay to whoever you named as beneficiary, and if that designation is outdated or missing, the results can be legally messy and financially painful for the people you were trying to protect.

SGLI (Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance)

Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance provides up to $500,000 in coverage for eligible service members. It pays directly to the named beneficiary, outside of probate, outside of your will, and outside of any trust you may have created (unless you designate your trust as a beneficiary). That is a feature, not a flaw, but it requires that your SGLI beneficiary designation be current and intentional. If you married, divorced, had children, or lost a named beneficiary since you last updated your SGLI form, VA Form SGLV 8286 is where you fix that.

One situation families consistently miss: naming a minor child directly as the SGLI beneficiary. If a minor is named, the government cannot release the funds to the child. The proceeds go through a conservatorship process that requires court involvement in Colorado and can delay access to funds by months. The cleaner solution for parents of minor children is to set up and name a revocable living trust as the SGLI beneficiary, with the trust structured to manage and distribute the funds for the child’s benefit over time.

TSP (Thrift Savings Plan)

The TSP is a retirement savings account available to federal employees and uniformed service members. Like SGLI, it pays based on beneficiary designation, not your will or trust (unless you designate your trust as a beneficiary). The TSP has its own beneficiary hierarchy: if you have a surviving spouse, the TSP pays to them regardless of what your beneficiary designation says, unless your spouse waives that right in writing using Form TSP-17. Log into tsp.gov and review your designation. If you named an ex-spouse, a spouse who is now deceased, a parent who has since passed away, or a minor child, you need to update your beneficiary designation right away.

FEGLI (Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance)

Federal civilian employees covered by the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance program face the same beneficiary designation issue. FEGLI pays to the named beneficiary regardless of your will. The default order of precedence when no beneficiary is named runs spouse first, then children, then parents.. If that order does not match what you want, Standard Form 2823 is the form to file.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides certain financial and legal protections for active duty members, including protections on interest rates, civil court proceedings, and lease terminations. It is not directly an estate planning tool, but it affects what can happen to your financial obligations if you are deployed and become incapacitated. A durable financial power of attorney naming a trusted agent is what lets someone manage your accounts, pay your bills, and handle financial decisions on your behalf while you are overseas or unable to act. Without one, even your spouse may face restrictions on accounts held solely in your name.

Planning for Deployment and Incapacity

Deployment creates a specific kind of estate planning urgency. You need someone legally authorized to handle financial and medical decisions in your absence, and you need that authorization in place before you leave, not afterward.

Two documents every service member should have before deployment:

Durable Financial Power of Attorney: Names someone to manage your finances while you are gone, including paying bills, filing taxes, managing bank and investment accounts, and handling real estate. This is separate from any military power of attorney you may have signed on base, which is typically narrow in scope and limited in time. Our complete guide to powers of attorney in Colorado walks through exactly what this document covers and how to make sure yours is valid.

Medical Power of Attorney (Healthcare Directive): Names someone to make medical decisions if you are injured and cannot speak for yourself. Your living will states what interventions you want or do not want in an end-of-life scenario. Your medical power of attorney names who communicates those wishes and makes real-time decisions.

A valid Colorado power of attorney for property must be signed and notarized. Powers of attorney executed under the Uniform Military and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act are recognized in Colorado courts, but if you have an existing POA drafted in another state, confirming it meets Colorado’s requirements under C.R.S. § 15-14-701 et seq. before you rely on it is worth the hour it takes.

Should Military Families Use a Living Trust?

This depends on what you own, who are your beneficiaries, and where you own property. For military families who move frequently, a revocable living trust has real advantages that a will alone cannot match.

A trust holds your assets during your lifetime and avoids the need for probate for that property if you pass. If you own real estate in Colorado and have property or accounts in another state, your estate could face probate proceedings in multiple states without a trust in place. A properly funded living trust eliminates that complication entirely. It also addresses incapacity more cleanly than a will does. If you become incapacitated overseas or stateside, your successor trustee can step in and manage trust assets without court involvement, which is faster and far less expensive than a conservatorship proceeding.

One practical consideration for military families: transferring your home into the trust is an important step that many people overlook after creating one, especially after one or more moves. If you buy a Colorado home and do not re-title it in the trust’s name, that property still goes through probate. Our post on how to transfer a home into a living trust in Colorado covers the process in detail.

The trade-off is that a trust requires ongoing attention as you move and your assets change. Our office can help you work through whether a trust fits your specific situation.

PCS Moves and Your Colorado Estate Plan

If you recently PCS’d to Colorado from another state, your existing documents may be valid but may not reflect Colorado law or your current circumstances. A will executed in another state is generally valid in Colorado if it was valid where it was made, but your named executor, guardian, or agent may have changed since you last updated it. PCS moves often come with changes in family size, assets, and the people you trust most. Our overview of essential estate planning documents every Colorado resident needs is a useful checklist for anyone new to the state.

Powers of attorney carry more risk. Some states use specific statutory language that Colorado courts expect to see for real property transactions, and a POA that works fine in one state may create complications here. Living wills and healthcare directives are generally portable, but Colorado’s specific form includes language that Colorado providers recognize and are comfortable honoring, which removes ambiguity at the moment when ambiguity is most costly.

What This Means for You

Military service creates a level of unpredictability that makes estate planning more necessary, not less. The good news is that most of what needs to be done is not complicated: update your beneficiary designations on SGLI, TSP, and FEGLI, make sure you have a current power of attorney before your next deployment, and confirm your Colorado documents are in order after a PCS move.

If you are active duty, reserve, a veteran, or a federal civilian employee, we thank you for your your service, and we honor you with a 10% discount on all services.   If you have not reviewed your estate plan in the past two years, The Law Office of Kevin R. Hancock is here to help. We work with military families across Colorado Springs and the Front Range and understand how your benefits and your estate plan need to work together. Call or fill out an online form to schedule a consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do military service members need a will if they have SGLI coverage?

Yes. SGLI pays to your named beneficiary outside of probate, but a will covers everything else: personal property, vehicles, accounts without beneficiary designations, and most importantly, who you want to raise your minor children. Naming a guardian for your children can only be done in a will, and SGLI does not address that at all.

What happens to TSP funds if a service member dies without a beneficiary designation?

The TSP pays in a set order: surviving spouse first, then children in equal shares, then parents in equal shares, then the estate. If your estate receives the funds, they go through probate. Naming a beneficiary directly on your TSP account bypasses that process entirely.

Can federal civilian employees in Colorado Springs use a living trust to avoid probate?

Yes. A properly funded revocable living trust avoids probate on the assets held within it, regardless of whether you are a civilian or military. FEGLI and TSP accounts pass outside the trust based on beneficiary designation, so the trust covers real estate, bank accounts, investment accounts, and personal property.

What is a military power of attorney and how is it different from a standard Colorado POA?

A military power of attorney is executed under 10 U.S.C. § 1044b using military notary services on base. It is legally valid and recognized in Colorado, but it is often limited to specific actions or time periods. A durable financial power of attorney drafted under Colorado law offers broader authority and does not expire on a set date.

Does the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act affect estate planning?

The SCRA provides some protection against civil court proceedings while you are on active duty, but it does not replace estate planning documents. It does not prevent probate from opening after death, does not name an agent to manage your finances during deployment, and does not protect your dependents if you are incapacitated. A complete estate plan addresses all of those gaps.

Should military families update their estate plan after a PCS move to Colorado?

Yes, particularly if you are buying real estate, if your family situation has changed, or if your existing documents are more than two years old. Colorado law does not require you to redo valid out-of-state documents, but a review confirms they still reflect your wishes and will work the way you intend. Our post on how often you should update your estate plan covers the key triggers in detail.