Subchapter VII. Further Relief
50 U.S.C. § 4022: Your Power of Attorney Survives Missing Status
Official heading: Power of attorney
In one line
Automatically extends a power of attorney you executed during service (or after receiving orders) that names a spouse, parent, or other relative, for as long as you are in missing status, unless the document says it expires regardless.
Text checked October 9, 2026
What § 4022 does to your money
Family finances often run on a power of attorney while a servicemember is away. If the servicemember goes missing and the document expires, bills, leases and bank accounts can freeze. Section 4022 automatically extends a power of attorney for the period you are in a missing status, if three conditions hold.
You signed it while in service, or before service but after receiving a call or order to report (or official notice that one could come). It names your spouse, a parent or another named relative as your attorney in fact. And it expires by its own terms after you entered missing status. A document that clearly says it expires on its stated date even if you later go missing is not extended.
For anyone deploying, a durable power of attorney with no expiration date avoids the question, and a military legal assistance office can prepare one. If you use a dated special power of attorney for a car sale or a lease, only this narrow missing-status extension can stretch it. Missing status takes its meaning from 37 U.S.C. § 551(2). The attorney in fact must be a spouse, parent or other named relative, so a power naming a friend or a business partner gets no extension.
The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 4022
From the United States Code, 2024 Edition, current through January 6, 2025, as published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on GovInfo (retrieved October 10, 2026). No amendment enacted after the edition cutoff was found on Cornell LII or in GovInfo’s compiled SCRA (amended through Pub. L. 118-159, Dec. 23, 2024). House style: the Code’s em dashes before a list are shown as colons, and en dashes as hyphens or “to”; no word of the text is changed.
(a) Automatic extension
A power of attorney of a servicemember shall be automatically extended for the period the servicemember is in a missing status (as defined in section 551(2) of title 37) if the power of attorney:
(1) was duly executed by the servicemember:
(A) while in military service; or
(B) before entry into military service but after the servicemember:
(i) received a call or order to report for military service; or
(ii) was notified by an official of the Department of Defense that the person could receive a call or order to report for military service;
(2) designates the servicemember's spouse, parent, or other named relative as the servicemember's attorney in fact for certain, specified, or all purposes; and
(3) expires by its terms after the servicemember entered a missing status.
(b) Limitation on power of attorney extension
A power of attorney executed by a servicemember may not be extended under subsection (a) if the document by its terms clearly indicates that the power granted expires on the date specified even though the servicemember, after the date of execution of the document, enters a missing status.
Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title VII, §702, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2861.)
Effective date: Section applicable to any case not final before Dec. 19, 2003, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108-189, set out as a note under section 3901 of this title.
Every section of the Act, including the short administrative ones without their own page, is on the section-by-section index.
Heads up: SCRA Saver publishes general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws change and every situation differs. Confirm details with your installation legal assistance office (free for service members) or a licensed professional.