§1044. Legal assistance

(a) Subject to the availability of legal staff resources, the Secretary concerned may provide legal assistance in connection with their personal civil legal affairs to the following persons:

(1) Members of the armed forces who are on active duty.

(2) Members and former members entitled to retired or retainer pay or equivalent pay.

(3) Officers of the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service who are on active duty or entitled to retired or equivalent pay.

(4) Dependents of members and former members described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3).

(b) Under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary concerned, the Judge Advocate General (as defined in section 801(1) of this title) under the jurisdiction of the Secretary is responsible for the establishment and supervision of legal assistance programs under this section.

(c) This section does not authorize legal counsel to be provided to represent a member or former member of the uniformed services described in subsection (a), or the dependent of such a member or former member, in a legal proceeding if the member or former member can afford legal fees for such representation without undue hardship.

(d) The Secretary concerned shall define "dependent" for the purposes of this section.

(Added Pub. L. 98–525, title VI, §651(a), Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2549 ; amended Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title V, §583, Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2538 .)

Amendments

1996-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–201, §583(d)(1), substituted "to the following persons:" for "to-" in introductory provisions.

Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 104–201, §583(c), (d)(2), (3), substituted "Members" for "members", struck out "under his jurisdiction" after "armed forces", and substituted a period for the semicolon at end.

Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 104–201, §583(c), (d)(2), (4), substituted "Members and" for "members and", struck out "under his jurisdiction" after "former members", and substituted a period for "; and" at end.

Subsec. (a)(3), (4). Pub. L. 104–201, §583(a), added pars. (3) and (4) and struck out former par. (3) which read as follows: "dependents of members and former members described in clauses (1) and (2)."

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–201, §583(b), substituted "uniformed services described in subsection (a)" for "armed forces" and inserted "such" after "dependent of".

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in sections 1044a, 1044c, 1052 of this title; title 14 section 514.