American Bar Association website for military families archived 2011 launch

The material in this article is general legal information for educational use only. It should not be treated as legal, financial, or tax advice, and reading it does not form an attorney-client relationship. Legal rules vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Questions about a specific matter belong with a qualified professional. The author and publisher disclaim liability for actions taken in reliance on this content.

Key Facts

Federal level: 50 U.S.C. § 3901 states the chapter may be cited as the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
National overview: The ABA described ABA Home Front as an information center where servicemembers and military families could find resources for understanding legal issues and obtaining legal assistance.
National overview: In the ABA’s 2011 framing, ABA Home Front was also described as featuring information about the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act and a directory of programs providing legal services to military families.
National overview: The ABA’s 2011 launch description included plans to expand topics such as landlord-tenant disputes, health law, immigration, contracts and leases, and employment law.
National overview: The current ABA Home Front landing page describes an Information Center and a Directory of Programs with state-by-state listings and a focus on helping military families.
National overview: Military OneSource describes free legal assistance services and says the Legal Assistance Office can help with legal paperwork and legal information across multiple categories.
National overview: Military OneSource describes planning document support such as a last will and testament, power of attorney, and living will.
National overview: Military OneSource describes a referral path to the ABA Military Pro Bono Project for more advanced or in-depth assistance.

Last reviewed: May 2026. Legal rules, forms, deadlines, and procedures can change by jurisdiction, agency, and court system.

Contents

What the 2011 announcement said ABA Home Front would do
What ABA Home Front current pages emphasize
Why SCRA is a useful legal anchor inside the archive
2011 launch framing versus current landing page emphasis
How Military OneSource describes the broader legal assistance pathway
Where the ABA Military Pro Bono Project fits
Related legal information
Sources

This archive recovery preserves what the American Bar Association (ABA) said in early May 2011 about launching ABA Home Front for servicemembers and military families. The Sources in this archive recovery are ABA pages, Military OneSource guidance, and 50 U.S.C. § 3901, and the focus stays on informational and referral framing rather than individualized legal advice.

What the 2011 announcement said ABA Home Front would do

In early May 2011, an ABA Washington Letter described ABA Home Front as “a new website providing an information center where servicemembers and military families can find resources for understanding legal issues and obtaining legal assistance for their problems.” The same ABA publication also described the site as featuring information about the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act and including “a directory of programs providing legal services to military families.”

The 2011 ABA framing also described expansion plans for additional legal topics. The Washington Letter stated that the site would be expanded to include additional information about “landlord-tenant disputes, health law, immigration, contracts and leases, and employment law.”

What ABA Home Front current pages emphasize

The current ABA Home Front project page describes two main components: a Directory of Programs and an Information Center. The page explains that the Directory of Programs is focused on resources and programs specializing in helping military families and that the directory includes state-by-state listings with income or service-based restrictions. The same page describes the Information Center as easy-to-understand material covering a variety of legal issues military families face, including custody issues and “dealing with your mortgage company while deployed.”

ABA also presents SCRA content as part of the Home Front information materials. The ABA’s SCRA information-center page states that the section covers “the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and the protections and rights available to active-duty servicemembers and their families under this federal law.”

Why SCRA is a useful legal anchor inside the archive

The SCRA is federal, which helps readers separate a defined federal reference point from broader legal-topic categories discussed in connection with military-family legal help. Federal statutory text provides the chapter’s short title in 50 U.S.C. § 3901, stating: “This chapter may be cited as the “Servicemembers Civil Relief Act”.” That short-title language supports treating SCRA materials as a defined federal chapter rather than as a general label for military legal assistance topics.

2011 launch framing versus current landing page emphasis

The table below distinguishes the 2011 launch description from what current ABA Home Front pages visibly emphasize in their own descriptions.

Topic	2011 ABA launch/plan language	What current ABA Home Front pages emphasize in the cited excerpts
Purpose and format	ABA Home Front framed as an “information center” plus a “directory of programs” for legal assistance	Current ABA Home Front page describes a Directory of Programs and an Information Center with easy-to-understand issue coverage
SCRA connection	ABA Home Front included SCRA-related information	ABA’s SCRA section explicitly covers SCRA protections and rights under federal law
Legal-topic expansion scope	ABA said the site would expand to include landlord-tenant disputes, health law, immigration, contracts and leases, and employment law	The current landing-page excerpt highlights examples like custody and issues involving a mortgage company while deployed, and it describes state-by-state directory restrictions rather than repeating the full 2011 expansion list

This archive recovery does not treat the current landing-page excerpt as proof that every 2011 named topic remains organized in the same way; it treats the excerpt as proof of what the current page visibly emphasizes.

How Military OneSource describes the broader legal assistance pathway

Military OneSource describes a related ecosystem for legal assistance to servicemembers and families. On Military OneSource’s legal-assistance overview page, the program is described as offering “free legal assistance services,” and it explains that a “Legal Assistance Office can help you with legal paperwork and information on many issues.” Military OneSource also lists example categories of support, including “Lease and rental contract reviews,” “Notary services,” “Consumer issues,” “Immigration and naturalization,” and “Civil lawsuits” in “limited cases.”

Military OneSource also describes support for planning documents, listing examples that include “Last will and testament,” “Power of attorney,” and “Living will.” These examples keep the emphasis on legal paperwork and planning-document support within stated limits.

Where the ABA Military Pro Bono Project fits

Military OneSource’s overview describes a referral path that connects the military legal-assistance ecosystem to the ABA’s broader pro bono capacity. It states that legal paperwork may “refer you… to the American Bar Association’s Military Pro Bono Project for more advanced and in-depth assistance.”

An ABA Journal article describing the ABA Military Pro Bono Project further characterizes how the program operates. The article says the program was launched in 2008 by the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel, and it states that the program “accepts case referrals from military attorneys” and then “places these cases with pro bono lawyers.”