Free wills event for first responders and veterans comes to Park City

Police headquarters in Park City will turn into a free estate-planning clinic on Saturday, May 30, 2026, giving eligible first responders, veterans and military personnel in Summit and Wasatch counties a chance to put wills and powers of attorney in place before an emergency forces the issue.

The Utah State Bar’s Young Lawyers Division says the Wills for Heroes event at the Park City Police Department, 2060 Park Ave., will provide free wills, living wills, and healthcare and financial powers of attorney. The service is aimed at people whose jobs can expose them to sudden death or incapacity, a risk that can leave spouses and children sorting out medical decisions, finances and custody matters without basic legal documents ready to go.

The program’s eligibility rules are broad. According to the event information, sworn first responders qualify, including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officers and probation officers. Retired and volunteer first responders also qualify, and federal first responders are eligible. The event listing also includes spouses, domestic partners and, in the county-facing description, veterans and military personnel.

Each participant may schedule two appointments, one for themselves and one for a spouse or significant other. The Utah State Bar says the one-day clinics are held every other month at a first responder department or agency in Utah, and the foundation behind the effort says a typical appointment takes about an hour.

The process is designed to keep the legal work efficient. Participants are trained, then sit down at laptop computers loaded with specialized software. Volunteer attorneys use the completed questionnaires to turn them into estate-planning documents, a setup meant to make the service accessible to people who may not otherwise make time for a private appointment.

Wills for Heroes began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when attorney Anthony Hayes started the program after emailing the Columbia Fire Department in South Carolina to ask what lawyers could do to help. The Wills for Heroes Foundation says programs in 10 states have produced more than 7,000 free estate-planning documents, and the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division adopted it as its 2007-08 national public service program.

Park City Police Department, founded in 1884, is hosting the clinic as part of its community-oriented policing and outreach work. For families in Summit County, the event offers a chance to secure legal documents at no cost, before a crisis turns a planning task into a burden.