I've been reading about Caesar and how he managed to keep his legions fighting even after they'd technically completed their service, where they would have got their 3,000 denarii and a piece of farmland. He did so with a promise of more gold at the end.
And it got me thinking - it would be an absolute pain, and unfair, if a legionary were to die in battle in this extended service, and his family didn't get the 3,000 denarii, all of his back pay, the land, so on and so forth. I imagine this money and land was a really big deal for your average family - the sort of legacy that could change their lives for generations.
More generally it would be quite unfair too if a legionary in another legion, doing his regular service was, say, six months away from completing said service, got killed by a stray arrow, and his family got nothing.
Was there some sort of mechanism for ensuring proper compensation for families, and/or recognition of partially completed service?
Also, bonus question: did the legionaries have a way of sending their salary home, or somehow "banking it", while they were on campaign? Or did they just have to keep all their gold safe?
There are a few previous question you can cobble together to answer most of this. Someone may come in and give you a comprehensive answer, but in the meantime...
How did the wives of roman soldiers learn of their husbands deaths? in which /u/Celebreth explains how Roman soldiers couldn't get married, so for the most part it wasn't an issue.
Roman legionaries enlisted for a service of 25 years in the army. Were they periodically granted leave to visit their families? If so, how did the state deal with those who deserted while on leave? in which /u/Astrogator goes into more detail about the different circumstances where a soldier could have a family, although it still doesn't touch on whether these families had any legal rights to the soldier's pay.
I have just joined the Roman Army. What is my life going to be like from now on? in which we have /u/Celebreth again explaining some of the mechanics of how soldiers were paid.