THE VETERANS' PRESS: Hey veterans, did you know?

Did you know… your VA Disability Compensation Benefits are NOT transferable when the vet passes!

Here at the joint Kootenai County/Idaho Division of Veterans Services Office, we receive numerous calls from veterans, surviving spouses and even family members asking for and/or expecting a percentage of a deceased veteran’s disability compensation benefits to be transferred to them because they are under the belief that is the rule. This is absolutely NOT true! All the Veteran’s Disability Compensation and/or Veteran’s Pension benefits STOP upon the death of the veteran — effectively ending the benefit!

This is very important to know and here’s why — if a veteran passes, and he/she is receiving let’s say 90% disability compensation, which is about $2,000 in monthly compensation payments, the surviving spouse should plan to live without that amount upon the veteran’s death. Note, the veteran’s death has to be reported to the VA within 30 days of death. Be aware that the VA will take back all overpayments from the account all at once if the death is not reported and the benefit does not stop in a timely manner.

Now, that doesn’t mean all of our surviving spouses of veterans, including legal dependent family members of the veteran, will be left without benefits when their warrior passes on. The VA provides two key programs that surviving spouses or dependent children may qualify for that are independent benefits. Unfortunately, many will not be eligible, or qualify for these benefits described below.

1) Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC): A monthly benefit paid to eligible survivors such as spouses and legally dependent family members of:

• Service members who died while on active duty, OR

• Veterans whose death resulted from a service-connected injury or disease, OR

• Veterans who died from non-service-connected disabilities and were 100% service connected for at least 10 years preceding their death.

2) Survivors Pension (with Aid and Attendance): A low income subsidy that may pay up to $14,742 annually.

• A surviving spouse is eligible if the deceased veteran served during a War-Time period.

• Designed to help defray non-reimbursable medical expenses (e.g. Assisted Living).

• Income and Expense dependent benefit.

Contact your local VSO for more details on eligibility and qualifications for survivor benefits.

If you get anything out of this article, “Disability compensation payments stop and are not transferable when the veteran dies and surviving spouses may be eligible for a VA survivors benefit!”