BVA’s Veterans Service Program (VSP) has a long and proud history of providing VA claims representation on a pro bono basis to veterans who have become blinded, their families, and survivors. Just like benefits claims for living veterans, death benefits claims come in two varieties: compensation and pension. Remember that compensation always means service connected and pension always means nonservice connected.
The Survivor’s Pension may be paid to the unremarried surviving spouse of a war-time veteran at the basic monthly rate of $14,529 and an Aid and Attendance rate of $21,166. As with the veterans’ pensions, any other income reduces the monthly entitlement and there are limits on net worth. Other surviving dependents may also be eligible to apply.
There are several ways to become eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). In the first instance, a service member’s demise occurred during active duty. The individual never even received a chance to be called veteran. We do not receive many of these in the VSP office.
More commonly, DIC benefits may be allowed when the veteran’s cause of death can be linked to service. Ideally, the illness causing death has already been deemed service-connected and is listed on the death certificates as the cause of death, or at least an underlying factor.
Many times, a veteran has never filed a claim on a lethal condition. The DIC benefit may still be allowed if we can show that the condition resulted from an environmental exposure in service, either presumptively under the PACT Act or with a good medical nexus opinion.
When we find no link between the cause of death and service, there may still be a successful DIC claim if a veteran has a total service-connected rating for ten years or more.
The basic DIC rate is $1,612.75 per month, adding $399.54 with the need for Aid and Attendance. The eight-year provision, known as the Kicker, adds an additional $342.46 if the veteran had a total disability compensation rating of 100 percent, including individual unemployability for the last eight years of life and if the claimant was married to the veteran for those eight years. Additional benefits may also be paid for the claimant’s dependent children.
A grant of DIC benefits also comes with healthcare eligibility and education benefits. The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) provides healthcare benefits to eligible surviving dependents, and Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (also called Chapter 35) provides education benefits.
Generally, when a claimant presenting a case before VA passes away, the claim or appeal also dies, and the file is closed. However, the surviving spouse or dependent may ask to be substituted as the claimant if requested in a timely manner on the proper form.
Further, to represent the survivor of a blinded veteran in a death benefits claim, BVA must be designated as the legal representative so that we may have access to the claims file and act on the claimant’s behalf when appropriate.
As always, please contact the VSP for more information at https://bva.org/claims/assistance/.
