Can I Get Dic Benefits If My Spouse's Death Was Non-service Connected?

Any disabled veteran moving through the U.S. Section of Veterans Diplomacy claims process knows that they need to prove service connection in order to receive VA benefits.

Merely is that always the case?

Monthly pensions are often among these benefits, and in some special cases, veterans may be eligible for non-service connected disability pensions. Hither's what veterans should know about this type of VA pension and the specific eligibility requirements.

Service-Continued vs. Not-Service Continued Benefits

Service-connected disabilities are divers as injuries or illnesses that are incurred in or aggravated by agile military service. A disability can also be service connected through "secondary" service connection. You lot can learn more than nearly secondary service connection here.

Many veterans are aware that when filing for VA disability benefits, they are entitled to file for service-connected compensation. However, many are unaware that there are disability benefits available for other disabling weather condition, even if they are not related to armed services service.

These benefits are known equally not-service connected alimony or simply known as veteran's pension. Bold that a veteran meets all of the requirements for a pension, he/she could authorize even if none of the disabling conditions are related to service.

non-service connected pension

A veteran may authorize for pension if he/she: (1) served during wartime, (2) has limited or no income, and (3) is age 65 and over, or if nether 65, is permanently and totally disabled. In add-on to these requirements, there is a length of service requirement (depending on the appointment the veteran entered active duty), the service must have been under other than dishonorable conditions, and the disabling atmospheric condition must not be the event of willful misconduct.

I will hash out three of the bones requirements for pension in this mail service.

Wartime Service

One might assume that this ways a veteran has to have really served in a war in order to be eligible. All the same, this assumption would be wrong. The wartime service requirement is fairly simple to meet as long the veteran's service was inside a qualifying period. Meaning, the veteran does not have to accept really gone to war, the veteran simply has to prove that his/her service was during a period of war. In 38 C.F.R.§3.ii, the VA gives the specific showtime and catastrophe dates of each qualifying wartime period. For example, the "Vietnam Era" encompasses the flow start on February 28, 1961, and ending on May seven, 1975 for veterans who served in the Commonwealth of Vietnam and from Baronial 5, 1964 through May 7, 1975 in all other cases.

non service connected pension

Express or No Income

A wartime veteran must meet the household income requirement in order to be eligible for pension. The VA volition consider the veteran's annual income, as well as the family unit income of his dependents, including spouses and children. Countable income includes earnings or wages, retirement payments, involvement and dividends, and some disability payments.

It is worth noting that fifty-fifty if a veteran has income that may announced to exist over the limit, it is possible that the VA may exist able to exclude some income from the calculation in sure circumstances, such equally if the veteran has qualifying unreimbursed medical expenses, certain educational expenses, if the veteran receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI benefits), etc. It is best for a veteran to list all sources of income when filing for pension, and the VA will determine whether or not the veteran is over the income and net worth limits.

Age 65 and Over

Veterans who are age 65 and over do not have to show they are permanently and totally disabled as long as they encounter the other requirements such as qualifying length of service, wartime service, express income, etc.

If Under Age 65, Must be Permanently and Totally Disabled

The VA determines permanent and full disability by considering several factors, such every bit whether the disabilities are likely to improve with appropriate handling, pertinent medical opinions regarding the permanency of the conditions, the length of whatever required hospital intendance, etc. For veterans under age 40, the VA looks at the issue of permanent and full disability with more scrutiny. For a veteran under xl, 38 C.F.R. § three.342 states that "permanence of total disability requires a finding that the end result of treatment and adjustment to remainder handicaps (rehabilitation) will be permanent inability of the required caste precluding more than marginal employment."

non service connected pension

Veterans entitled to alimony are paid based upon the Maximum Almanac Pension Rate (MAPR). The pension rates tin exist found on the VA'south website at http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/rates/pen01.htm. Every bit an example, as of December i, 2011, a veteran without a spouse or child is entitled to a maximum pension rate of $12,256 per year, and a veteran with one dependent would be entitled to $xvi,051 per yr. For each additional child, or if the veteran is housebound or requires aid and omnipresence, the amounts increase.

The lesson to have away is that a veteran may exist able to receive pension benefits based on the combination of his/her disabilities, including service and non-service connected conditions. It is important for the veteran to ever file for non-service connected alimony if there is a possibility that he/she may qualify. Even if a veteran is initially awarded based on disabilities that are not service connected, he/she tin always attempt to establish service connection at a later date. If a veteran is entitled to both service connected bounty and non-service connected alimony, the VA volition pay whichever of the two benefits results in the higher amount, non both.