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How does a widow qualify for DIC VA benefits if her deceased husband was a veteran? - YouTube
Channel: WoodsWoodsLaw
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We're going to talk today about DIC benefits
for widows.
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Hi, I'm Lori Underwood, an attorney at Woods
and Woods.
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As a spouse of a deceased veteran, you may
be eligible for thousands of dollars of benefits
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from the VA.
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In order to qualify for these benefits though
you need to prove that you are a spouse of
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the veteran.
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There are a number of different ways in which
you can do that and that's what we want to
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talk about right now.
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A spouse is first in line for DIC benefits
when it comes to the veteran's surviving family
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members.
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In order to be a qualifying spouse, you need
to number one, either be married to the veteran
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or number two, be in what is called a deemed
valid marriage to the veteran.
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What does deemed valid mean?
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That is determined by common law marriage
standards.
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You may be wondering I don't live in a common
law marriage state, so would I be eligible
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for a deemed valid AKA common law marriage
standard by the VA?
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The answer to that is yes.
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You do not have to live in a common law marriage
state in order to have a deemed valid marriage
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by the VA.
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All you need to do, regardless of where you
live, is be able to prove to the VA that you
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had a valid marriage with the veteran, even
if you did not undergo legal marriage proceedings.
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Now even if you can satisfy the legal marriage
requirement or the deemed valid marriage requirement,
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we have some other requirements we're going
to have to show the VA in order for you to
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meet the eligibility as spousal benefits for
DIC.
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Now some of those additional requirements
are one year of the valid marriage or the
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deemed valid marriage, so you're going to
have to be either married to the veteran for
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a year or holding yourself out as married
to the veteran for a year in that deemed valid
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marriage.
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The second requirement is that you had to
have continuously lived or cohabitated with
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the veteran for the length of your marriage.
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Now there are some caveats to this rule, which
we'll discuss in a few minutes, but that is
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the second requirement, second additional
requirement.
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The third additional requirement is that you
have not remarried to anyone else since the
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death of the veteran.
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A remarriage after the death of a veteran
will generally be a bar to any DIC benefits
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you may be eligible for.
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Under certain circumstances, you may be able
to prove an exception for the continuous cohabitation
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rule.
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A couple of those circumstances will be living
apart for medical reasons, so for medical
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reasons during your marriage, you and the
veteran had to live apart with no intention
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to desert each other.
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Another example would be marital discord,
where for certain reasons the widow and the
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veteran may have not been able to get along
at points in their marriage and they did not
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live together.
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It has to be shown that the widow was not
materially at fault for this marital discord,
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but that would also be an exception to the
continuous cohabitation rule.
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I do want to note that the monthly DIC benefit
for a spouse can generally be increased to
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compensate for a veteran's qualifying children,
so while you may be as a spouse eligible for
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a monthly benefit, which is statutorily set,
you may be eligible for more if you have surviving
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children of the veteran who are still dependent
on you.
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If you meet those requirements, that you're
a spouse, you were valid in a valid marriage
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with the veteran or a deemed valid marriage
with the veteran, if you have been married
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for at least a year prior to the veteran's
death, if you continuously cohabitated with
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the veteran and you have not remarried since
the veteran's death, then you have a claim
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for DIC.
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That in a nutshell is DIC eligibility for
widows.
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If you have any questions about DIC claims
or your eligibility as a widow of a veteran,
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fill out the form on this screen or give us
a call at Woods and Woods at the number below.
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