Reps

[Berta]

NVLSP always makes the point in the VBM that many survivors could potentially be eligible for the REPS benefit if the veteran had children under 18 when they died.

The REPS application is part of the DIC app.

SSA stops the payment to a survivor on behalf of a child of a deceased parent -when the child turns 16.

REPS -The Restored Entitlement Program -provides upon proof of direct SC death, a restoration of this benefit.

In other words- when I succeed on my AO claim-the VA has my REPS application and will owe me 2 years of SSA benefits (The amount that the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of Congress stopped in 1981 )

for the two years from age 16 to 18 that the SSA dropped me from.This is an amount of about $20,000 in my case.

I hope that if a vet rep helps a widow fill out the 21-526-that they make sure if their are children receiving SSA due to the veteran's death- that they have the widow fill out this part of the DIC form.

[Berta]

Here is the actual REPS reg- I forgot about the expanded student dates.

The Restored Entitlement Program for Survivors (REPS)

provides for the payment of a special allowance to dependents

of certain deceased veterans, as a replacement for Social

Security Administration (SSA) student benefits which were

either reduced or terminated by provisions of the Omnibus

Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. 38 C.F.R. § 3.812; see

Pub. L. 97-377, § 156, 96 Stat. 1830, 1920 (1982).

Eligibility for these educational assistance benefits is

limited to unmarried full-time students between the ages of

18 and 22 whose parent died while on active duty before

August 13, 1981, or who died as a result of a service-

connected disability incurred before August 13, 1981. 38

C.F.R. § 3.812.

A service connected disability incurred before August 13,1981--as NVLSP states means- this could involve a REPS benefit due to the death of any servicemember who was discharged prior to Aug 13,1981.Even if the veteran's death is not service connected until decades after the fact- still the survivor or the child would have eligibility for this benefit as all direct SC deaths are to have incurred due to a SC disability.

[Pete53]

There are literally millions who do not get benefits that they are entitled to from the VA.

[john999]

When I was a kid I swear my mother got some kind of benefit from the VA for the family after my father died. He did not die of a SC condition, but we still got some sort of benefit. This was back in the 1950's and 1960's. She got SSA benefits as well because she did not work until I was about 14 and my father died when I was 6. Were benefits of those sort reduced or done away with later?

I do believe that many thousands of vets and survivors don't get benefits, especially poor and/or homeless vets. In order to get benefits you have to be in one place long enough to apply and go through the process. How does a homeless vet file a claim and go through all the BS that we here on Hadit have to do? It is hard enough when you have expert advise.

[Berta]

John- SSA used to pay survivors benefits to children of deceased workers up to the age of 22 I believe-as long as they were still in school.

In 1981 Pres. Reagan signed the Omnibus Reconciliation Act which stopped the SSA Benefits after the age of 16.

I was widowed that same year by my other Vet husband and had a friend whose husband was a USAF retiree who died with a son aonly able to get a few months of SSA survivors benefits.

Somehow the VA did the right thing by establishing the REPS benefit-

it is a SSA program but surviving children under the Regs for REPS can now attain those lost benefits (or their parents can)

I have seen some cases at the BVA where children of vets who were over 18 applied for REPS themselves.

You are right-the VA keeps millions -in my opinion by making sure we dont know what we are really entitled to.

[deltaj]

When I was a kid I swear my mother got some kind of benefit from the VA for the family after my father died. He did not die of a SC condition, but we still got some sort of benefit. This was back in the 1950's and 1960's. She got SSA benefits as well because she did not work until I was about 14 and my father died when I was 6. Were benefits of those sort reduced or done away with later?

I do believe that many thousands of vets and survivors don't get benefits, especially poor and/or homeless vets. In order to get benefits you have to be in one place long enough to apply and go through the process. How does a homeless vet file a claim and go through all the BS that we here on Hadit have to do? It is hard enough when you have expert advise.

I am not sure about this but I think I've heard something about combat pension for widows, a benefit which I think was later abolished. Could that be what your mom received after your father's death.