ptsd I Feel So Lost.....incompetent?

[vistagirl81]

My husband got his letter today... 50% PTSD with depression and 10% for tinnitis, 0% headaches and 0% hemorrhoids.... i will appeal the last 2, but they have stated that he will be Declared Incompetent?? why is that all they asked him is who did the finances and he said I did... yes i do, he was deployed more that half our marriage... he just got back 7 mo ago.... i told his psyc. he was not.. he is just very depressed and losses his memory at times ect.... we are trying to work on that....And now we are getting a letter saying they are withholding his money because he was given seperation pay when he left, 9000,he was given 6000, was not the seperation pay for the 8 years he served in the military??Why do they want that back, it is not as though he was medically retired or medically discharged, can someone please tell me about all this....and why is he 50% if he is incompetent.... i have never seen anything like this.. not even a year ago he was competent enough to get deployed, comes home and now he is not copetent enough to handle his own finances.

[Pete53]

I don't see how the VA can rate him 50% and incompetent at same time. It makes no sense at all. If he is not working he should be 100%

Good Luck

[vistagirl81]

it does not make any logical sense to me either...when he called them they said that they are waiting for information from his Dr's to make a decision....they got all his Dr's notes when he filled a claim.. we just got back from the VARO st louis and the person we talked to said we had to file paperwork stating that he left the military HYT not medically discharged or retired..I hope that matters because HYT is seperation pay for time served and compensation is for the injuries he recieved while in service.. i dont know how they both are the same thing...the person said" a givernment agency can not pay a vet for the same thing"..

[Pete53]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but the VA will collect any money given by the Military when discharged for a medical reason. Its not fair but that is what they do.

I am not sure but it is possible you can qualify for some sort of hardship.

Good Luck

[sharon]

To avoid duplication of benefits resulting from the special separation benefits program, section 1174a(g) makes the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 1174(h)(2) applicable to special separation benefits. Section 1174(h)(2) states that a member who has received separation pay based on service in the Armed Forces shall not be deprived, by reason of his receipt of such pay, of any disability compensation to which he is entitled under the laws administered by VA, but there shall be deducted from that disability compensation an amount equal to the total amount of separation pay received. In Public Law 104-201, section 653,

Congress amended section 1174(h)(2) by providing that the amount deducted from disability compensation would be the total amount of separation pay received less the amount of Federal income tax withheld from such pay (such withholding being at the flat withholding rate for

Federal income tax withholding). This amendment was made applicable to payments of separation pay made after September 30, 1996.

In 1998, Congress enacted Public Law 105-178, section 8208, which extended the applicability of the amendment made by Public Law 104-201 to any payment of special separation benefits under section 1174a made during the period beginning on December 5, 1991, and ending on

September 30, 1996.

In 2002, VA revised its regulation concerning concurrent benefits, 38 CFR 3.700, to incorporate the offset requirements, including the reduction of the amount of offset by the amount of Federal income tax withheld from separation pay or special separation benefits. 67 FR 60867 (Sept. 27, 2002). However, VA did not specify that the reduction for Federal income tax withheld was applicable to payments of special separation benefits made on or after December 5, 1991. Nonetheless,

VA's practice has been to recoup the after-tax amount since December 5, 1991. We are now amending the regulation to conform to the statute and current practice. We are amending Sec. 3.700(a)(5) by creating a new

Sec. 3.700(a)(5)(iii) that will address special separation benefits, and we will remove the special separation benefits references from current Sec. 3.700(a)(5)(i).

We will also add a clarification in Sec. 3.700(a)(5) for both separation pay and special separation benefits that the Federal income tax withholding amount is at the flat withholding rate for Federal income tax withholding, to ensure the regulations accurately reflect the statute.

[sharon]

This is only a proposal to find incompetent. Have a doctor say that he can handle his money. You have a time limit to respond.

[Berta]

I too am baffled by the incompetency crap here -

in some cases it is a good idea and protects the vet- but I have never seen it unless they award TDIU (and they usually only do it when the retro check is large)

Sharon is right-fight it-

and any vet getting an IMO for a PTSD claim or any mental disability- get the IMO doc to state emphatically that you are not incompetent right from the git go.

"not even a year ago he was competent enough to get deployed, comes home and now he is not copetent enough to handle his own finances."

Your logic is vastly better then theirs here.Since they are recouping the separation pay-anyhow-

I am assuming they are saying the 50% renders him incompetent?

That means he has 50% left to be competent with.

There are no competency percentages.This is BS.

NVLSP advices to ask for hearings at the RO when they propose incompetency.

Is the VA considering him at all for TDIU comp?

Pete is right-I dont get it- if a vet is truly incompetent due to service disability, the VA is saying they are unemployable due to service disability.

Do they have his filled out TDIU form or did they infer TDIU at all?

what does this mean?

"it does not make any logical sense to me either...when he called them they said that they are waiting for information from his Dr's to make a decision"

a decision on what? maybe this is not in granite yet???? I have never seen anything like this one before.

Gee if I was a vet and 50% incompetent due to PTSD that means my daughter could be payee for half my bills and I would have to handle the rest of the bills.So she would get half my comp and I would still get the other half ?

I know how ridiculous that sounds.

As ridiculous as this decision.

You could possibly ask them to CUE themselves

but I wonder what decision from the docs they are waiting for.