Adding Child To Va Comp

[Bound4heaven]

Greetings,

I am trying to locate the VA form to add an child to a veterans VA comp (dependent). Any help would be wounderful. Thank you and God bless.

Bound4Heaven

[carlie]

http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-686c-ARE.pdf

Hope this helps a vet.

carlie

[Bound4heaven]

Thank you!

[deltaj]

Greetings,

I am trying to locate the VA form to add an child to a veterans VA comp (dependent). Any help would be wounderful. Thank you and God bless.

Bound4Heaven

If you have had a recent V.A. decision, a completed declaration of status of dependents form must be completed and sent to V.A. within one year of V.A.'s decision under 38 USC 5110 (f).

[broncovet]

Delta...

Good JOB! I always wondered how the VA got away with requiring TWO forms for dependency. One 21-526 and then the other one, 21-686 C, which seemed redundant.

That is, why do you have to tell the VA TWICE that you have dependents?

This "2 form requirement" seems to conflict with Roberson vs Principi which states, "The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims rejected the government’s argument because such a position “loses sight of VA’s congressional mandate that VA is to ‘fully and sympathetically develop the veterans’ claim to its optimum before deciding it on its merits.’” Id. at 420 (citing Hodge v. West, 155 F.3d 1356, 1362-63 (Fed. Cir. 1998)). In addition, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims stated that developing a claim “to its optimum” must include determining all potential claims raised by the evidence and applying all relevant law and regulation raised by that evidence regardless of how the claim is identified." Id.

I am interpreting Roberson, to mean that the VA would have to pay the (dependents) claim, even if the the Vet wrote his dependents on a napkin and sent in their birth certificates. That is, the Veteran would NOT have to fill out TWO application forms, the 21-526, and the 21-686C, to get dependents benefits.

[Papa]

Please do not make the same stupid mistake that I did, and just mail in the form. Use certified mail. I mailed it, and then had to fax it again. Lesson learned the hard way.

Papa