Deceased Veteran Pension & A&a & Housebound Question

[teejay53]

my husband passed away october 2009 and he was a sgt in the usmc and i filed for widow's pension, a&a, dic, housebound. i went to see a veteran rep at the local va office and was told to file for all these benefits.

i submitted to the va rep the following: 21-534, 21-4138 (financial hardship to expedite), 21-2680, medical source statements (2 of them stating because of severe medical issues i can not work any longer), copy of marriage license, copy of death certificate. all these things were faxed to the va on december 22, 2009. i am so confused trying to keep all this straight.

my question, would the information i had faxed to the va put my claim in the expedited catagory or is there any other information i should send to them? if a claim is expedited, what is the basic working time for such a claim?

thank you for your help.

B)

[teejay53]

can you share with me where the link you are speaking of, i will contact them thank you

[Berta]

http://www4.va.gov/survivors/

Their email contact thing is there as well as their phone number

[teejay53]

miss bertha;

thank you

B)

[teejay53]

ms. berta;

in the response to my post you said:

My claim for DIC was awarded in April but the VA didnt prepare the retro money or even mention it in their award letter.

can you share with me how long before april (when you began your benefits) did you receive your vacc letter?

thank you

[Berta]

My Agent Orange death claim was filed with the VA 7 years ago yesterday.

They have awarded the funeral expenses and just started to process my Chapter 35 award. This was for the tuition I paid from 2004 to 2007 when my previous Chap 35 award entitlement date ran out.

They have 3-4 other issues to award.

My previous DIC award was based on wrongful death and that took 3 years.

No I didnt get a legal VCAA letter at all. Widows should get a VCAA letter that refers to the Hupp decision and it should state exactly what evidence the VA needs.My REps at the time would not support me on the deficient VCAA letter.

I also received no VCAA response form nor was that listed as an enclosure.The deficient letter I got cam about 4 months after I filed the AO claim.

I filed a formal complaint against my reps with General COunsel and am satisfied with the outcome of that.

I knew what the VCAA letter should have said so I obtained 3 IMOs.The BVA found my rights had been violated as to DTA but I had mitigated that damage with the 3 IMOs.

I have been tenacious in letting the H VAC Chairman (Cong, Bob Filner) and anyone else in VA know that,by sending these deficient VCAA letters to vets and widows, the VA itself has created the backlog.

The VCAA letter should contained a highlighted statement as to what evidence they need.

For DIC claims for direct service connected death the BVA, in a widow's remand recently due to a VCAA violation,told the VARO to suggest the widow obtain an IMO to support her position in the claim.

In most widows cases (not all) this should be clearly stated in the VCAA letters to them (if the death is not an obvious service connectable death).

Please dont feel your claim will take as long as mine did.

I have been an outspoken critic of the VA for decades and some of that has probably impacted on my claim.

[teejay53]

ms. berta;

thank you for your answer. just thought i would ask. i have read where some widows have received their claim in an average of 7 weeks. i am just worried as i have no more information to send them ... i was told by a va rep that the information i sent was overkill ... i was not supposed to send utility bills showing agencies that have paid my electric bills since october 2009 (for hardship evidence). the rep told me the claim will take longer as the va will have to take the file out of rotaion to take the time to remove the utility bills and send them back to. i am really confused. would appreciate your imput on what they told me.