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Incompetency Issues
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Berta
from : http://www.vawatchdogtoday.org/
Re: Freeman V Shinseki
"The Freeman case stands to change the way the VA views fiduciary-related matters.
Currently, a veteran who has been found incompetent and appointed a VA fiduciary has no say in the appointment process nor any recourse whatsoever if he or she wants a different fiduciary, is having problems with the VA fiduciary, etc. This is because the VA currently interprets the law regarding fiduciary-related matters (38 USC section 5502) as being at the Secretary's discretion.
The Freeman case is important because it stands to show how fiduciary-related issues "affect the provision of benefits" to a veteran and therefore must be able to be reviewed by the Board of Veterans' Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Given that the VA's Fiduciary Program only has some 102,000 beneficiaries (according to VA OIG report from Mar 2010), the outcome of this case will not affect many veterans.
But, for this group of veterans, if the outcome is favorable for Mr. Freeman, then this case will improve all incompetent veterans' rights to say who can control their VA benefits."
Katrina Eagle, Esq.
President, National Organization of Veterans Advocates, Inc.
There is considerable info at the VAWatchdogToday site on this issue.I was astonished to learn that VA is even quibbling with fiduciary expenses even when the fiduciary is the veteran's spouse.
Often the VA is completely correct in determining the veteran needs a fiduciary but allows the veteran no control whatsoever over his/her money.
We read some time ago how some lawyers were stealing veteran's comp as their trusted fiduciarys. If the Freeman Case succeeds,this important issue will have some resolve and give more vets their rights back to control their VA comp.
One commenter at VAWatchdogtoday made a good point- although the commenter was not affected by these fiduciary laws- one never knows when any VA claimant could be deemed incompetent by the VA. It could be a careless disregard by a C & P examiner for evidence of competence and suddenly either the vet's anticipated retro is threatened or their monthly comp check is.
I suggested in the IMO forum that any vet getting an IMO for a mental disability cl;aim, also have the IMO doc state they consider you as fully competent to handle your own funds.
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