Emily

[emily]

When I applied for widow pension in 1993, due to hardship, I had an income of $135 per month. For the next four years I was denied the benefits I was entitled. After my first hearing in late 1995, I was awarded a small pension, under widow in need, (hardship) I still had a child in school. The pension was about $300.00 per month. The RO made many mistakes. My mortgage was $350.00 per month. I was caregiver to my mother, she could not be left alone. That made me unable to work. She had four sons who were veterans, this made her eligible for benefits. When I applied for her, the RO did not know what I was talking about. They thought my youngest daughter was my mother. They never gave her the benefits she was entitled to. I wasn't about to confuse them anymore. I year they had my daughter making over $8,000.00, well she was in college. It took me one year to make them understand, she did not make that amount of money, but they did stop my monthly check. To make this short, in 1999 when I turned 60, I had no other choose but to take a reduced rate in Social Security. ON June 14, 2004 I was awarded DIC benefits, back to May 1993. In the award letter from VARO they show the benefits from 1993 till 2004. I had a hearing on Sept. 6, 2005, for a earlier effected date. When I checked the letter from the VARO, they were about $20,000.00 short. I did prepair a SOC, I asked the hearing officer what happened to the $20,000.00 plus. He told me they recouped the money I received earlier. I told him I wanted an itemized statement of were that money went, because there were so many mistakes made, I don't know how they could ever figure it out. As a parent of four veterans my mother never received anything. My daughter's pension was stopped when she turned 18, she was in school and still had six more years of benefits. Does anyone know if the VA can recoup the money from a non-service connected claim. I have been doing research and can't find anything. I was not entitled to any medical benefits!

[Guest Berta]

Emily- I think I understand that you received a NSC Wartime pension.

I too got a small pension for a few months from VA as I got Frances SSA on her dad's death. Then when I got DIC they recouped whatever I got from the pension from the DIC retro.

I still have their letter acknowledging I sent them one or two VA ension checks back and also a letter from my vet rep stopping the pension checks.

If the VA is trying to recoup a past pension amount that they did not

pay you DIC for too- that is illegal

You were eligible for the pension . It seems you are saying you received a partial pension well before the retro date of the DIC award.

Only if your DIC EED goes back into the time frame you received a VA pension for only then can they legally re coup it.

In other words the VA cannot deduct money from something you did not have-

What does your SO say about all of this?

If it is exactly like I stated it- I suggest you wrote to them and ask for an audit.

They make critical errors- they erred in $59,700 offset in my case-

I got $40,000 of it back -the balance left of offset was correct.

If you print out my reply and give it to your SO maybe he will suggest the same thing- Berta

[emily]

Emily- I think I understand that you received a NSC Wartime pension.

I too got a small pension for a few months from VA as I got Frances SSA on her dad's death. Then when I got DIC they recouped whatever I got from the pension from the DIC retro.

I still have their letter acknowledging I sent them one or two VA ension checks back and also a letter from my vet rep stopping the pension checks.

If the VA is trying to recoup a past pension amount that they did not

pay you DIC for too- that is illegal

You were eligible for the pension . It seems you are saying you received a partial pension well before the retro date of the DIC award.

Only if your DIC EED goes back into the time frame you received a VA pension for only then can they legally re coup it.

In other words the VA cannot deduct money from something you did not have-

What does your SO say about all of this?

If it is exactly like I stated it- I suggest you wrote to them and ask for an audit.

They make critical errors- they erred in $59,700 offset in my case-

I got $40,000 of it back -the balance left of offset was correct.

If you print out my reply and give it to your SO maybe he will suggest the same thing- Berta

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[emily]

When I had my hearing on September 6, 2005. For earlier effective date, I did have a brief prepaired. I asked what happened to the $20,000. I was told don't you think you should have to pay back the money I received before I was awarded the DIC. I told the Hearing Officer there were so many mistakes that I just wanted a brake down. My youngest child turned 18 and was not receiving social securety, but was going to college. And they knew that, because the paper were filled out and in my C-File! There was also the letter asking for benefits for my widowed mother, who had four veteran sons. My SO was showed concern when I showed his a letter dated Feb. 26, 1982 from the VARO, stating "the evidence does not show that the veteran's death was due to a service connected condition!" That was also in the C-File. When I was prepairing for the hearing I found in my file, something I printed out a few years ago, and don't know how I missed it. Here it is: "Title 38 CFR sec. 3.312 Cause of death: (3) Service-connecter disease or injuries involving active processes affecting VITAL ORGANS should receive careful consideration as a contributory cause of death, the primary cause being unrelated, from the viewpoint of whether there were resulting debilitating effects and general impairment of health to an extent that would render the person materially less capable of resisting the effects of other disease or injury primarily causint death. Where the service-connected condition affects VITAL ORGANS as distinguished from muscular or skeletal functions and is evaluated as 100 percent disabling debilitation may be assumed. {{Page 229 }} In this situation however, it would not generally be reasonable to hold that a service-connected condition accelerated death unless such condition affected a VITAL ORGAN and was of itself of a progressive or debilitating nature." When the Infectious Disease Specialist wrote a detailed letter March 24, 2003, after reviewing the service medical records. The specialist opined that the veteran had cardiovascular syphilis with aortic regurgitation leading to congestive heart failure!" The VARO still denied my case, then on June 24, 2004, the BVA granted DIC. I think the VA should go back to Sept. 17, 1966, The date we were married, due to CUE.

[Guest Berta]

"I think the VA should go back to Sept. 17, 1966, The date we were married, due to CUE."

We have been over this before-

they won't.

This recent problem- I suggest that you send the VARO a request for an audit of your DIC and past pensions and tell them the recoup letter does not make sense. Which- if as I undestand what you say here- it is definitely an error.

Attach a copy of that letter to your audit request.

Send it Priority to the Director or the Veterans Service Manager at the VARO that made the error.

If they have not responded within one month make a copy of everything and then send it with a brief cover letter ti the Regional Counsel who oversees that VARO that gave you this recoup amunt.

Or if you want - you can go to the VA web site query page, click on your state, and then state the problem there under Service Complaint , and make sure they have your phone number, email addy and XC #.

Tell them names of anyone or any referral initials on the recoup letter from VA.

[deltaj]

When I applied for widow pension in 1993, due to hardship, I had an income of $135 per month. For the next four years I was denied the benefits I was entitled. After my first hearing in late 1995, I was awarded a small pension, under widow in need, (hardship) I still had a child in school. The pension was about $300.00 per month. The RO made many mistakes. My mortgage was $350.00 per month. I was caregiver to my mother, she could not be left alone. That made me unable to work. She had four sons who were veterans, this made her eligible for benefits. When I applied for her, the RO did not know what I was talking about. They thought my youngest daughter was my mother. They never gave her the benefits she was entitled to. I wasn't about to confuse them anymore. I year they had my daughter making over $8,000.00, well she was in college. It took me one year to make them understand, she did not make that amount of money, but they did stop my monthly check. To make this short, in 1999 when I turned 60, I had no other choose but to take a reduced rate in Social Security. ON June 14, 2004 I was awarded DIC benefits, back to May 1993. In the award letter from VARO they show the benefits from 1993 till 2004. I had a hearing on Sept. 6, 2005, for a earlier effected date. When I checked the letter from the VARO, they were about $20,000.00 short. I did prepair a SOC, I asked the hearing officer what happened to the $20,000.00 plus. He told me they recouped the money I received earlier. I told him I wanted an itemized statement of were that money went, because there were so many mistakes made, I don't know how they could ever figure it out. As a parent of four veterans my mother never received anything. My daughter's pension was stopped when she turned 18, she was in school and still had six more years of benefits. Does anyone know if the VA can recoup the money from a non-service connected claim. I have been doing research and can't find anything. I was not entitled to any medical benefits!

[deltaj]

Emily, see if anyone else on hadit has Ken dippel's address. His grandma won a similar fight somehow by contending that her application for pension was a claim for DiC

When I applied for widow pension in 1993, due to hardship, I had an income of $135 per month. For the next four years I was denied the benefits I was entitled. After my first hearing in late 1995, I was awarded a small pension, under widow in need, (hardship) I still had a child in school. The pension was about $300.00 per month. The RO made many mistakes. My mortgage was $350.00 per month. I was caregiver to my mother, she could not be left alone. That made me unable to work. She had four sons who were veterans, this made her eligible for benefits. When I applied for her, the RO did not know what I was talking about. They thought my youngest daughter was my mother. They never gave her the benefits she was entitled to. I wasn't about to confuse them anymore. I year they had my daughter making over $8,000.00, well she was in college. It took me one year to make them understand, she did not make that amount of money, but they did stop my monthly check. To make this short, in 1999 when I turned 60, I had no other choose but to take a reduced rate in Social Security. ON June 14, 2004 I was awarded DIC benefits, back to May 1993. In the award letter from VARO they show the benefits from 1993 till 2004. I had a hearing on Sept. 6, 2005, for a earlier effected date. When I checked the letter from the VARO, they were about $20,000.00 short. I did prepair a SOC, I asked the hearing officer what happened to the $20,000.00 plus. He told me they recouped the money I received earlier. I told him I wanted an itemized statement of were that money went, because there were so many mistakes made, I don't know how they could ever figure it out. As a parent of four veterans my mother never received anything. My daughter's pension was stopped when she turned 18, she was in school and still had six more years of benefits. Does anyone know if the VA can recoup the money from a non-service connected claim. I have been doing research and can't find anything. I was not entitled to any medical benefits!