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Survivng Spouses Benefits

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axelrod1

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Hi. My father, who served 29 years in the Army and is a Vietnam Vet (with 4 of those being Navy) passed away on April 26th, 2012. My mother is still alive and having trouble with getting her survivor benefits. My question is how long does it take for the VA to actually take care of its service mens families after there death? My mom currently has no source of income and the VA tells her that it takes time to get her benefits IF she even gets any. She has done everything they asked of her. The VA has even taken what money my mom had in her bank without any warning or explanation of why they took it! Can someone please tell us where we turn now? Mom has not been able to pay her bills or even buy groceries with my help. I can not beleive that the Governement treats its military families so poorly. My dad gave his life and my mom supported and gave hers as well just to be treated so poorly! Please help.

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Perhaps others will respond with more information, but can you give more info., so the info. is more complete in order to respond? Was your father service connected? Did he die from service connection disability? Was he rated and, if so, was he rated 100% total and for how long, if so? Was your mom's bank account held jointly with your father's...is that why they took back the funds? What type of survivor benefit did she apply for...dic or pension? Does she have a vet advocate helping her? I am very sorry for your loss and very sorry that this situation now further presents itself. Unfortunately, the VA is not moving very fast with a lot of claims...

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Sorry to hear of your loss... it doesn't matter how old you get, you still aren't ready to lose a parent.

Ethan's Grandma has some good questions for you.

My father-in-law died last July, and he, too, had retired from Army service. It did not take long to get his Army pension coming in, but he had selected the option that would leave a pension to my mother-in-law. Her brother called DFAS and they sent the forms for her to fill out and return with a death certificate.

The other questions are about your father's status as a veteran. Was he rated as service connection for anything? Did he have a Veteran's Service Officer?

Getting DIC for my mother-in-law went quickly, but that was because Dad was a POW in WWII. They put a special flag on claims for POW's and their widows, it seems. Plus she was dealing with a very small VARO.

If your Dad belonged to any service organization like American Legion, or VFW, that might be a good place to look for help. The best place would be his VSO, if you can find out who it is.

I think Ethan's Grandma is right about why the money disappeared from the bank... it must've been a partial payment retrieval like Social Security does.

Good luck with all of this. So much happening all at once, and the VA often seems so adversarial when they claim to be a source of aid and comfort :(

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