VA mortgage insurance

[LeroyJohnson]

I have a question and I am not sure if I am posting in the correct forum  I am the wife of Leroy . he is no longer with us He committed suicide last month , he choose to do this in front of me. I not dealing with this very well  and dealing with the VA paperwork  has been  hard. The question I have is about mortgage insurance we had thru the VA.  Will they pay off the mortgage since it was suicide  He was service connected with 100% for PTSD, 100% for his heart, 100% lungs and 2 other 100% ratings along with about 10 other smaller ratings. He was P&T since 2003 for PTSD. He just had a C&P for TBI, he did not make his second C&P appointment they were still in the process of getting him that appointment when he left us. I received a phone call from a appeals office  asking me if I wanted to continue his claim, he said that he could not tell me what to do but hinted that I should pursue the claim .So I did fill out the form and sent it back in with his death certificate . I again received a call from the appeals office letting me know he got the paperwork and that he would adjudicate it as quickly as possible. In 2009 he had C&P for TBI in which they separated TBI from PTSD and stated that  both PTSD and TBI were severe .The C&P that he did this year the doctor  stated to him that he defiantly had both TBI and PTSD. Anyway I don't know if you needed all the above information to help answer my question but thought it might be helpful to you to give a more informed answer. Thank you for your time in this matter.

[Tbird]

Bump

[GBArmy]

Mrs. Johnson we are very sorry for your loss. I'm sure others will chime in to help. Th VA rep probably asked you to fill out form 21P-534 which is for DIC (Dependency Indemnity Comp.) and you will get about $1100 a month if approved. If that wasn't the form, let us know. I can't answer your home loan question directly. Try 877-827-3702 which is a VA help line for VA Home Loans and they hopefully can provide info, or direct you to someone. I realize this is not a great tie to be dealing with paperwork, but timeliness on the lan stuff is important.

[GBArmy]

I also should explain that the disability payments your husband was getting will stop; they were his and you are the survivor so they no longer apply. That is why DIC is so important. As you go on with this problem, please come back and ask and let us know; we are here to help.

[LeroyJohnson]

yes I am aware that I will no longer receive his benefits  I was sent a letter four days after his death explaining what I would receive his check for the month of his death which I received this month and the letter also stated that I would be receiving  DIC in the amount of $1624.71  the letter stated that his status at time of death meets the criteria I did not have to send in the form for DIC. I also received the $2000.00 to help with his funerial  which I was very grateful for. Back in 2007 we lost our youngest son and when we paid for his funerial we also paid for Leroy mine and our remaining son's funerial.(we had just won and received accrued back pay on one of his claims) so we used the money to take care of all the funeral's so we  would not have to do that again  it is to hard to make all those arrangements when you are grieving anyway when I took all the paperwork I had for the funerals to transfer it all to where we now live  I was told that there was no money in the account that it was never turned into the life insurance company. The money for all three funeral's was embezzled ,the owner of the funerial home where we paid for the funeral's committed suicide last year after the police raided the funerial home. I was told that we were not the only ones that this happened to at least 45 other people who pre-paid got their money stolen as well. As far as I know the whole mess is still under investigation. So I am grateful that I was sent the death benefit money it has helped.

[Berta]

This explains the Mortgage Life Insurance program:

https://www.va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/vmli/

But maybe the phone # GBA gave will be more helpful.

I am very sorry for your loss.I am a widow of two veterans. What happened to you at that funeral home is terrible!

I assume your husband was 100% P & T for at least 10 continuous years.Those claims for DIC should never take long and your claim didn't.

You were grieving over the loss of a son and here the funeral home took advantage of you and others.

Where do people like this come from? I wonder if the Estate of the funeral home owner is liable for the monetary losses.

[LeroyJohnson]

thank you for your response . I don't know if I can recover any money from the estate. I was informed last week that his family has put the funeral home up for sale  and I was thinking of asking a lawyer if it might be possible to recover some or all the money plus lost interest  that would have paid the cost of a current funeral . It has been a hard month I buried him one month ago today on my birthday  Each day has been a struggle  to do what I need to do but I know in time things will begin to get better. I just worry the insurance wont pay off because it was a suicide .  He got his first 100% and P&T in 2003  so that is 17 years service connected  He also got A&A  at the same time.as I stated  he has five 100% awards  but was only paid at the "M" award rate I have tried for years to get them to change  his rate of pay  with no luck  and now  I guess that will never happen it was something  he was always wanting me to try and correct. thank you  for your time.

[Berta]

I have no idea if this type of life insurance has a suicide clause- as many life insurance  policies do.

It would be a good idea to look into that as soon as you can.

Did he have any open claims issues when he died?

If so you can apply for accrued benefits . We have lots of info here on accrued benefits.

My husband was only 30% SC for PTSD in his lifetime but he made me promise many times to continue those claims if he died. It was miserable to do anything when we are grief stricken, but I did what he wanted and succeeded in all of the accrued claims. VA denied every one of them at first but I fought back aggressively with evidence  One claim took almost 8 years.

The easiest claim I filed ,was for wrongful death.

Not that it was actually easy- it took a lot of work on my part and I had to study a lot of Cardio and Neurology and lots of medical acronyms, but it was easy because the General Counsel-VA, can read.

My husband also had an open 1151 claim. This is funy to me now but devastating at the time.

Even with the proof of the settlementI mase with the USA for wrongfu death, the VARO still denied the 1151 claim. I called the General Counsel's office the next day and told them my RO had completely ignored the settlement they had signed.

Within a very short period of time I receive a new decision, 11451 granted, with the settlement used as the sole piece of evidence they did not want to acknowledge.

Many widows whose veteran husband was not 100% P & T for 10 or more years, have a very hard time  with their claims.Many will need a strong but costly Independent Medical Opinion.

It is good for any vet to get life insurance if they can, because that would help pay for an IMO, if needed, for a DIC and/or accrued claim.in the event of their death.

I have had life insurance all my life and am concerned about your policy but I am sure someone will help with that, GBA gave you a phone number, and they might be able to refer you to another part of VA if they cannot help.

I needed to send my husband's life insurance policy to the insurance company, when he died, and hope you have  copy of your because it should state something about a suicidal death.

I can relate to your funeral home problem, but in a different way.

A past highly regarded insurance company I did business with over 4 decades ago was sued for inappropriate policies they had sold to me and to many others. As part of a class action lawsuit I was able to recover decades of payment premiums  to them for the false policies but had to start all over again with some new policies, with a different company. 

Be careful of anyone you do business with. 

There are unfortunately many people who will try to take advantage of anyone who has lost a spouse.That goes for widowers as well.

I could write a book on that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LeroyJohnson]

after several phone calls this morning I finally got someone to tell me that the VA mortgage life insurance is pending they don't know how much longer it will take before it will pay off as they just got the pending file this morning. They also processed his  regular life insurance while I was on the phone with them. I am  so grateful to all of you for helping me with this , I still have his pending claim for TBI . He was considered to have severe cognitive issues connected to TBI. according to a C&P from 2009. He completed one of the two examinations for TBI  one at the end of June of this year and the other had not been scheduled yet. They were both the same examinations that were given in 2009.  The doctor he spoke to told him that he defiantly had both PTSD and TBI and that the symptoms were clearly separated and both PTSD and TBI were severe. So we will wait and see if they approve his claim this time or not. It was denied last time because they said he did not have a diagnosis of TBI even though he was service connected for migraines  from TBI and his scar on his head (37 stitches )that is in his service record for Vietnam the claim sat at the BVA for four years before it was sent back telling the regional office since they had already service connected the scar and migraines from TBI  that they had to recognize the diagnosis  and so they did, but did not say anything about awarding or not awarding  a  higher award for TBI  been fighting this since 2009 .don't know if I win this or how far back would they go with accrued  benefits. Berta, I  am so sorry for your loss I can not imagine going thru this twice. I admire your strength .We were together for 31 years which is almost half of my life I can only hope to find even some of the strength that you have. Thank you for helping me.

[Berta]

I sure hope the Mortgage Insurance goes fast for you.

Did you mentioned ,on the DIC form, that you are seeking accrued?

I am sure that you did and this is the form you would need, but maybe they sent this to you?

https://www.va.gov/vaforms/form_detail.asp?FormNo=21P-0847

This is odd:

"It was denied last time because they said he did not have a diagnosis of TBI even though he was service connected for migraines  from TBI and his scar on his head (37 stitches )that is in his service record for Vietnam the claim sat at the BVA for four years before it was sent back telling the regional office since they had already service connected the scar and migraines from TBI  that they had to recognize the diagnosis  and so they did, but did not say anything about awarding or not awarding  a  higher award for TBI  been fighting this since 2009 ."

We have a lot of TBI info here.That is a good one, he already got SC for the scar and migraines from the TBI, but the VA did not formally service connect the TBI yet? 

Boy they sure can screw things up!!!!

I will bump up the accrued info----something all spouses should be aware of, if their vet spouse dies with a claim pending.

The DAV told me my husband's pending claims died with him. (this was 1995)

I then rattled off the accrued regulations to him and he changed his tune. I fear there are still lazy vet reps out there telling widows the same thing.

Is that TBI claim still pending at your RO?

 

 

 

[Berta]

Oh. it IS still pending!!!!!! Excuse me.

"He completed one of the two examinations for TBI  one at the end of June of this year and the other had not been scheduled yet. They were both the same examinations that were given in 2009."

They might do a posthumous exam. But I wonder why two were needed.

Do you have a copy of the June Exam?

[LeroyJohnson]

no I do not have a copy of that exam it was done by phone and I have no idea where to get it. I do have  a copy of the 2009 C&P. The first appointment was to confirm the he did indeed have both PTSD and TBI . the symptoms  of both overlap so even though the symptoms of both were separated back in the 2009 C&P, I guess that wanted a more current diagnosis and if the severity was still the same or worse. the doctor stated that  Leroy did indeed  have both and that they were clearly separated. the second appointment was to be for neuropsychological  testing which the 2009 exam stated he did not need that testing because  records showed previous assessments, no testing needed. Leroy died on July 11 on July 13  I received a phone call from  the appeals officer telling me that due to Leroy's death  he would have to close his claim  he asked me if I wanted to continue the claim he said that he could not tell me to continue the claim or not but hinted very strongly that I should  he told me what form to fill out and that if I had any questions that I should call call and ask for him directly. I did fill out the form sent it in and he call me again to let me know he received  it and would adjudicate the claim as quickly as possible. 

[LeroyJohnson]

I did send in the form to the appeals officer  I did not send in the same form for dic because I received a letter  on the 14 of July telling me  I would receive Leroy's last check for the month of death and I would receive a check for burial benefits . I have received both of those things .The letter also stated that I would be receiving dic because he was rated as 100% T&P for at least 10 years immediately preceding death ,records indicate that Leroy's disability status at time of death meets this criteria and that I would be receiving a monthly dic check and how much the check would be.

I was amazed by the letter I had not received his death certificate until July 17 I have yet to receive  the pathology and toxicology reports. The police detective  that came out when I made the 911 call came back to the house to let us know that he watched his autopsy he said Leroy's heart and lungs  were the worse he  had ever seen in 30 of watching autopsy's.   his heart function was less than 10%.        I was amazed by the letter from the VA and the call from the appeals office because  the only call I had made to the  VA was about the  mortgage life insurance and they said there was nothing they could do until they got a death certificate.