ONE EXPERIENCE WITH THE AID & ATTENDANCE PENSION
The intention of this page is to inform you about some of the challenges and obstacles you may encounter with your application for this benefit.
The opinions expressed are based solely on my personal experience of having been through this process, and as the daughter of a WWII Veteran.
It is my sincere hope that by sharing with you my encounter, that I can be helpful in providing insights and suggestions for navigating your way through this complicated
application process.
If you are asking yourself is it worth the time and effort to make this application, the best answer I can offer you, is that over a 9-year period of
both my parents being in assisted living facilities, this benefit woudl have represented over $160,000 in additional income to offset living expenses.
For many families dealing with the escalating cost of either Assisted Living or Nursing Home care, this benefit can be the defining point of the quality of care
and residence you are able to afford your loved one. Yes, it is worth the effort!
PLEASE NOTE:
Because of the number of individuals currently dealing with this issue, it has created a business opportunity for many companies who have seized the demand and lack of
information pertaining to Aid & Attendance to their advantage. I caution you not to fall victim to one of these "scam services". The majority of these individuals have no
association with the VA and are not well versed in the laws and applications of the VA.
They offer to file for this Pension for "free", while the true intention is to gain you as a client for the actual services they offer. In
other cases, there are companies that actually charge an inflated fee as high as $1,200 to process the application. These individuals do not have your best
interest at heart and it would be easy in times of desperation for you to be taken advantage of. There are actually agencies who do specialize in filing for
the Aid and Attendance pension, who do have backgrounds in working either with or for the VA and are veterans themselves. However, the VA's laws stipulate
that a veteran is not entitled to counsel and cannot be charged for assistance in the initial filing of an application, either for benefits or disability.
In applying for the “Aid and Attendance” benefit keep the following in mind:
- If you call or visit your local Department of Veterans' Affairs for information on this benefit, do not be surprised that the individual with whom you speak
will not know about this benefit or be knowledgeable about it. You will have to be persistent in getting to speak with someone who does. Regretfully, this is more common than not.
- This process takes approximately 6 months (possibly longer) for you to receive a “determination of eligibility.” You need to be proactive in making sure that you
have all of the required documentation when you begin your application, or you will encounter additional delays.
- Be sure to keep copies of all correspondence, applications, and records submitted through the filing process.
- If the application is approved, the benefit will be retro-active to the date
the application was made.
- If you or your loved one has any mental incapacities such as Dementia or Alzheimer’s documented by the Physician who will be providing the medical
portion for this application, be aware that the Department of Veterans' Affairs will require that a fiduciary be appointed, as the individual will be declared
incompetent for handling their own financial affairs. UPDATE: For more information on the fiduciary process, click here.
Pay special attention to the paragraph labeled "GENERAL".
- It is important to note, that this fact will not be brought to your attention by The Department of Veterans' Affairs in the beginning of your application process,
and will be responsible for delaying payment for any monies due to the applicant for an undetermined amount of time.
- The application process will be put on hold as they will require that one of their representatives meet and interview the applicant in person.
- The process and the length of time for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to actually send one of their representatives for this meeting can take up to
several months, and they will not release the funds under any circumstances until this has been done.
- In addition, they will then have to assign a fiduciary of their choosing, which will increase the wait time even more. Again, please see this document.
- If there is already a fiduciary in place who handles the financial affairs for the applicant, be aggressive in the beginning and making sure they are aware of
it, and ask them to go on and schedule an appointment for not only the applicant, but the attorney who is acting in this capacity in an attempt to
avoid these imposed delays rather than being informed of their policy and procedures well into the process.
- They will have to approve the individual who acts as the fiduciary as someone reputable to handle the financial affairs according to their guidelines.
- Be aware that if you file the claim in the state where you live, but your parent or loved one is in a different state than which you filed the claim on their
behalf, that you cannot call the state in which the applicant resides to speak with anyone about the application. The information associated with the claim is
only accessible by the office in the state the claim was filed.
- Be advised that if the applicant should decease prior to “approved benefits” being released that this money is considered to be “accrued benefits“, and you
are entitled to file against these funds to help offset any and all funeral expenses that were not covered by other means such as pre-paid funeral
arrangements, insurance polices etc.
- The Department of Veterans' Affairs will not make you aware that this option is available.
- You will need to have an original copy of the death certificate, all the bills related to the cost of burial, which also includes appropriate grave markers.
This process will take up to another additional 6 months to get it signed off on and for monies to be disbursed to the individual who actually paid for the expenses.
I will note here that even though you may not have immediate need of the pension now, but suspect that in the near future you will, start gathering all the
necessary documents and forms well in advance so you will be prepared when the time comes. Most adult children of Veterans may not have immediate access or
knowledge as to where discharge papers, marriage licenses, bank account information, and other important documents are. In some cases, it may be
necessary to arrange for copies, and this can be a timely process.
In review, you will need to be persistent, and aggressive. You need to expect to encounter imposed delays from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and to be
overwhelmed with the amount of documentation and forms that are not easy to understand.
Don‘t take NO for an answer and if you encounter an individual who truly is not well informed about this benefit, keep going until you find someone who is.
It is regrettable that our government does not do more to disseminate critical information regarding benefits and pensions to those who have proudly served our
country and are entitled by their sacrifice and service, so I ask that you please share this information with everyone you know who may be able to benefit.
God Bless America
Debbie Burak
Founder, VeteranAid.org
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