July 1, 2025 • 32 mins
Leah sits down with VA-accredited attorney Rebecca Deming to deliver an in-depth overview of how veterans can maximize their VA benefits for their families. They cover everything from who qualifies as a dependent, how to access healthcare options like CHAMPVA, and how to unlock education programs such as Chapter 35 and the GI Bill transfer. They also highlight lesser-known opportunities like the Hazlewood Act, Folds of Honor, caregiver stipends, and dependency indemnity compensation (DIC). With clear explanations and practical examples, this episode is a valuable resource for veterans and their families navigating the often confusing landscape of VA benefits.
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At Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting, a veteran-owned company, we specialize in Independent Medical Opinions (IMOs) known as Nexus letters.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leah Bucholz (00:07):
Guys, it's Leah Bee from Prestige Veteran
Medical Consulting. I'm a USArmy veteran, physician
assistant, and formercompensation and pension
examiner. Today, I wanted tohave our awesome attorney that's
been on several times for thoseof you that know her, Rebecca
Deming from ProVet Legal on togo over a really important
topic. But quickly, for those ofyou who don't know you, Rebecca,
(00:27):
do you wanna tell them a littlebit about yourself?
Rebecca Demming (00:31):
Sure. Hi, Leah. Thanks for having me on again.
Rebecca Deming. I'm an attorney,a VA accredited attorney, and
veteran spouse.
And I have worked with militaryfor well over a decade and love
working with veterans here inthe disability sphere.
Leah Bucholz (00:50):
Okay, awesome. So we thought it would be good to
go over some just someinformation about how to
basically maximize VA benefitsfor dependents. So what are some
of those programs that are outthere basically that dependents
may or may not know aboutbecause there are some really
amazing, you know, education,health care, all kinds of stuff.
And and we wanted to justcapture some of those things in
(01:12):
this video so that you guys can,you know, dive into them a
little bit deeper and let usknow if you wanna hear more
about them in the futureindividualized. But this is just
gonna be a general overview ofjust some great benefits and
some, things that dependentscan, spouses and children can
benefit from.
So just to start things off, canyou tell us, do veterans get
(01:34):
additional benefits if they havedependents? Just a basic
overview of who gets them. Yes,so veterans get additional
monthly compensation if they are30% disabled or more. So if
you're zero, you get
Rebecca Demming (01:50):
no money anyway. But if you're 10 or 20%,
you don't get a bump up forhaving dependents. But once your
disability rating hits that 30%level, VA, and they've got kind
of a chart that happens, I thinka couple $100 more per month
depending on how many, if youhave a spouse and how many
children or dependent parentsyou have.
Leah Bucholz (02:11):
Okay, awesome. So that 30% is sort of that magic
number. Who qualifies as adependent?
Rebecca Demming (02:19):
So the veteran's spouse qualifies the
minor children, and when it'sminor children, it could also be
adopted children andstepchildren qualify. They don't
have to be the biologicalchildren. We get that question a
lot. Children who are 23, ifthey're still in school, and you
(02:40):
just have to do thatverification of school
attendance form, which sometimestakes VA a while to process.
I'll say in general, addingdependence to a benefit does
take VA while to process.
So you just have to have somepatients. We're seeing pretty
significant delays in this area,but they are getting processed.
And then there's some adultchildren if they've been
(03:02):
basically permanently disabled,permanently incapable of self
support since before theireighteenth birthday. So that's
usually children that either hadmajor birth defects or learning
disabilities where they'rebasically never going to
Leah Bucholz (03:16):
be able to leave the home or support themselves
independently. So I know this issort of one I see a lot and I
think I know the answer to itbut I think it's worth touching
on. If a veteran is married tosomeone for twenty plus years
and they have a stepchild thatthey basically raise with that
spouse and then they getdivorced, is that stepchild
(03:38):
that's not blood related tothem, even though they raised
them their whole life, are theystill eligible to any of those
benefits once they're no longerlegally a stepchild?
Rebecca Demming (03:49):
No, unfortunately, yeah, there's no
legal relationship there, thenthey wouldn't be able to access
those benefits.
Leah Bucholz (03:59):
Yeah, I think that's a really tough one, but
one question I've seen quiteoften in a lot of the forums
online, you know, especially theI think there's a chapter 35
benefits group on Facebook, anda lot of people ask that
question over and over again.And it is really unfortunate and
sort of sad, especially in thosecases where, you know, maybe you
know, raised this child sincethey were two years old and then
(04:20):
something doesn't work out. It'sjust it it is important to note
that, you know, stepchildren ofprevious marriages would not be
considered. Right?
Rebecca Demming (04:29):
Right. And along that line, one of the
things that we see a lot, youknow, well, obviously ex spouses
aren't entitled to benefit. Imean, I say obviously, but I do
get that question a lot. Exspouses are no longer entitled
to most of these benefits. Andyou have to be legally married.
(04:52):
And so there's a lot of peoplethat are in long term loving
relationships. We also havepeople who were married for a
while and with PTSD orwhatever's going on in their
relationship, they get divorcedand then they reconcile and they
move back in together, theydon't get remarried again. We
really only recognize this legalmarriages. There are some
loopholes to show a common lawmarriage, but it's important to
(05:16):
kind of understand that thesejust they're not looking at the
nuances of your living situationand your family life. They're
looking at whether you'relegally married.
Leah Bucholz (05:24):
Sure. Sure. That makes a lot of sense. So when we
talk about spouses asdependents, can you talk a
little bit more about like, whatif that spouse works and they
make a really good living? Whatif they're making a lot more
than the veteran is making?
Rebecca Demming (05:39):
Right, so when it comes to spouses and the term
dependent, it does not actuallymean the patriarchal system that
we think of where that spouse isliterally dependent on the
veteran for life support. Itcould be, but the spouse could
be working, the spouse could bemaking more money than the
veteran. It's just if there's anadditional person in the
(06:01):
household who you're married to,you get that bump up for them as
dependent.
Leah Bucholz (06:06):
Okay. So what if you have two veterans that are
married to each other? Because Iknow that's, I mean, that's
pretty, me and my husband aremarried to each other, right?
And we're both veterans.
Rebecca Demming (06:17):
Right. And we get that question a lot too, and
both of you can claim the otherone as a dependent. So you would
both, assuming you both havedisabilities, would both get
that extra bump up for having adependent spouse.
Leah Bucholz (06:31):
Okay. And they can both claim their children as
well, correct? Yes. As far as,you know, what they Right.
Rebecca Demming (06:38):
It's not like your taxes where you're like, I
claim you one year and you claimme one year. Now it's, you would
both get the bump up when VA iscalculated how much money this
veteran gets. It's how manydependents you have. And yes, if
you're married, you kind of oneof the few areas where you get
to double dip.
Leah Bucholz (06:53):
And what about access to healthcare for
dependents?
Rebecca Demming (06:58):
So veterans have the access usually through
the VA and then if they'reretired, they have TRICARE. And
you're retired, your, dependentswould have access to TRICARE as
well. There is a program calledCHAMPVA, which is it's not a
free program for healthcare, butonce the veteran hits 100, it's
(07:20):
a subsidized program that mightbe a good option for some people
depending on if they haveemployer sponsored healthcare
options or what other optionsthey have. I think it generally
offers pretty good coveragecomparable with TRICARE and the
premiums subsidized. So they'rea lot lower than what you're
going to find on the openeconomy.
Leah Bucholz (07:40):
Yeah, and I heard something recently also, I have
a friend that works with theCHAMPVA department and you may
not know this or you may knowthis that two veterans that are
married to one another, if theyboth are 100% disabled will
actually qualify for CHAMPVA aswell. Going back to our last
question, that while they canboth receive VA health care,
(08:03):
right, they can also be fallingunder one another for CHAMPVA so
they can get that care in thecommunity as their dependent
situation.
Rebecca Demming (08:14):
You know what I mean? Yeah, I think that's a
great option for some people. Imean, there's a lot of really
great VA hospitals, and if youlive near one and you're getting
good care there, then why paymoney to get an additional
health insurance? But if youhave certain conditions that VA
doesn't cover well, if you livein certain areas where access to
a VA hospital is morechallenging or the VA hospitals
in your area aren't quite asgood, that'd be a great option
(08:38):
to look into to get supplementalhealthcare.
Leah Bucholz (08:41):
Yeah, or maybe you just really like your doctor in
your town that you've beenseeing, but I've said this
before and I get a little hatefor it sometimes. I actually
have really good experience withmy VA healthcare. I know not
everybody does, lot of people Ihear horror stories all the
time. But at least here in theSan Antonio area, we get good
access to care, they're goodwith telehealth, all those
(09:02):
things. But there's justoptions.
Rebecca Demming (09:04):
Right, yeah, we're in the Tampa Bay area and
I pretty much consistently hearreally good things about, you
know, obviously with anyhealthcare system, there's gonna
be some doctors that are betterthan others or some offices that
are better than others. But bothBay Pines and, James A. Haley
are really good. We did not haveas good experience when we were
up in Virginia. So I don't knowif the one in the Hampton Roads
(09:25):
has changed, but when we werethere, it was really challenging
to access the care there.
Leah Bucholz (09:31):
Yeah. Yeah, I hear it's sort of dependent wherever
you go. I agree. So let me see.I have some more.
I have some little questionshere for you jotted down. How
about education benefits?Education benefits is
Rebecca Demming (09:47):
one of my favorite topics. So obviously
there's the GI Bill benefits andI think most people while
they're active get trained onwhat the requirements are, who's
eligible. Usually you have totransfer benefits over to your
dependent while you're stillactive for them to be able to
access them. Sometimes you canalter how many months go to each
(10:10):
beneficiary, but you kind ofhave to lock it in while you're
active for them to access thosebenefits. It's the veteran has a
cap on how many months ofeducation they have.
If they want to share or gift acertain number of months, then
that kind of cuts into theirtotal allowance. There's another
education program for dependencecalled Chapter 35 Dependence
(10:35):
Education Assistance Program.And that one, once the so it's
for dependence of. Veterans whohave passed from service
connected disabilities.Military, the dependence of
people who died.
On active duty and thedependence of people who are
(10:58):
100% total and permanentlydisabled. And so once you hit
100% total and permanentdisability, your dependence can
access this chapter 35 benefit,which covers a whole lot of it's
a monthly stipend, so it doesn'tnecessarily cover the tuition.
That money goes to thedependent. We can probably do a
(11:20):
whole episode on how to accessit and how to navigate that.
What I like about it is youcould have 10 kids and each kid
is entitled to that benefitseparately.
It's not like the veteran isgifting the benefit to the
child. And it's a decent numberof months of benefit. Right.
Leah Bucholz (11:38):
I think That that
Rebecca Demming (11:39):
would be really helpful.
Leah Bucholz (11:40):
Especially because it's my understanding, and
again, we can do a separatevideo on this. I'm fairly
certain they send the checkright to the dependent, right,
instead of some programs go toschool, right? So you can use
that money for housing or what Idon't know all the rules again.
We'll have to go over it, but
Rebecca Demming (11:57):
my Right. The money goes to the dependent and
I counsel veteran parents tohave the talk with their
children because that moneycould go to frat parties and
poor decisions. So if you'recovering the rent for your child
while they're in school and youwant this money to go towards
the rent, like you need to havethat conversation because the
money goes right to their childand you have to have it. I mean,
(12:19):
not gonna tell people how toparent their children, just want
them to know that the money goesto the child without any kind of
oversight or strings attached.
Leah Bucholz (12:30):
And that can become challenging, especially
if they're not finishing theirsemesters and opened a whole can
of worms. How can a veteranspouse qualify for education
benefits?
Rebecca Demming (12:43):
So there are time limits on the spouse. I
think they usually have to applywithin ten years of being
becoming eligible, but they canfill out the same form that the
dependent children fill out andthey can access higher education
certificate programs on the jobtraining. There's kind of a list
(13:04):
of different benefits that theycan use, which is really a
great. I think the purpose of itis both to help pay for your
children's education, but alsoto increase the family income.
So by allowing the spouse to goget some more training or
education.
So it's a really great program.
Leah Bucholz (13:23):
Yes, I agree 100%. So what does chapter 35 cover?
Just the highlights maybe.
Rebecca Demming (13:32):
Yeah. So chapter 35 is it's really just a
monthly stipend. So it doesn'tactually cover the tuition or.
Room and board or whatnot. Ithink it's, I believe it's about
$1,600 a month now and thatamount.
Don't quote me on the amount,but it's subject to adjustments
(13:53):
with cost of living adjustments.But what it also does is it
opens up the window for a lot ofschools and it's state dependent
and school dependent. A lot ofstates will waive in state
tuition. If the dependent isaccessing Chapter 35 benefits,
you get free tuition and thenyou get the stipend on top of
it. There's also the yellowribbon program that a lot of
(14:16):
schools have where, you know, ifyou're using the chapter 35, or
the GI bill.
Benefit and we should talk moreabout this on a separate episode
about the actual eligibilitycriteria. But the yellow ribbon
program is something worthlooking into, because VA will
match what certain privateschools will contribute towards
(14:38):
the tuition for certain eligibledependence. So it if you are a
veteran and you think privateschools are out of the question
for your children, it's worthlooking into which schools
participate and how much they'llparticipate in the Yellow Ribbon
program.
Leah Bucholz (14:52):
Yeah, and I know we have like a ton of notes on
different programs and we weregoing to launch into them today,
but we're going to save them forindividualized videos. But just
from my perspective, I wannagive a shout out to the
Hazelwood Act because I thinkbecause I'm a Texan right now.
I'm I'm here in Texas. And sofor those of you that are, that
originated, joined the militaryin Texas, That is another
(15:15):
benefit that your dependents canessentially get all these
college benefits. I'm not evensure how many years, I think
it's thirty six months also, butagain we'll have to do a more
lengthy video on this.
And I didn't even know that weas a family qualified for this
because I joined out of Florida,my husband joined out of North
Dakota, but we did a few yearsin the reserves. And my husband
(15:36):
got mobilized out of Texas whileliving here and that even
counted. So he mobilized forgreater than a hundred and
eighty days and that, you know,going on active duty out of
Texas. Again, we had a longperiod of active duty as well
prior to that comp that combotoo. But all of my kids, sort of
like chapter 35, all of them getto benefit from Hazelwood, which
(15:59):
I think is crazy and amazing.
And then one of my otherfavorites is the Folds of Honor
scholarship, which we can goover separately as well. Folds
of honor is something that youcan use for college, your your
dependents, and also for primaryeducation. So for private school
or or whatever if you're 90% orabove. Okay? So if you guys
(16:19):
haven't heard of either of thoseprograms, if you joined out of
Texas, check out Hazelwood.
And if you are 90% or above, Ibelieve it's about $5,000 per
year that you can apply for agrant for, I don't know if it's
really a grant or a scholar.Think it's a grant from that
other program, right?
Rebecca Demming (16:39):
That's awesome. Yeah, a lot of the benefits,
there's some benefits that arenationwide and then there's a
lot that are state specific. So,like I know in Virginia, Last I
pulled it up and checked it was.Tuition was waived for
dependence of 90% or abovedisabled veterans for. For
(16:59):
universities and, you know,Virginia has a lot of really
good universities.
If you're a Virginia resident,if the student is a Virginia
resident, I think if the veteranis a Virginia resident, it's
really important to kind of diginto those nuances to figure out
what you qualify and what youdon't qualify. In Florida, it's
free tuition if the veteran's100%. So, you know, if you
separate from the military andyou've been moving around for a
(17:21):
long period of time, you'refiguring out where to put your
roots down, some of these thingsmight influence where you decide
to settle down.
Leah Bucholz (17:29):
Well, in a lot of the programs you can double dip
on. Some of them you can't,Right? Like, I'm fairly certain
chapter 35 and GI Bill, youcannot use concurrently. You can
use them you can use them both,you just can't use them at the
same time.
Rebecca Demming (17:43):
Correct.
Leah Bucholz (17:44):
But some of them you can use concurrently, maybe
Hazelwood and Chapter 35. Soit's just good things for you to
look into for your dependentsand for yourself.
Rebecca Demming (17:54):
And if your dependent is using either GI
Bill or Chapter 35, you can'tyou don't get that bump up for
them. So remember, we said thatchildren 23 who are still
enrolled in school qualify asdependents for VA purposes. If
they're using one of thosebenefits, VA is not going to pay
(18:15):
you the extra couple $100 amonth to have them as dependent
because they're like, well,we're already covered their cost
of living through these otherprograms. Well, we're
Leah Bucholz (18:23):
going to get off. I know we could just go and go
on education, there are also, Ithink it I don't know if it's
coming to an end or there's somechanges coming with it that even
high school seniors that areover 18 can sometimes dip into
that chapter 35 for if they'retaking, dual classes, right,
high school and taking somecollege. There's some specifics
(18:43):
for that, but we'll have to getmore details on that and do a
class on chapter 35 at a laterdate. So roll rolling into DIC,
I know we've done a lot of we Ithink we've done a couple videos
on DIC, actually. But just forthose of those folks out there
that haven't seen our DICvideos, can you tell me about,
(19:05):
like, what the DIC program is?
Great.
Rebecca Demming (19:09):
So DIC, Dependency Indemnity
Compensation, is a program thatpays a monthly stipend. And
again, it's essentially a fixedamount. It's not dependent on
how much the Veteran was gettingpaid for their disability. For
the surviving spouses, minorchildren, and some dependent
(19:29):
parents when the Veteran passesaway. So, in order to qualify
for it, usually the cause ofdeath has to be determined to be
service connected or the veteranhas to have been 100% total
permanent for a certain periodof time, which depends on how
recently they separated fromservice.
So a lot of veterans, I I knowwe did a separate episode on
(19:52):
this and if you have morequestions about DIC, I
definitely recommend going backand watching that episode. Maybe
you can drop the link in thecomments here to that one for
people to search. The biggestthing, you know, I'll have a lot
of veterans disabled, you know,there's other people out there
that are more deserving ofbenefits than I am, or, you
know, I know I qualify, but Idon't want to take these
(20:14):
benefits. You know, it's not.And one of the things that I.
I'll counsel people on is thatgetting these benefits while
you're alive is a certain amountof money while you're alive. And
it's nice, but it couldpotentially set your spouse up
for some protection if you pass,especially if you pass from a
service connected condition orif a service connected condition
(20:34):
contributes to your cause ofdeath. So it's one factor to
consider in terms of lifeinsurance or end of life
planning, and making sure thatyour loved ones are taken care
of. So it's, I always recommenddoing it now. A lot, it's not
impossible, but it's a lotharder to kind of go back after
(20:55):
the veteran passes and provethat they had a condition, it
was service connected and thatthat condition that was service
connected caused it to It's alot easier if you get the
legwork done while you're aroundto go to doctor's appointments.
Leah Bucholz (21:07):
For sure. So just one last question on the
education piece. So whatprogram, basically how can those
children, veterans accesseducation benefits? What program
should they be looking for tosort of go research?
Rebecca Demming (21:25):
So there's there's a whole lot and I would
definitely talk to a VSO, getonline, talk to the, you know,
if you're already enrolled in aspecific school, I would go to
the financial aid office andmost schools, some schools do it
better than others. Most schoolshave a veteran specific or
military specific person intheir financial aid office that
(21:47):
can kind of help navigate thedifferent programs to make sure
that you're maximizing whatyou're accessing. So, Dependent
Education Assistance Program isreally awesome if you qualify,
if your parent is 100% totallydisabled, or if you're surviving
(22:09):
dependent of someone who passedin service or passed from a
service connected disability.But like you had mentioned,
there's a whole lot of differentdepending on what state you're
in, depending on your specificcircumstances, there's a lot of
different eligibility criteria.And you can sometimes patchwork
together a really good packagethat would make it possible for
your child or if you areindependent for you to go to
(22:32):
schools that you might otherwisethink are outside your financial
reach.
For sure.
Leah Bucholz (22:38):
And I didn't even know about that, like this the
out of state tuition kindaoptions for some of these
programs, that's really cool.Like, if your kid wants to go,
that can be really, problematicfor some people to have to deal
with. So I I'm definitely gonnalook into that because I've got
a kid a kiddo who has big dreamsabout going out of state for
(22:59):
college, so we'll see aboutthat. But, so what about health
care, benefits? What shoulddependents know about that
specifically that we haven'tgone over?
Just in a nutshell.
Rebecca Demming (23:15):
In a nutshell, I'm not a healthcare expert and
so understanding what'squalified and whether it's worth
the premiums that you're goingto pay once you qualify for
CHAMPVA, I think it's worthfinding a broker that you trust.
You know, you definitely want togo online and just put your
information in because you'llhave all these kind of broker
(23:37):
people calling you nonstop. Butcomparing the plans you get
through an employer, if youdon't have insurance at all, I'd
say almost hands down optinginto CHAMPVA is going be a good
option for you.
Leah Bucholz (23:53):
Totally. And who's a good resource, like first line
of defense for trying to figureout some of these programs for
veterans?
Rebecca Demming (24:00):
The VSOs are have people that can help access
this stuff, and I would probablyyou know, there's different
offices. There's a lot of thosethat have offices attached in
the VA itself, And I think thoseare often gonna be ones that are
more you know, they're they'resharing office space with people
(24:21):
that are granting these benefitsor awarding these benefits. So
if you have questions, would Iwould probably start there.
Leah Bucholz (24:28):
Yeah. And remember too that you don't have to use a
VSO that's in your town. Likesome people don't realize that.
I had a really amazing VSO andhe was in New York and I was
here in Texas. So like thatdoesn't mean somebody in New
York is gonna be able to takeyou based on their volume that
they're handling, but you're notif for some reason you don't
have confidence in your localVSO, you can go to the town over
(24:48):
and see the next VSO, you know,if you if you're not feeling
comfortable, you want a secondopinion or or whatever.
You're not locked into that oneperson if there's some kind of
conflict that you're notconfident in, right?
Rebecca Demming (25:02):
Right, and I mean, like lawyers, like
doctors, like medicalprofessionals, there's a wide
variety of competency andpersonalities of VSOs. And
unfortunately, of them are inthe position and they either
don't understand that, you know,they might be great at doing a
(25:22):
VA disability claim, but justreally not understand the
education piece or something.But then there's going be others
that are just rock stars atmaking sure that you're
maximizing every educationbenefit or health care benefit
that you're entitled to get.
Leah Bucholz (25:35):
Well, and hopefully some of them can, you
know, like other professions maysay, hey, I'm not the best at
burial benefits, but my friendin the next town over is and we
collaborate with each other andhelp and, you know, things like
that.
Rebecca Demming (25:48):
Yeah, but don't be afraid to seek a second
opinion if you're running upagainst a wall with the person
that's closest to you. I thinklike Leah said, feel free to
look out, go on to some of theseveteran Facebook groups and say,
hey, does anyone have a VSO thatthey love? Get a recommendation
for someone someone who hasexperience in this area or that
area because we're starting tonavigate this as a family.
Leah Bucholz (26:12):
Right. And and you can go on va.gov. I've got
another video on this too whereyou can do the accreditation you
can use the accreditation searchtool to find someone, VSO,
accredited claims agent, or anattorney in your local area.
And, it doesn't have to be inyour local area, but that that
tool on va.gov will spit out,like, tons of information for
you to just have differentpoints of contact. So Go ahead.
Rebecca Demming (26:36):
The final piece I wanna leave people with is pay
attention to what VA is sendingyou and send in your dependent
verification forms and youreducation verification forms on
time. Those are reallyimportant. If you have a change
in family situation, if you geta divorce, you want to let VA
know. We have had cases wherethe veteran, you know, there's
(26:57):
enough going on with thedivorce, the veteran didn't
remember to inform VA and they'dgotten paid for having a
dependent for longer than theyhad. And now VA is going after
for an overpayment.
The flip side is true if theysend you a form, I mean you
might have been married to thesame person for twenty years and
you're like, yeah, we're stable,we're not, you know, why do I
(27:18):
have to keep sending inverification forms? VA could go
in and sever the benefit becauseyou didn't send in the form. And
like I said, right now we'reseeing a huge delay in VA adding
people back in. And so I getthat question a lot. Like I've
been, you know, they're indeers, they're, you know, we're
established.
It's not like it's a newmarriage that they have to vet
or a new baby or something. Theyshould know that I'm married,
(27:40):
why is it taking so long? Theyare havingat least right now
they're having peopleindividually check the forms and
it's just, it's taking, I wouldsay six to eight months, maybe
up to a year. Once you hit that30%, you file for a dependent or
if you get married and get a newdependent, you want to add
(28:00):
dependents to your award. It'staking a long time.
VA will back pay you for it butit's one area that I see a lot
of frustration so you're notalone if you're experiencing
that.
Leah Bucholz (28:12):
I just have a couple more quick questions
before we wrap up because Ithink it's important to touch on
hospitalization for one. So candependents receive financial
assistance during a veteran'shospitalization? So if I'm the
primary caregiver, even if I'mnot the primary caregiver and
I'm the veteran, I gethospitalized and my family needs
(28:33):
some assistance, is theresomething out there for them?
Rebecca Demming (28:37):
There's two different programs. There's one
through the VA BenefitsAdministration called Aid and
Attendance. And so if theVeteran is requiring a family
caregiver or someone to helpthem with activities of daily
living, if they're hospitalized,they can apply for that
(28:59):
additional benefit and then thatgoes, it gets paid to the
veteran, but can be used forfamily expenses. There's another
program that's run through theVeteran Health Administration
called the Family CaregiverSupport Program. And that one is
specifically a benefit for.
The caregiver and so if you area family member who has a
(29:23):
veteran spouse, or actuallydoesn't have to be a spouse.
This is one of the areas whereyou don't even have to have like
a familial relationship. Couldbe the best friend or the
neighbor or, the girlfriend orboyfriend. If you're the person
who is the primary caregiver,you still have to go through a
whole social work vetting andwhatnot, but VA will pay you for
(29:44):
your time in being thatcaregiver. And they'll provide
some social work, support interms of counseling or group
sessions, or some resources tokind of help you navigate being
a caregiver for someone.
And so there's different tiersand how much care you're
providing for the person. Butthat is a resource that I
(30:05):
strongly recommend if you'refeeling like you're giving up a
good portion of your week takingcare of somebody that you're
looking to.
Leah Bucholz (30:12):
Okay. So my last two questions are sort of about
veterans' ability to accessVSOs. So what if can a veteran's
can a dependent get help from aVSO? Like let's say it's even in
a situation where the dependenthas passed away, like can maybe
they've passed away or maybethey haven't. Is the veteran
entitled to accessing that VSOfor assistance with VA programs
(30:35):
and then to include evenappeals?
Rebecca Demming (30:38):
Yes, they are entitled to access VSOs. Know
may be certain, I know there'sAmerican Legion and VFW and DAV
and veteran. So the differentorganizations may have different
eligibility criteria of who theyhelp. And so some might
(30:59):
specifically help people whofamily members of veterans who
served in Vietnam, you know, solook into the different
requirements, but yes, youshould be able to get a to help
you if you're a family member,even if you don't have a
veteran, a living veteran inyour family anymore.
Leah Bucholz (31:18):
Well, and not even just VSOs, but attorneys as
well. Accredited attorneys helpdependents all the time with
various issues depending on ifit's within their scope of what
they provide services for. Well,that's all the questions I have
today on this. Like I said, Iwould really love to do another
video, maybe definitelyspecifically on chapter 35,
(31:41):
think would be really cool, andmaybe we'll see if we can tie in
a couple other educationprograms or maybe just do a
whole series on educationprograms. But I hope this was
helpful to you guys out there.
Please drop us some comments. Ifyou have any questions for
Rebecca, I'm gonna put a link toher website at provetlegal so
you guys can reach out to herand contact her. Also as always,
(32:04):
I'll be monitoring the commentsto try to provide any feedback.
So let us know if you have anyquestions or if you have any
experiences you wanna share. AndRebecca, thank you as always for
joining us.
Rebecca Demming (32:16):
Yeah, thank you Leah. Always happy to come on
and talk with you about veteranbenefits.
Leah Bucholz (32:21):
Okay, all right guys. Thanks a lot for watching
and please like and subscribeand we'll see you guys later.
Guys, it's Leah Bee from Prestige Veteran
Medical Consulting. I'm a USArmy veteran, physician
assistant, and formercompensation and pension
examiner. Today, I wanted tohave our awesome attorney that's
been on several times for thoseof you that know her, Rebecca
Deming from ProVet Legal on togo over a really important
topic. But quickly, for those ofyou who don't know you, Rebecca,
(00:27):
do you wanna tell them a littlebit about yourself?
Rebecca Demming (00:31):
Sure. Hi, Leah. Thanks for having me on again.
Rebecca Deming. I'm an attorney,a VA accredited attorney, and
veteran spouse.
And I have worked with militaryfor well over a decade and love
working with veterans here inthe disability sphere.
Leah Bucholz (00:50):
Okay, awesome. So we thought it would be good to
go over some just someinformation about how to
basically maximize VA benefitsfor dependents. So what are some
of those programs that are outthere basically that dependents
may or may not know aboutbecause there are some really
amazing, you know, education,health care, all kinds of stuff.
And and we wanted to justcapture some of those things in
(01:12):
this video so that you guys can,you know, dive into them a
little bit deeper and let usknow if you wanna hear more
about them in the futureindividualized. But this is just
gonna be a general overview ofjust some great benefits and
some, things that dependentscan, spouses and children can
benefit from.
So just to start things off, canyou tell us, do veterans get
(01:34):
additional benefits if they havedependents? Just a basic
overview of who gets them. Yes,so veterans get additional
monthly compensation if they are30% disabled or more. So if
you're zero, you get
Rebecca Demming (01:50):
no money anyway. But if you're 10 or 20%,
you don't get a bump up forhaving dependents. But once your
disability rating hits that 30%level, VA, and they've got kind
of a chart that happens, I thinka couple $100 more per month
depending on how many, if youhave a spouse and how many
children or dependent parentsyou have.
Leah Bucholz (02:11):
Okay, awesome. So that 30% is sort of that magic
number. Who qualifies as adependent?
Rebecca Demming (02:19):
So the veteran's spouse qualifies the
minor children, and when it'sminor children, it could also be
adopted children andstepchildren qualify. They don't
have to be the biologicalchildren. We get that question a
lot. Children who are 23, ifthey're still in school, and you
(02:40):
just have to do thatverification of school
attendance form, which sometimestakes VA a while to process.
I'll say in general, addingdependence to a benefit does
take VA while to process.
So you just have to have somepatients. We're seeing pretty
significant delays in this area,but they are getting processed.
And then there's some adultchildren if they've been
(03:02):
basically permanently disabled,permanently incapable of self
support since before theireighteenth birthday. So that's
usually children that either hadmajor birth defects or learning
disabilities where they'rebasically never going to
Leah Bucholz (03:16):
be able to leave the home or support themselves
independently. So I know this issort of one I see a lot and I
think I know the answer to itbut I think it's worth touching
on. If a veteran is married tosomeone for twenty plus years
and they have a stepchild thatthey basically raise with that
spouse and then they getdivorced, is that stepchild
(03:38):
that's not blood related tothem, even though they raised
them their whole life, are theystill eligible to any of those
benefits once they're no longerlegally a stepchild?
Rebecca Demming (03:49):
No, unfortunately, yeah, there's no
legal relationship there, thenthey wouldn't be able to access
those benefits.
Leah Bucholz (03:59):
Yeah, I think that's a really tough one, but
one question I've seen quiteoften in a lot of the forums
online, you know, especially theI think there's a chapter 35
benefits group on Facebook, anda lot of people ask that
question over and over again.And it is really unfortunate and
sort of sad, especially in thosecases where, you know, maybe you
know, raised this child sincethey were two years old and then
(04:20):
something doesn't work out. It'sjust it it is important to note
that, you know, stepchildren ofprevious marriages would not be
considered. Right?
Rebecca Demming (04:29):
Right. And along that line, one of the
things that we see a lot, youknow, well, obviously ex spouses
aren't entitled to benefit. Imean, I say obviously, but I do
get that question a lot. Exspouses are no longer entitled
to most of these benefits. Andyou have to be legally married.
(04:52):
And so there's a lot of peoplethat are in long term loving
relationships. We also havepeople who were married for a
while and with PTSD orwhatever's going on in their
relationship, they get divorcedand then they reconcile and they
move back in together, theydon't get remarried again. We
really only recognize this legalmarriages. There are some
loopholes to show a common lawmarriage, but it's important to
(05:16):
kind of understand that thesejust they're not looking at the
nuances of your living situationand your family life. They're
looking at whether you'relegally married.
Leah Bucholz (05:24):
Sure. Sure. That makes a lot of sense. So when we
talk about spouses asdependents, can you talk a
little bit more about like, whatif that spouse works and they
make a really good living? Whatif they're making a lot more
than the veteran is making?
Rebecca Demming (05:39):
Right, so when it comes to spouses and the term
dependent, it does not actuallymean the patriarchal system that
we think of where that spouse isliterally dependent on the
veteran for life support. Itcould be, but the spouse could
be working, the spouse could bemaking more money than the
veteran. It's just if there's anadditional person in the
(06:01):
household who you're married to,you get that bump up for them as
dependent.
Leah Bucholz (06:06):
Okay. So what if you have two veterans that are
married to each other? Because Iknow that's, I mean, that's
pretty, me and my husband aremarried to each other, right?
And we're both veterans.
Rebecca Demming (06:17):
Right. And we get that question a lot too, and
both of you can claim the otherone as a dependent. So you would
both, assuming you both havedisabilities, would both get
that extra bump up for having adependent spouse.
Leah Bucholz (06:31):
Okay. And they can both claim their children as
well, correct? Yes. As far as,you know, what they Right.
Rebecca Demming (06:38):
It's not like your taxes where you're like, I
claim you one year and you claimme one year. Now it's, you would
both get the bump up when VA iscalculated how much money this
veteran gets. It's how manydependents you have. And yes, if
you're married, you kind of oneof the few areas where you get
to double dip.
Leah Bucholz (06:53):
And what about access to healthcare for
dependents?
Rebecca Demming (06:58):
So veterans have the access usually through
the VA and then if they'reretired, they have TRICARE. And
you're retired, your, dependentswould have access to TRICARE as
well. There is a program calledCHAMPVA, which is it's not a
free program for healthcare, butonce the veteran hits 100, it's
(07:20):
a subsidized program that mightbe a good option for some people
depending on if they haveemployer sponsored healthcare
options or what other optionsthey have. I think it generally
offers pretty good coveragecomparable with TRICARE and the
premiums subsidized. So they'rea lot lower than what you're
going to find on the openeconomy.
Leah Bucholz (07:40):
Yeah, and I heard something recently also, I have
a friend that works with theCHAMPVA department and you may
not know this or you may knowthis that two veterans that are
married to one another, if theyboth are 100% disabled will
actually qualify for CHAMPVA aswell. Going back to our last
question, that while they canboth receive VA health care,
(08:03):
right, they can also be fallingunder one another for CHAMPVA so
they can get that care in thecommunity as their dependent
situation.
Rebecca Demming (08:14):
You know what I mean? Yeah, I think that's a
great option for some people. Imean, there's a lot of really
great VA hospitals, and if youlive near one and you're getting
good care there, then why paymoney to get an additional
health insurance? But if youhave certain conditions that VA
doesn't cover well, if you livein certain areas where access to
a VA hospital is morechallenging or the VA hospitals
in your area aren't quite asgood, that'd be a great option
(08:38):
to look into to get supplementalhealthcare.
Leah Bucholz (08:41):
Yeah, or maybe you just really like your doctor in
your town that you've beenseeing, but I've said this
before and I get a little hatefor it sometimes. I actually
have really good experience withmy VA healthcare. I know not
everybody does, lot of people Ihear horror stories all the
time. But at least here in theSan Antonio area, we get good
access to care, they're goodwith telehealth, all those
(09:02):
things. But there's justoptions.
Rebecca Demming (09:04):
Right, yeah, we're in the Tampa Bay area and
I pretty much consistently hearreally good things about, you
know, obviously with anyhealthcare system, there's gonna
be some doctors that are betterthan others or some offices that
are better than others. But bothBay Pines and, James A. Haley
are really good. We did not haveas good experience when we were
up in Virginia. So I don't knowif the one in the Hampton Roads
(09:25):
has changed, but when we werethere, it was really challenging
to access the care there.
Leah Bucholz (09:31):
Yeah. Yeah, I hear it's sort of dependent wherever
you go. I agree. So let me see.I have some more.
I have some little questionshere for you jotted down. How
about education benefits?Education benefits is
Rebecca Demming (09:47):
one of my favorite topics. So obviously
there's the GI Bill benefits andI think most people while
they're active get trained onwhat the requirements are, who's
eligible. Usually you have totransfer benefits over to your
dependent while you're stillactive for them to be able to
access them. Sometimes you canalter how many months go to each
(10:10):
beneficiary, but you kind ofhave to lock it in while you're
active for them to access thosebenefits. It's the veteran has a
cap on how many months ofeducation they have.
If they want to share or gift acertain number of months, then
that kind of cuts into theirtotal allowance. There's another
education program for dependencecalled Chapter 35 Dependence
(10:35):
Education Assistance Program.And that one, once the so it's
for dependence of. Veterans whohave passed from service
connected disabilities.Military, the dependence of
people who died.
On active duty and thedependence of people who are
(10:58):
100% total and permanentlydisabled. And so once you hit
100% total and permanentdisability, your dependence can
access this chapter 35 benefit,which covers a whole lot of it's
a monthly stipend, so it doesn'tnecessarily cover the tuition.
That money goes to thedependent. We can probably do a
(11:20):
whole episode on how to accessit and how to navigate that.
What I like about it is youcould have 10 kids and each kid
is entitled to that benefitseparately.
It's not like the veteran isgifting the benefit to the
child. And it's a decent numberof months of benefit. Right.
Leah Bucholz (11:38):
I think That that
Rebecca Demming (11:39):
would be really helpful.
Leah Bucholz (11:40):
Especially because it's my understanding, and
again, we can do a separatevideo on this. I'm fairly
certain they send the checkright to the dependent, right,
instead of some programs go toschool, right? So you can use
that money for housing or what Idon't know all the rules again.
We'll have to go over it, but
Rebecca Demming (11:57):
my Right. The money goes to the dependent and
I counsel veteran parents tohave the talk with their
children because that moneycould go to frat parties and
poor decisions. So if you'recovering the rent for your child
while they're in school and youwant this money to go towards
the rent, like you need to havethat conversation because the
money goes right to their childand you have to have it. I mean,
(12:19):
not gonna tell people how toparent their children, just want
them to know that the money goesto the child without any kind of
oversight or strings attached.
Leah Bucholz (12:30):
And that can become challenging, especially
if they're not finishing theirsemesters and opened a whole can
of worms. How can a veteranspouse qualify for education
benefits?
Rebecca Demming (12:43):
So there are time limits on the spouse. I
think they usually have to applywithin ten years of being
becoming eligible, but they canfill out the same form that the
dependent children fill out andthey can access higher education
certificate programs on the jobtraining. There's kind of a list
(13:04):
of different benefits that theycan use, which is really a
great. I think the purpose of itis both to help pay for your
children's education, but alsoto increase the family income.
So by allowing the spouse to goget some more training or
education.
So it's a really great program.
Leah Bucholz (13:23):
Yes, I agree 100%. So what does chapter 35 cover?
Just the highlights maybe.
Rebecca Demming (13:32):
Yeah. So chapter 35 is it's really just a
monthly stipend. So it doesn'tactually cover the tuition or.
Room and board or whatnot. Ithink it's, I believe it's about
$1,600 a month now and thatamount.
Don't quote me on the amount,but it's subject to adjustments
(13:53):
with cost of living adjustments.But what it also does is it
opens up the window for a lot ofschools and it's state dependent
and school dependent. A lot ofstates will waive in state
tuition. If the dependent isaccessing Chapter 35 benefits,
you get free tuition and thenyou get the stipend on top of
it. There's also the yellowribbon program that a lot of
(14:16):
schools have where, you know, ifyou're using the chapter 35, or
the GI bill.
Benefit and we should talk moreabout this on a separate episode
about the actual eligibilitycriteria. But the yellow ribbon
program is something worthlooking into, because VA will
match what certain privateschools will contribute towards
(14:38):
the tuition for certain eligibledependence. So it if you are a
veteran and you think privateschools are out of the question
for your children, it's worthlooking into which schools
participate and how much they'llparticipate in the Yellow Ribbon
program.
Leah Bucholz (14:52):
Yeah, and I know we have like a ton of notes on
different programs and we weregoing to launch into them today,
but we're going to save them forindividualized videos. But just
from my perspective, I wannagive a shout out to the
Hazelwood Act because I thinkbecause I'm a Texan right now.
I'm I'm here in Texas. And sofor those of you that are, that
originated, joined the militaryin Texas, That is another
(15:15):
benefit that your dependents canessentially get all these
college benefits. I'm not evensure how many years, I think
it's thirty six months also, butagain we'll have to do a more
lengthy video on this.
And I didn't even know that weas a family qualified for this
because I joined out of Florida,my husband joined out of North
Dakota, but we did a few yearsin the reserves. And my husband
(15:36):
got mobilized out of Texas whileliving here and that even
counted. So he mobilized forgreater than a hundred and
eighty days and that, you know,going on active duty out of
Texas. Again, we had a longperiod of active duty as well
prior to that comp that combotoo. But all of my kids, sort of
like chapter 35, all of them getto benefit from Hazelwood, which
(15:59):
I think is crazy and amazing.
And then one of my otherfavorites is the Folds of Honor
scholarship, which we can goover separately as well. Folds
of honor is something that youcan use for college, your your
dependents, and also for primaryeducation. So for private school
or or whatever if you're 90% orabove. Okay? So if you guys
(16:19):
haven't heard of either of thoseprograms, if you joined out of
Texas, check out Hazelwood.
And if you are 90% or above, Ibelieve it's about $5,000 per
year that you can apply for agrant for, I don't know if it's
really a grant or a scholar.Think it's a grant from that
other program, right?
Rebecca Demming (16:39):
That's awesome. Yeah, a lot of the benefits,
there's some benefits that arenationwide and then there's a
lot that are state specific. So,like I know in Virginia, Last I
pulled it up and checked it was.Tuition was waived for
dependence of 90% or abovedisabled veterans for. For
(16:59):
universities and, you know,Virginia has a lot of really
good universities.
If you're a Virginia resident,if the student is a Virginia
resident, I think if the veteranis a Virginia resident, it's
really important to kind of diginto those nuances to figure out
what you qualify and what youdon't qualify. In Florida, it's
free tuition if the veteran's100%. So, you know, if you
separate from the military andyou've been moving around for a
(17:21):
long period of time, you'refiguring out where to put your
roots down, some of these thingsmight influence where you decide
to settle down.
Leah Bucholz (17:29):
Well, in a lot of the programs you can double dip
on. Some of them you can't,Right? Like, I'm fairly certain
chapter 35 and GI Bill, youcannot use concurrently. You can
use them you can use them both,you just can't use them at the
same time.
Rebecca Demming (17:43):
Correct.
Leah Bucholz (17:44):
But some of them you can use concurrently, maybe
Hazelwood and Chapter 35. Soit's just good things for you to
look into for your dependentsand for yourself.
Rebecca Demming (17:54):
And if your dependent is using either GI
Bill or Chapter 35, you can'tyou don't get that bump up for
them. So remember, we said thatchildren 23 who are still
enrolled in school qualify asdependents for VA purposes. If
they're using one of thosebenefits, VA is not going to pay
(18:15):
you the extra couple $100 amonth to have them as dependent
because they're like, well,we're already covered their cost
of living through these otherprograms. Well, we're
Leah Bucholz (18:23):
going to get off. I know we could just go and go
on education, there are also, Ithink it I don't know if it's
coming to an end or there's somechanges coming with it that even
high school seniors that areover 18 can sometimes dip into
that chapter 35 for if they'retaking, dual classes, right,
high school and taking somecollege. There's some specifics
(18:43):
for that, but we'll have to getmore details on that and do a
class on chapter 35 at a laterdate. So roll rolling into DIC,
I know we've done a lot of we Ithink we've done a couple videos
on DIC, actually. But just forthose of those folks out there
that haven't seen our DICvideos, can you tell me about,
(19:05):
like, what the DIC program is?
Great.
Rebecca Demming (19:09):
So DIC, Dependency Indemnity
Compensation, is a program thatpays a monthly stipend. And
again, it's essentially a fixedamount. It's not dependent on
how much the Veteran was gettingpaid for their disability. For
the surviving spouses, minorchildren, and some dependent
(19:29):
parents when the Veteran passesaway. So, in order to qualify
for it, usually the cause ofdeath has to be determined to be
service connected or the veteranhas to have been 100% total
permanent for a certain periodof time, which depends on how
recently they separated fromservice.
So a lot of veterans, I I knowwe did a separate episode on
(19:52):
this and if you have morequestions about DIC, I
definitely recommend going backand watching that episode. Maybe
you can drop the link in thecomments here to that one for
people to search. The biggestthing, you know, I'll have a lot
of veterans disabled, you know,there's other people out there
that are more deserving ofbenefits than I am, or, you
know, I know I qualify, but Idon't want to take these
(20:14):
benefits. You know, it's not.And one of the things that I.
I'll counsel people on is thatgetting these benefits while
you're alive is a certain amountof money while you're alive. And
it's nice, but it couldpotentially set your spouse up
for some protection if you pass,especially if you pass from a
service connected condition orif a service connected condition
(20:34):
contributes to your cause ofdeath. So it's one factor to
consider in terms of lifeinsurance or end of life
planning, and making sure thatyour loved ones are taken care
of. So it's, I always recommenddoing it now. A lot, it's not
impossible, but it's a lotharder to kind of go back after
(20:55):
the veteran passes and provethat they had a condition, it
was service connected and thatthat condition that was service
connected caused it to It's alot easier if you get the
legwork done while you're aroundto go to doctor's appointments.
Leah Bucholz (21:07):
For sure. So just one last question on the
education piece. So whatprogram, basically how can those
children, veterans accesseducation benefits? What program
should they be looking for tosort of go research?
Rebecca Demming (21:25):
So there's there's a whole lot and I would
definitely talk to a VSO, getonline, talk to the, you know,
if you're already enrolled in aspecific school, I would go to
the financial aid office andmost schools, some schools do it
better than others. Most schoolshave a veteran specific or
military specific person intheir financial aid office that
(21:47):
can kind of help navigate thedifferent programs to make sure
that you're maximizing whatyou're accessing. So, Dependent
Education Assistance Program isreally awesome if you qualify,
if your parent is 100% totallydisabled, or if you're surviving
(22:09):
dependent of someone who passedin service or passed from a
service connected disability.But like you had mentioned,
there's a whole lot of differentdepending on what state you're
in, depending on your specificcircumstances, there's a lot of
different eligibility criteria.And you can sometimes patchwork
together a really good packagethat would make it possible for
your child or if you areindependent for you to go to
(22:32):
schools that you might otherwisethink are outside your financial
reach.
For sure.
Leah Bucholz (22:38):
And I didn't even know about that, like this the
out of state tuition kindaoptions for some of these
programs, that's really cool.Like, if your kid wants to go,
that can be really, problematicfor some people to have to deal
with. So I I'm definitely gonnalook into that because I've got
a kid a kiddo who has big dreamsabout going out of state for
(22:59):
college, so we'll see aboutthat. But, so what about health
care, benefits? What shoulddependents know about that
specifically that we haven'tgone over?
Just in a nutshell.
Rebecca Demming (23:15):
In a nutshell, I'm not a healthcare expert and
so understanding what'squalified and whether it's worth
the premiums that you're goingto pay once you qualify for
CHAMPVA, I think it's worthfinding a broker that you trust.
You know, you definitely want togo online and just put your
information in because you'llhave all these kind of broker
(23:37):
people calling you nonstop. Butcomparing the plans you get
through an employer, if youdon't have insurance at all, I'd
say almost hands down optinginto CHAMPVA is going be a good
option for you.
Leah Bucholz (23:53):
Totally. And who's a good resource, like first line
of defense for trying to figureout some of these programs for
veterans?
Rebecca Demming (24:00):
The VSOs are have people that can help access
this stuff, and I would probablyyou know, there's different
offices. There's a lot of thosethat have offices attached in
the VA itself, And I think thoseare often gonna be ones that are
more you know, they're they'resharing office space with people
(24:21):
that are granting these benefitsor awarding these benefits. So
if you have questions, would Iwould probably start there.
Leah Bucholz (24:28):
Yeah. And remember too that you don't have to use a
VSO that's in your town. Likesome people don't realize that.
I had a really amazing VSO andhe was in New York and I was
here in Texas. So like thatdoesn't mean somebody in New
York is gonna be able to takeyou based on their volume that
they're handling, but you're notif for some reason you don't
have confidence in your localVSO, you can go to the town over
(24:48):
and see the next VSO, you know,if you if you're not feeling
comfortable, you want a secondopinion or or whatever.
You're not locked into that oneperson if there's some kind of
conflict that you're notconfident in, right?
Rebecca Demming (25:02):
Right, and I mean, like lawyers, like
doctors, like medicalprofessionals, there's a wide
variety of competency andpersonalities of VSOs. And
unfortunately, of them are inthe position and they either
don't understand that, you know,they might be great at doing a
(25:22):
VA disability claim, but justreally not understand the
education piece or something.But then there's going be others
that are just rock stars atmaking sure that you're
maximizing every educationbenefit or health care benefit
that you're entitled to get.
Leah Bucholz (25:35):
Well, and hopefully some of them can, you
know, like other professions maysay, hey, I'm not the best at
burial benefits, but my friendin the next town over is and we
collaborate with each other andhelp and, you know, things like
that.
Rebecca Demming (25:48):
Yeah, but don't be afraid to seek a second
opinion if you're running upagainst a wall with the person
that's closest to you. I thinklike Leah said, feel free to
look out, go on to some of theseveteran Facebook groups and say,
hey, does anyone have a VSO thatthey love? Get a recommendation
for someone someone who hasexperience in this area or that
area because we're starting tonavigate this as a family.
Leah Bucholz (26:12):
Right. And and you can go on va.gov. I've got
another video on this too whereyou can do the accreditation you
can use the accreditation searchtool to find someone, VSO,
accredited claims agent, or anattorney in your local area.
And, it doesn't have to be inyour local area, but that that
tool on va.gov will spit out,like, tons of information for
you to just have differentpoints of contact. So Go ahead.
Rebecca Demming (26:36):
The final piece I wanna leave people with is pay
attention to what VA is sendingyou and send in your dependent
verification forms and youreducation verification forms on
time. Those are reallyimportant. If you have a change
in family situation, if you geta divorce, you want to let VA
know. We have had cases wherethe veteran, you know, there's
(26:57):
enough going on with thedivorce, the veteran didn't
remember to inform VA and they'dgotten paid for having a
dependent for longer than theyhad. And now VA is going after
for an overpayment.
The flip side is true if theysend you a form, I mean you
might have been married to thesame person for twenty years and
you're like, yeah, we're stable,we're not, you know, why do I
(27:18):
have to keep sending inverification forms? VA could go
in and sever the benefit becauseyou didn't send in the form. And
like I said, right now we'reseeing a huge delay in VA adding
people back in. And so I getthat question a lot. Like I've
been, you know, they're indeers, they're, you know, we're
established.
It's not like it's a newmarriage that they have to vet
or a new baby or something. Theyshould know that I'm married,
(27:40):
why is it taking so long? Theyare havingat least right now
they're having peopleindividually check the forms and
it's just, it's taking, I wouldsay six to eight months, maybe
up to a year. Once you hit that30%, you file for a dependent or
if you get married and get a newdependent, you want to add
(28:00):
dependents to your award. It'staking a long time.
VA will back pay you for it butit's one area that I see a lot
of frustration so you're notalone if you're experiencing
that.
Leah Bucholz (28:12):
I just have a couple more quick questions
before we wrap up because Ithink it's important to touch on
hospitalization for one. So candependents receive financial
assistance during a veteran'shospitalization? So if I'm the
primary caregiver, even if I'mnot the primary caregiver and
I'm the veteran, I gethospitalized and my family needs
(28:33):
some assistance, is theresomething out there for them?
Rebecca Demming (28:37):
There's two different programs. There's one
through the VA BenefitsAdministration called Aid and
Attendance. And so if theVeteran is requiring a family
caregiver or someone to helpthem with activities of daily
living, if they're hospitalized,they can apply for that
(28:59):
additional benefit and then thatgoes, it gets paid to the
veteran, but can be used forfamily expenses. There's another
program that's run through theVeteran Health Administration
called the Family CaregiverSupport Program. And that one is
specifically a benefit for.
The caregiver and so if you area family member who has a
(29:23):
veteran spouse, or actuallydoesn't have to be a spouse.
This is one of the areas whereyou don't even have to have like
a familial relationship. Couldbe the best friend or the
neighbor or, the girlfriend orboyfriend. If you're the person
who is the primary caregiver,you still have to go through a
whole social work vetting andwhatnot, but VA will pay you for
(29:44):
your time in being thatcaregiver. And they'll provide
some social work, support interms of counseling or group
sessions, or some resources tokind of help you navigate being
a caregiver for someone.
And so there's different tiersand how much care you're
providing for the person. Butthat is a resource that I
(30:05):
strongly recommend if you'refeeling like you're giving up a
good portion of your week takingcare of somebody that you're
looking to.
Leah Bucholz (30:12):
Okay. So my last two questions are sort of about
veterans' ability to accessVSOs. So what if can a veteran's
can a dependent get help from aVSO? Like let's say it's even in
a situation where the dependenthas passed away, like can maybe
they've passed away or maybethey haven't. Is the veteran
entitled to accessing that VSOfor assistance with VA programs
(30:35):
and then to include evenappeals?
Rebecca Demming (30:38):
Yes, they are entitled to access VSOs. Know
may be certain, I know there'sAmerican Legion and VFW and DAV
and veteran. So the differentorganizations may have different
eligibility criteria of who theyhelp. And so some might
(30:59):
specifically help people whofamily members of veterans who
served in Vietnam, you know, solook into the different
requirements, but yes, youshould be able to get a to help
you if you're a family member,even if you don't have a
veteran, a living veteran inyour family anymore.
Leah Bucholz (31:18):
Well, and not even just VSOs, but attorneys as
well. Accredited attorneys helpdependents all the time with
various issues depending on ifit's within their scope of what
they provide services for. Well,that's all the questions I have
today on this. Like I said, Iwould really love to do another
video, maybe definitelyspecifically on chapter 35,
(31:41):
think would be really cool, andmaybe we'll see if we can tie in
a couple other educationprograms or maybe just do a
whole series on educationprograms. But I hope this was
helpful to you guys out there.
Please drop us some comments. Ifyou have any questions for
Rebecca, I'm gonna put a link toher website at provetlegal so
you guys can reach out to herand contact her. Also as always,
(32:04):
I'll be monitoring the commentsto try to provide any feedback.
So let us know if you have anyquestions or if you have any
experiences you wanna share. AndRebecca, thank you as always for
joining us.
Rebecca Demming (32:16):
Yeah, thank you Leah. Always happy to come on
and talk with you about veteranbenefits.
Leah Bucholz (32:21):
Okay, all right guys. Thanks a lot for watching
and please like and subscribeand we'll see you guys later.
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