She is entitled to Aid and Attendance from the VA. YOu have to write or go to your closest VA. Fill out papers and it takes a long time to get it. Approximately 6 months. But if he was a WWII vet she is definitely entitled. I have VA benefits for my husband. He did not serve during war so he does not get Aid andAttendance, but he gets 10 hours of free care. Also the spouse is in titled to live in a VA home. You pay part, but a lot is paid for. It is a really big help to me. Look up VA on your computer and call them right away! You will need his discharge papers from the Service branch. If you don't have it, you can apply for a copy.
If your dad was a member of American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, etc, he was already part of organizations your mom might feel most comfortable with you dealing with, seeing as there was already a relationship with one or more. Most major veterans organizations operate what are called "Veteran Service Offices" to assist veterans, free of charge, with pension or disability compensation claims. Your mom would fall under the "pension" portion. To be clear about this, you, your mom, or your dad do/did not need to be a member of one of these organizations for your mom to receive assistance from one or more of them. You don't get better help by joining either.
Because the pension process can be confusing, you might want to approach one of these organizations, sit down with a National Service Officer, and get some help getting the forms filled out and compiling all the necessary paperwork. However, if you're more intrepid, you could also do it yourself because, after all, it's not rocket science. In order for a VSO to help your mom, you or your mom would have to sign a limited Power of Attorney enabling that organization to address the VA on your mom's behalf.
One of the benefits of having a VSO do this for you is that they have access to the VA's systems and can give you insight into how the process is proceeding. They can also tell you more reasonably what to expect in terms of timeframe to a decision. Alternatively, sometimes a VSO or one of their NSOs aren't as knowledgable or helpful as they make out to be when you meet with them. This is particularly true with county veterans offices. You can get stellar or you can get cellar, and that's true with any organization you approach for help.
Yes, you will need your dad's discharge paperwork (won't be a DD-214 seeing as he probably discharged before they were created but will be a service specific form), most likely his death certificate, and definitely the marriage license for starters. There may be other documents required as well, but we're not very familiar with this particular VA process.
We are going through the paperwork for this right now for my mother, who is in an assisted living. Your local nursing homes might have information about if there is help available for applying. In the Seattle area, the Masonic organization has volunteers who assist with that. I believe they have groups in other locations around the country as well.
You will need their marriage license, (I don't know what happens if they were divorced and/or this was a 2nd marriage), his death certificate, her proof of all income, receipts for everything that goes towards her medical care (include things such as foot care, lotions, and compression stockings...things you may take for granted), and she must not have assets more than $80,000. It's good to get help because you get one shot at the application...no second chances. If you are buying anything that is medical, it has to come from her account, not yours. I think even your gas when you take her to the doctor might be able to be included but not sure. The government is very particular.
I just went through this with my mom (dad was a WWII vet) one thing I found out is the vet had to have been on active duty DURING the war (he had to have served at least one day during a declared war). My dad was , he was stationed in Japan in 46. My uncle who was also a WWII vet was not , so my aunt was not entitled to any benefits. Although my mom passed away during the process it could be a benefit she is entitled to and very much worth looking into. It can take up to a year but if she qualifies I was told it is retroactive to when you apply. Whoever you go to for assistance will be able to tell you what you need. I was lucky that the assisted living facility mom was moved to had a firm for us to contact and help us at know charge. The law also just changed and there is a "look back" period of I believe 3 years. Good luck.
My dad is still living but my mom is receiving veterans benefits. She is in dementia/alz. facility. We went with an attny that ONLY did veterans benefits. Cost quite a bit but it was worth it. They did everything for us. Filled out all paperwork and we started receiving the checks within about 3 to 4 mos. but they retro-activated it to the date we applied. It was very much worth the $1800 we paid them. As others have said though....you can go to the veterans administration. As it is my understanding.....the veteran had to have seen combat at least one day in order to receive benefits. Here is a link to VA: http://www.va.gov/opa/persona/dependent_survivor.asp. I would also call your local Bar Assoc. to see who does only veterans/spouse benefits. Good Luck and God Bless.
I am glad that you got the payments started so quickly for your mother. It is my understanding that no one is allowed to charge a fee to fill out the paperwork needed to apply for the benefit. I have been told this by more than one person in a position to know. Perhaps that attny also gave you advice on other matters that he charged you for, if not he should be reported.
There are keywords in filling this paperwork out. Housebound is a qualifying condition for receiving care. I went to a local VA office, not the one in Atlanta, where I live, but in Dalton Ga, which is much smaller. They helped me. If your mom is unable to leave her home without assistance, unable to purchase her groceries, take care of her daily needs, then she should qualify for an attendant. You will have to have someone fill out papers to verify that they have been filling this position for your mom. That's what I did and it was approved. Income and assets are a big deal too. The survivor can own her home, but have little savings and small income. I'm not sure how much is considered since we did this some years back.
It has been 5 1/2 years since we did this so memory is a little rusty on it. I'm in the Dallas area and this wasn't the only law firm to do this. We might have filled out some of the paper work but the firm put all of it together and submitted it (walked us through it). "IF" our claim was not accepted then we owed them nothing but as it did work out for us we paid the fee. The only advice they gave us was what steps we needed to take in order to receive the benefits, i.e. financial, as you can only have so much money to receive benefits as stated in other replies. They also walked us through what to do with the rest of the money as to receive benefits but keep it where your loved one can get to it if needed (Trust). The facility that my mom is in gave us the name of several Veteran's firms. And No, they were not in "cahoots" with them. The one we went with we felt very comfortable with (and checked out thoroughly) but do be careful before giving any money to someone before you check them out. Hope this cleared up my previous post/answer.
Because the pension process can be confusing, you might want to approach one of these organizations, sit down with a National Service Officer, and get some help getting the forms filled out and compiling all the necessary paperwork. However, if you're more intrepid, you could also do it yourself because, after all, it's not rocket science. In order for a VSO to help your mom, you or your mom would have to sign a limited Power of Attorney enabling that organization to address the VA on your mom's behalf.
One of the benefits of having a VSO do this for you is that they have access to the VA's systems and can give you insight into how the process is proceeding. They can also tell you more reasonably what to expect in terms of timeframe to a decision. Alternatively, sometimes a VSO or one of their NSOs aren't as knowledgable or helpful as they make out to be when you meet with them. This is particularly true with county veterans offices. You can get stellar or you can get cellar, and that's true with any organization you approach for help.
Yes, you will need your dad's discharge paperwork (won't be a DD-214 seeing as he probably discharged before they were created but will be a service specific form), most likely his death certificate, and definitely the marriage license for starters. There may be other documents required as well, but we're not very familiar with this particular VA process.
If you cannot find your dad's discharge paperwork, you most likely get a copy through the National Archives in St. Louis, MO:
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/
You might ask for copies of his personnel and medical files while you're at it.
https://www.agingcare.com/Veterans-Assistance
You will need their marriage license, (I don't know what happens if they were divorced and/or this was a 2nd marriage), his death certificate, her proof of all income, receipts for everything that goes towards her medical care (include things such as foot care, lotions, and compression stockings...things you may take for granted), and she must not have assets more than $80,000. It's good to get help because you get one shot at the application...no second chances. If you are buying anything that is medical, it has to come from her account, not yours. I think even your gas when you take her to the doctor might be able to be included but not sure. The government is very particular.
Good luck and blessings to you.
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