I'm applying for Survivor's Pension after Spouse passed in December. Any information about the process or hints greatly appreciated. TIA.

Thanks to appealing to my US Congressman, the burial allowance check came through Oct. 27th. I cannot thank him enough because start to finish, it took only one month for this after my initial request. What a thrill when the VA rep said "I'm Joe Blow from the US Treasury and we're calling due to a Congressional inquiry"!

As for the pension, that doesn't look workable. If I discontinue renting to folks and acquiring money, my income will qualify for a pension but this app, of course, would take some months or even a year to process, if then, "and you're not /guaranteed/ a pension" says the rep, so I'm giving it a bye. What would be the income stream in that year of waiting?

I remain astounded at the Congressman's office's speediness!

You do realize to get Aid and Attendance you need to prove that your medical is more than your monthly income. I wanted it to help offset Moms care in an AL. She was turned down for something about 13k. I didn't follow thru because she was going on Medicaid at that point. Send everything to the Government certified mail. Don't need to do a return proof of delivery. You get a tracking# when u certify.

Good luck Pronker!

Is that your county office of VA appointment date ….?

I'm determined to try again with my own app filled out by me. I do not believe I could do worse than the VSO. :/ All they can do is deny again. No replacement check from VA for burial allowance after 6 months.

Three months almost to the day, the copy of the divorce decree arrived. The VA turned down my app for benefits due to income over the allowable limit; if I didn't rent out rooms, there would be allowance to provide for a VA survivor's pension. I'm glad I rent them out due to the VSO's "you're not guaranteed approval" which tells me that I'd be facing months of lessened income if I asked the tenants to move. FWIW, I regret not sending in the forms myself re 1. survivor's benefits and 2. burial allowance because could I have done a worse job? Putting down wrong name on the burial allowance app, etc.? I think not. The replacement check has yet to arrive after 5 months. I'm only able to discover that the VA did receive the wrong check which was unendorsed when I mailed it back to them, so there's hope.

I have my divorce decree. But not my marriage certificate from my first marriage. My Mom had neither her marriage certificate from first marriage or her divorce decree. I had to go to the State to get Moms first marriage certificate. They were only together 1 yr. Mom was married 55yrs to my Dad.

People need to realize how important ex marriage info can be. TG my Dad kept ALL his military paperwork. He had things the VA rep said he had never saw people had kept. Everything was in the envelope he received it in.

Divorce decree never arrived; burial check not arrived as yet and I have more hope for this one; appt tomorrow to go through the whole mess and straighten it out.

Spouse's divorce decree not here as yet, after 1 month; neither is burial expenses check. VA Rep made a serious error 012822 in reporting that Spouse was "service-connected disabled." I'm thinking I could not do worse than Rep and ought to have mailed in the app myself. Luckily, I'm not strapped for cash for another 2 months.

The meeting went well and I'm awaiting a decision. I'm assuming this will take a few weeks or perhaps months. It's good to have waited for the meeting and help from the officer; he needed to consult his boss three times during filling out the forms. Good to hear was that the VA will supply aid/attendance to me in future should I require it. I'm snail mailing away for a copy of Spouse's divorce decree.

Have you seen this link:

https://www.veteransaidbenefit.org/va_help_surviving_spouse.htm

Per my calculations via the VA link, Survivor's Pension will be about 9% of Spouse's pension. I was hoping for enough to cover the water bill and the amount is .5 of that. :/ I'm hoping profoundly that VA Rep will prove me wrong on Jan. 28th.

Pronker, do you need their divorce papers? Are those in
your late husband's files?

I remember I had to give info on Moms first marriage, I had to actually go to Vital Statistics in my State to get a copy of the marriage license. Mom was married to Dad for 55 yrs. Her first marriage didn't last a year and they divorced. Which means, she was not entitled to any VA benefits thru him anyway. He received no pension because he only served during WWII.

Thanks for the swift reply. It's not daunting at all now that I contacted First Wife and received the date and place of their marriage and her maiden name, so I'm considering waiting maybe a day to look over everything and send it. The 28th seems too far out, but the VSO is very busy, with only 2 officers to consult with.

Pronker, I know nothing about this, but found this on the VA site:

"Should I submit an intent to file form?
You may want to submit anintent to file form before you apply for VA Survivors Pension benefits. This can give you the time you need to gather your evidence while avoiding a later potential start date (also called an effective date). When you notify us of your intent to file, you may be able to get retroactive payments (payments that start at a point in the past).
Find out how to submit an intent to file form"

Here is the full link:

https://www.va.gov/pension/survivors-pension/