Do I qualify for VA disability?

The VA laws can be a bit complicated and hard to understand sometimes and many veterans that we’ve worked with have tried to figure out whether they qualify for benefits and what types of benefits they qualify for themselves but found the process overwhelming, if you ever found yourself wondering whether you qualify for VA disability benefits then this blog is for you.
as stated by the VA, to qualify for a VA benefit you must have a current medical condition (illness or injury) that affects your body and mind and you have served in active duty, active duty training, or inactive duty training.
in addition to these two statements, one of these situations must apply to you:

  • you got injured or sick during your time in the military and you can link this condition to your time in the military, this is called an in-service disability claim.
  • you had a pre-existing medical condition before your time in the military and your time in active duty has made this condition worse, this is called a preservice disability claim.
  • you have a disability related to your active duty that didn’t appear until after your time in the military ended, this is called a postservice disability claim.
  • However, there are a few things that may disqualify you from receiving VA disability benefits even if you’ve met the requirements listed above. you may not qualify for a VA disability benefit if one of these situations apply to you:
  • you’ve received a dishonorable discharge from the military. however, this doesn’t apply to other types of discharges such as honorable discharges under honorable conditions and general discharges.
  • you’ve committed willful misconduct which is generally defined as “an act involving conscious wrongdoing or known prohibited action.”, this means if your disability is the result of your willful misconduct then you won’t be eligible for VA disability benefits.
    What happens after I file my disability claim?
  • after you file your disability claim your claim will be assigned by the VA to a Veterans Service Representative (VSR) that will review your claim and decide whether additional evidence must be provided.
  •  if the VSR decides that you must submit new evidence you will receive a VCAA (Veterans Claims Assistance Act) notice that includes the evidence that must be provided.
  • after you submit those evidence the VSR will evaluate them and request more if they think that they are not enough and if they think that they’re enough, your claim will move forward.
  • Now that your claim is complete the VSR will finish reviewing it and recommend a decision and include documents that further explain the decision.
  • the decision will be reviewed by the VA to give final approval.
  • the VA will prepare your claim decision packet and deliver it to you via mail.

What benefits are available for you as a family member of a deceased veteran?

Losing a family member in the military or just losing a family member is probably the worst thing that could happen to anyone, the loss of a spouse or a parent that you’re dependent on can drastically change your life but thankfully, some benefits are available for family members of deceased veterans, those benefits aren’t in any way supposed to compensate for your actual loss but they’re something to help you and other family members deal with the loss and show gratitude to you.


Dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC)
DIC is a tax-free monthly payment that is provided to the spouse, child, or parent of a deceased veteran if they meet certain requirements.


Tricare
Tricare is a health care program provided to the U.S. military and is government-managed health insurance, if your sponsor dies you are still eligible for the Tricare program as a survivor.


Death Gratuity
The death gratuity program provides survivors of members of the Armed Forces with a tax-free payment of $100,000.
You’re eligible for this payment if the veteran died in active duty, authorized travel to or from active duty, while performing authorized travel directly or from active duty for training or inactive duty training.
The purpose of this payment is to provide financial support to survivors immediately following the veterans and till other benefits are available.

This benefit is eligible for:


the surviving spouse of the veteran, if any.
1-if there’s no surviving spouse, to any surviving children.
2-if there’s none of the above, to the surviving parents.
3-if there’s none of the above, to the duly appointed exciter of the administration of the estate of the person.
4-if there’s none of the above, to the other next of kin of the person entitled under the laws of domicile of the person at the time of the veteran’s death.