VA pension question for military retirees

[MTC(SS)Ret]

I know there are a significant number of forum members who are military veterans and retirees (Thank you all for your service!) as I am and I am curious if any of you might have experience with VA Pensions. I am doing some estate planning and since my wife is not eligible for my military pension after I pass on I am digging into VA benefits she could receive, starting with the surviving spouse pension application (a 14 page nightmare), and other benefits.
I was also curious if any of you who are getting military pensions or social security are also receiving the VA pension. I know there are income and asset limitations and also other requirements for disabled, home care, etc.
I know I still have a lot of homework to do, just wondering if any of you have been down this path.

 

[Targets Guy]

When I retired from the Air Force in 1989 I signed up for the Survivor's Benefit Plan. My wife will get about 1/3 of my retirement check when I pass. Here in Iowa each county has a veteran affairs office that give you information regarding those sorts of things. You might check and see if Florida has such a program.


I get no "veterans pension" as I had no service connected disabilities when I separated from the service. I have my military retirement and of course the military (VA) will bury me and provide a headstone so the wife won't have to worry about that.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Here in Colorado every county has a veterans service officer, usually located in the county courthouse or admin offices. Excellent resource for veterans to obtain the best information about veteran benefits.

Whether we like the system or not, the VA has evolved into a supermarket of sorts for a plethora of benefit plans. Pension benefits are not limited to service-connected disabilities and, in many cases, are not subject to "means testing" (asset and income limits). Tens of thousands of older veterans are receiving monthly benefits for conditions ranging from diabetes and arthritis to alcoholism and drug problems (AGAIN, I must stress that we don't have to like the system, I'm just describing what it has become).

VA disability benefits can be claimed in addition to military retirement benefits, and VA disability can also be provided to those with established pension funds from other employment.

Disability ratings may range from 10% for something as simple as tinnitus to 100% for diabetes or long-term alcoholism. Currently the monthly benefit for 100% disability rating is about $3100 for a single veteran with a bit more for married veterans or those with dependent children.

Spousal benefits can include monthly survivor benefits (currently about $1600 plus more for dependent children) and, perhaps more importantly, enrollment in health insurance/benefit plans with little or no premiums, co-pays, or limitations.

We can argue the right and wrong of the system until the cows come home and want to be fed, but the facts remain that the benefits are very real and relatively accessible for just about any veteran with honorable discharge. Most of those "disabled veteran" license plates you see on the road are not service-connected or combat injuries, they are just people who served years ago and find themselves with limited capacities for employment for some of the reasons life has a way of throwing at us over time.

Check into your state's department of veterans affairs or veteran service officer programs. Need your DD-214, they will get it for you quickly and easily. Need information on disability or survivor benefits, they will get you the current and correct information easily.

 

[carpriver]

retired air force and receive my retirement, I also signed up for survivor benefit plan for my wife. I do have a VA rated disability so I do receive a disability payment and I also receive social security pension. I retired in 1986.

 

[STCM(SW)]

All I know is that my wife's ID now has like mine, Expiration INDEF.

 

[pmanton]

I'd like to go a little off subject. If you get military pension, and VA, you can have your military pension reduced by the amount of the VA. If this is you, investigate CRSC Combat Related Special Compensation. If you have a Purple Heart or were injured in Combat training you might be eligible.
CRSC will replace the amount that is taken out for VA. It is non taxable. Back payments are paid to the date of injury, or the date CRSC was authorized.

 

[fordson]

All I know is that my wife's ID now has like mine, Expiration INDEF.

Master Chief, how did you swing a INDEF expiration for your wife's ID? My bride has to renew next month.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I have a terrible hearing problem caused by shooting (my opinion) M1's at Fort Jackson with NO hearing protection at all.
I was in the Alabama National Guard from 1963-69 with not enough active duty time to qualify for benefits. I looked on the internet at the VA site and it says I don't qualify for help.

Any thoughts on this subject?

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[growr]

The Survivor Benefit Plan is not a good option if you are still healthy.

Take the full option with no reduction in benefits and get a life insurance policy and run the payout options that will equal the benefit to the widow.

Essentially use the reduction in payout that you were willing to take to fund the insurance policy.

You are in control of the policy NOT the VA and whatever the VA decides is best for YOU.

The widow doesn't care whose name is on the check....just send it.

I utilized this for 24 years in the financial services industry with great success.

Randy

 

[Retired LTC USAR]

Master Chief, how did you swing a INDEF expiration for your wife's ID? My bride has to renew next month.

From what I understand, one you turn 65 (as I will in November),my expiration date will be INDEF.

 

[Sistema1927]

Most of those "disabled veteran" license plates you see on the road are not service-connected or combat injuries, they are just people who served years ago and find themselves with limited capacities for employment for some of the reasons life has a way of throwing at us over time.

Maybe I am the one having a problem trying to figure out what you are saying here, but here in NM you need to have a 50% or greater service connected disability to qualify for a disabled veteran plate.

Are you saying that Colorado gives disable veteran plates to people who have no service connected disability? If so, what is the criteria?

 

[fordson]

From what I understand, one you turn 65 (as I will in November),my expiration date will be INDEF.

Thanks. Reading the MC post, his wife got a dependent ID with an INDEN expiration date. I was asking how that occurred as I must be missing something. My wife needs to renew her ID next month for another five year period.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Just checked my DD Form 2 (RETIRED).
It says INDEF.
The weirdest thing is the Medical entry.
It reads DIRECT: YES.
Google say-
The military ID card doubles as a health insurance card. On the back is the Tricare beneficiary's benefits number and confirmation that the holder has access to military treatment facilities and civilian health care if the word "YES" appears under both the words "Medical" and "Civilian."

 

[SMSgt]

I'd like to go a little off subject. If you get military pension, and VA, you can have your military pension reduced by the amount of the VA. If this is you, investigate CRSC Combat Related Special Compensation. If you have a Purple Heart or were injured in Combat training you might be eligible.
CRSC will replace the amount that is taken out for VA. It is non taxable. Back payments are paid to the date of injury, or the date CRSC was authorized.

That applies only if the disability percentage is less than 50%.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

My father in law is 100% disabled from the Air Force . Some years ago there was a law passed that they can't deduct the amount of your VA pension from your service pension . So my FIL was happy , it was like getting a massive pay raise . He was a boom operator on KC-135's and had 3 back operations before they kicked him out after 30 years . He earned everything he gets .

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

I was divorced when I retired and and did not sign up for the Survivor Benefit Plan. I married my wife 1 1/2 years later and was not eligible to sign up for the SBP. If I had been married when I retired and signed up for SBP and then gotten divorced, I could of added a new spouse after getting married again if I kept up the SBP payments until I remarried.
As to the VA Pension, from what I read you don't have to have a service connected disability to receive a pension. If I read the requirements correctly, if you served in the military for a minimum of 90 days during the designated years of a period of war before September 1980, served a minimum of 24 months with 1 day during war after Sept 1980, were not dishonorably discharged, and are over the age of 65, you qualify for VA pension IF your net worth and annual income, including your dependents, is below a certain amount. Unfortunately just about anyone on Social Security is above the limit.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Maybe I am the one having a problem trying to figure out what you are saying here, but here in NM you need to have a 50% or greater service connected disability to qualify for a disabled veteran plate.

Are you saying that Colorado gives disable veteran plates to people who have no service connected disability? If so, what is the criteria?

New Mexico has its own laws and rules. Colorado has its own laws and rules. There is no direct comparison, and that holds true for all the other states.

Colorado's general requirement, as I understand it, is a VA disability rating of more than 50%, and no requirement that the disability be service connected.

In case anyone missed the nuances of my earlier post, I am trying my best to dance around the issues between service-connected and non-service-connected disabilities. There are those with legitimate combat injuries, there are those with horrible injuries caused by training accidents, and there are countless variations of legitimate service-connected issues. There are also far more people with disabled veteran status whose problems are more closely related to drug abuse, alcoholism, obesity, diabetes, and other such issues that are totally unrelated to military service.

By the way, I am an honorably discharged Vietnam combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient. I have watched for over 50 years while good people have been forced to fight the bureaucracy for minimal healthcare benefits related to such things as Agent Orange exposure and traumatic brain injuries while disability pensions (and free license plates) were handed out to dopers and alcoholics, many of whom never served in a combat unit.

Oops, I danced outside the lines just a little bit, didn't I? Oh well, I guess you can bend my dog tag and send me back to Vietnam.

 

[Sistema1927]

I guess that I have been woefully ignorant of the existence of non-service connected disability payments.

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

New Mexico has its own laws and rules. Colorado has its own laws and rules. There is no direct comparison, and that holds true for all the other states.

Colorado's general requirement, as I understand it, is a VA disability rating of more than 50%, and no requirement that the disability be service connected.

In case anyone missed the nuances of my earlier post, I am trying my best to dance around the issues between service-connected and non-service-connected disabilities. There are those with legitimate combat injuries, there are those with horrible injuries caused by training accidents, and there are countless variations of legitimate service-connected issues. There are also far more people with disabled veteran status whose problems are more closely related to drug abuse, alcoholism, obesity, diabetes, and other such issues that are totally unrelated to military service.

By the way, I am an honorably discharged Vietnam combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient. I have watched for over 50 years while good people have been forced to fight the bureaucracy for minimal healthcare benefits related to such things as Agent Orange exposure and traumatic brain injuries while disability pensions (and free license plates) were handed out to dopers and alcoholics, many of whom never served in a combat unit.

Oops, I danced outside the lines just a little bit, didn't I? Oh well, I guess you can bend my dog tag and send me back to Vietnam.

My sister-in-laws husband served in the Marines in Vietnam. about 10 or 12 years ago he was diagnosed with cancer (I don't know the details) but he lost the battle and passed about 5 years ago. The doctors determined it was related to Agent Orange exposure and my S-I-L filed claims with the VA. About 2 years later she was awarded a significant cash benefit and started receiving a VA survivors pension.

 

[Shark Bait]

Unless I missed something, all VA disability payments are for service connected conditions. If it's not service connected, the VA awards no disability percentage for it.