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Q806: After my death is my wife entitled to my social security, pension and a portion of my VA disability benefits?
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A1: I can't tell you on the social security piece of this question but, for the VA there are two programs that your wife may be entitled too. First is the Death Pension. The Death Pension is an income dependent program. By law she is only allowed to receive so much money per month from all sources. If she draws your social security, then that amount would be offset by what she may be entitled to under the Death Pension. There are three levels of the Death Pension. The basic rate, Homebound, and Aid and Attendance. If you die of something you are service connected for, or should have been service connected for, then she could be entitled to Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC.) DIC is a fixed amount of money per month. There is more to this, and you can read about it here. (DS) 12/20/21
A2: As the rules are today, your wife will get the highest of the two Social Security Payments. The Disability Payment is for the Veteran and once the Veteran is deceased the disability payment stops. Now if the Veteran has been rated at 100% disabled for 10 years and passes away then the surviving Spouse could be entitled to the Dependent Indemnity Compensation which is referred to as the DIC. (GR) 12/29/21