Can an Ex-Wife and Widow Collect Military Benefits?
Eligibility for collecting military benefits after your husband or ex-husband dies is something you should know before a death or divorce takes place. Retirement, death and other military benefits for spouses and ex-spouses are based on certain criteria. If you are not aware of the requirements, you might lose out on collecting benefits after you are widowed or divorced.
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Benefits
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While married to someone in the military, you enjoy regular pay and other benefits for the sacrifice made to protect the United States. Members of our armed forces and their families are given medical and dental insurance, access to military exchange and commissary stores and other benefits. To continue the benefits that the military offers to dependents, you must have a government-issued identification card. Generally, if you are widowed or divorced and not remarried, you may obtain an ID card and maintain your benefits.
Retirement Pay
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If your husband dies while receiving retirement benefits from the military, your payment will end unless you have a Survivor Benefit Plan. The SBP is insurance that your husband can elect so that you will continue to receive a paycheck after death or divorce. As of 2011, the premium cost is 6.5 percent of your base pay or 2.5 percent of the first $595 of your base pay and 10 percent of the remainder, whichever option is less. Under the SBP, you will receive 55 percent of the base pay, with cost-of-living increases, for the rest of your life, even if you remarry after age 55.
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Veteran Death Benefit
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When a veteran of war dies, his surviving wife may be eligible to collect a veteran death benefit. There is no provision for the ex-wife of a deceased veteran. To qualify, your husband must not have been given a dishonorable discharge. Also, he must have served 24 months (if after 1980), with at least one day during a time of war. If your husband qualifies, you will have to meet minimum income requirements, depending on your situation. The government will give you monthly payments up to the amount of the minimum income level specified.
Survivor Documents
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When your husband or ex-husband dies, it's important to file for benefits as soon as possible, even if you are not sure that you qualify to receive them. You will need certain documents. Those that are in your possession now can be placed in a separate file so that you have access to them immediately upon your husband's death. You will need his Social Security number, copies of your marriage and divorce certificates and the government life insurance policy, if one was issued to you. In addition, if your husband has died, you must present the death certificate.
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