VA Survivors' Benefits
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is charged with administering survivor benefits to the families of deceased service members. Benefits vary depending on the circumstances of the veteran's death. Children and spouses are entitled to benefits from the VA and, under certain circumstances, limited benefits are paid to parents of service members.
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Compensation
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If a service member dies from a service-connected illness or injury while on active duty or within 120 days of separation from the service, his next of kin receives $100,000, paid from his last military command. In the absence of a spouse or child, the service member's parents or designated next of kin receives payment. Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is paid to the spouse and children of veterans whose deaths meet certain service-connected conditions or to survivors of a veteran who had a service-connected total disability, though the disability does not need to have been the cause of death. Parents of a veteran with a service-connected disability also receive a monthly benefit, but this comes with income limits. Pensions are payable to the spouse and children under 18, or under 24 if attending school, of deceased veterans who served during wartime.
Educational Assistance
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Educational assistance is provided for the surviving spouse who attends school within 10 years of the veteran's death, and for her children if they are between 18 and 26. Extensions are available. To qualify, the deceased veteran must have died from a service-connected disability; have been a permanent or total service-connected disability; or has to have died while the disability existed, have been a POW or declared missing in action (MIA), or a veteran who is hospitalized due to an injury from, or aggravated by, active service, and who is likely to be discharged as a result. If the veteran died on active duty, the educational benefits don't expire for 20 years. The benefits cover college, trade and vocational school, business school, apprenticeships and, for spouses, correspondence school.
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Other Benefits
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Home loan benefits are guaranteed for unmarried spouses who survive a deceased veteran who died on active duty, as a result of a service-connected disability, who is listed as MIA or is currently a POW held more than 90 days. Spouses who remarry after age 57 are also eligible. The loan can be used to build; improve; or purchase a home, manufactured a home or lot; or to refinance a home owned and occupied by the surviving spouse. Vet Center bereavement counseling is also available. "No fee" passports are available to immediate family members, including parents and siblings, to visit graves or veterans' memorials on foreign soil. Health care at VA hospitals is awarded to spouses and children of disabled or deceased veterans meeting certain criteria. Headstones and grave markers are available for veterans and eligible dependents buried on military posts or in state veteran or national cemeteries. The families of honorably discharged veterans can receive a Presidential Memorial Certificate once he passes.
Vietnam and Korea
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If you are a veteran of Vietnam and served from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975; or served near the Korean DMZ from September 1, 1967 to August 31, 1971; and have a child with spina bifida or have a child born with impaired functioning of extremities, bowel or bladder function, or intellectual functioning; you are entitled to a monthly monetary allowance and vocational training or rehabilitation, if applicable. Children of women who served in Vietnam from February 28, 1961 to May 7, 1975 may be eligible for a monthly monetary allowance related to permanent mental or physical disabilities associated with their mother's service in Vietnam.
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