How to read this page. I wrote every item from VA's own published rules. Where the
common version of a rule is stated too narrowly, I state it wide, because a rule stated too narrowly is
what stops a veteran from filing. If a door is closed to you, I name the next door. Nothing here costs
you money, and no term goes by without a plain-English definition.
One warning about dollar figures. VA resets the automobile allowance and the housing
grant maximums every
October 1, and the clothing allowance every
December 1. Where a
maximum moves on that cycle I send you to VA's own rate page instead of printing a number that will be
stale by the time you read it. VA's rate page:
va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/special-benefit-allowance-rates.
Two phone numbers worth writing down. VA benefits line
1-800-827-1000. VA main
information line
800-698-2411.
1 · Family health care
CHAMPVA — health coverage for your spouse and children
The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The
veteran is not the patient here — the Family is.
- Covers doctor visits, hospital stays, prescriptions and more for the spouse or dependent child
- You qualify if the veteran is rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected
disability; or the veteran died from a service-connected disability; or the veteran was rated
permanently and totally disabled at the time of death; or the service member died on active duty in
the line of duty
- A Primary Family Caregiver recognized under the caregiver program (see number 6) who has no other
health insurance may also qualify
- You cannot be eligible for TRICARE. If you are eligible for TRICARE, that is your program,
not this one
- At 65 and older you must carry Medicare Parts A and B to keep CHAMPVA
It is not free care. CHAMPVA is cost-sharing: a $50 per person / up to $100 per Family
deductible each calendar year, a 25% beneficiary share of the CHAMPVA allowable amount, and a
$3,000 per-household annual catastrophic cap. Anyone who tells you CHAMPVA is free has not
read the program guide.
Dental is not in it. CHAMPVA excludes routine dental, dentures and orthodontia, and excludes
routine eye exams and non-implanted hearing aids. Do not read number 3 on this page and assume your
children are covered for dental. They are not.
Child age limits. Coverage for a dependent child generally ends at 18. It can continue
from 18 to 23 if the child is enrolled in school full time. It can continue past 18 with no age
cutoff if the child became permanently incapable of self-support before turning 18.
How to file. VA Form 10-10d (Application for CHAMPVA Benefits)
and
VA Form 10-7959c (Other Health Insurance Certification). Send both — 10-10d alone gets
held. Later medical claims go in on
VA Form 10-7959a.
va.gov/health-care/family-caregiver-benefits/champva
★ Two forms, not one. Send both.
2 · Education
Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA, Chapter 35)
School money for your children and your spouse. Keep the word "Survivors'" in the name
— dropping it hides an entire eligibility path.
- Pays toward college, vocational training and more
- 36 months of entitlement (45 months if training began before 1 August 2018)
- You qualify if the veteran has a total disability permanent in nature from a
service-connected disability; or died of a service-connected disability; or the service member died in
the line of duty; or is missing in action, captured by a hostile force, or forcibly detained by a
foreign entity for more than 90 days; or is hospitalized or in outpatient treatment for a
service-connected permanent and total disability and is likely to be discharged for it
On unemployability ratings. A total disability rating based on individual unemployability
(TDIU — VA pays you at the 100% rate because your service-connected conditions keep you from
working) counts for Chapter 35 only when that rating is held permanent. A TDIU rating that is
not permanent does not open this door. Check the wording on your rating decision before you promise
your child anything.
The deadline is the money. Children who became eligible before 1 August 2023 generally
have 8 years of usable eligibility ending at age 26 — VA recognizes exceptions to that
age cutoff, so ask rather than assume. Spouses whose qualifying event was before 1 August 2023
generally have 10 years, and 20 years for an active-duty death or certain permanent and
total ratings. If eligibility arose on or after 1 August 2023 there is no deadline at all.
A missed date here is money you cannot get back.
How it interacts with survivor payments. A child receiving Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation (DIC — a monthly survivor payment) must give up those DIC payments to use DEA. A
spouse may receive DIC and use DEA at the same time. A child whose parent died in the line of
duty before 1 August 2011 may use both DEA and the Fry Scholarship, one at a time, 81 months
combined; on or after 1 August 2011 it is 48 months combined and only under separate qualification. A
spouse must pick DEA or Fry and cannot switch.
★ No Intent to File protects this date. Only the application does.
3 · Dental
VA dental care — and the trauma path almost nobody knows
VA dental is not a single yes-or-no. It is a set of eligibility classes, and one of them
ignores your rating percentage entirely.
Class II(a) — combat wounds and service trauma. If you have a service-connected
noncompensable dental condition or disability that VA adjudicated as resulting from combat wounds
or service trauma, you are eligible for any needed treatment for that condition. There is
no rating percentage requirement, no time limit, and no one-time restriction. If you lost teeth
or took jaw damage from an injury in service, this is your paragraph. Do not buy insurance instead of
filing.
Any needed dental care, at no charge:
- Class IV — rated 100% by schedular evaluation, or entitled to the 100% rate by
reason of individual unemployability (TDIU)
- Class II(c) — former prisoner of war
- Class I — a service-connected compensable dental disability
- Class II(a) — combat wounds or service trauma, as above
More limited care:
- Class II — a one-time course of care for a noncompensable service-connected dental
condition: 90 or more days of Persian Gulf War era service, or 180 or more days otherwise. There is an
application deadline after discharge, so file as soon as you separate
- Class III — a dental condition professionally determined to be aggravating a
service-connected medical condition
- Class IIB — Homeless Veterans Dental Program
- Class V — enrolled in Veteran Readiness and Employment, Chapter 31 (see number 8)
- Class VI — a dental condition complicating a medical condition VA is treating
- Inpatient — receiving inpatient care in a hospital, nursing home or other supervised
homelike setting
Covered care includes exams, cleanings, extractions, fillings and more.
If none of the classes reach you, the next door is
VADIP, the VA Dental Insurance
Program, which offers discounted dental insurance. Read the classes first.
va.gov/health-care/about-va-health-benefits/dental-care
★ Service trauma needs no percentage.
4 · Cash reimbursement
VA clothing allowance
This is not money for special clothing you need to buy. It reimburses clothing your
treatment damages. Most veterans get this backwards and never file.
- $1,053.19 per allowance, effective 1 December 2025 — paid as an annual lump sum. This
rate resets 1 December 2026; check VA's rate page after that date
- You qualify if you have a service-connected disability and you wear or use a
prosthetic or orthopedic appliance that wears or tears your clothing
- Or you use a physician-prescribed medication for a service-connected skin condition that
irreparably stains or damages your outer garments
- The criteria are set by 38 CFR 3.810 — the federal regulation, not a local policy
A wheelchair counts. Under 38 CFR 3.810 a wheelchair is a qualifying appliance. If you use a
chair and your clothing shows it, you are in this benefit. Wheelchair users read the words "prosthetic
or orthopedic appliance" and count themselves out. Do not.
You can be paid more than one. VA's Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service states a maximum of
four allowances per benefit year, two per garment type (two upper, two lower), where multiple
qualifying appliances or medications are involved. A veteran with both a prosthesis and a prescribed
skin medication who claims one allowance is claiming a fraction of what he is owed.
The August 1 date is widely misstated, and the narrow version costs people money. August 1 is
the date you must meet the criteria for that benefit year. Under 38 CFR 3.810(c)(1) you then
have one year from that August 1 anniversary date — through July 31 of the following
year — to file. Apply by August 1 if you can, and avoid the argument. But if August 1
has already gone by, do not assume the payment is lost. File. VA's prosthetics page states a flat
August 1 application cutoff; the regulation is broader, and the regulation is the law.
How to file. VA Form 10-8678. You apply
once. If your appliances and prescribed
skin medications do not change, VA keeps paying the allowance every year and no annual application is
required. File again only to add an
additional allowance, or when your devices or medications
change.
va.gov/disability/eligibility/special-claims/clothing-allowance
★ Past August 1? Still file.
5 · Base access
Commissary, exchange and MWR privileges
Shop at the PX, BX, NEX and Commissary. The old "you must be 100%" rule has been gone
since 1 January 2020 and thousands of veterans still believe it.
- You qualify if you have a service-connected disability rating — any rating, 0% to
100% — and an honorable discharge
- Or you are retired from military service
- Or you are a former prisoner of war
- Or you are a member of the Reserves
- Or you are a Purple Heart or Medal of Honor recipient
- Or you are a Primary Family Caregiver designated under the caregiver program (number 6)
Veterans rated 0% through 90% are the group that gained access on 1 January 2020 under the
Purple Heart and Disabled Veterans Equal Access Act. If you were told no before 2020, the answer
changed. Go back.
What to bring. A Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC) showing SERVICE CONNECTED,
PURPLE HEART or FORMER POW — or a letter from VA together with your passport or driver's
license. It is not VHIC-only, whatever you may have been told at a gate. Primary Family Caregivers do
not use a VHIC at all; they present a letter from the VA Office of Community Care.
★ Zero percent is still service connected.
6 · Caregivers
The two caregiver programs — PCAFC and PGCSS
One pays a monthly stipend. One does not. Most Families have never heard the second one
exists, so when they fail the rating test for the first they walk away with nothing.
PCAFC — Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. Pays a
monthly stipend to a designated Primary Family Caregiver, and adds CHAMPVA health
coverage for that caregiver, mental health counseling, travel benefits and
respite care — real money and real coverage that the phrase "support and resources"
buries.
- PCAFC requires a single or combined service-connected disability rating of 70% or
more
- The veteran must be enrolled in VA health care
- The veteran must need personal care services for at least six continuous months because he
cannot perform an activity of daily living, or needs supervision, protection or instruction
- Apply on VA Form 10-10CG
Under 70%? You are not shut out. PGCSS — the Program of General Caregiver Support
Services — has no disability rating requirement and no formal application. It offers
training, coaching, peer mentoring and respite care. It pays no stipend.
The one gate PGCSS does have: the veteran must be enrolled in VA health care, and must
need help with one or more activities of daily living, or supervision or protection. Contact your
facility's Caregiver Support Program team, or ask the veteran's provider for a referral, complete an
intake interview, and you can begin using services. The caregiver does not have to be a relative
and does not have to live with the veteran.
★ Two programs. Ask about both.
7 · Vehicles and home
Automobile allowance, adaptive equipment and home adaptation grants
These are four different programs with four different forms. There is no single
"adaptive equipment grant," and a veteran who files as if there were files the wrong paper.
Get VA approval BEFORE you buy the vehicle or the equipment. Buy first and you can lose the
allowance entirely. This is the most expensive mistake on this page.
- Wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs come through VA health care from the Prosthetic and
Sensory Aids Service. Enroll in VA health care and get a VA prescription. There is no grant
application for these.
- Ramps and medically necessary home modifications — HISA grant, VA Form 10-0103.
$6,800 lifetime if the need is service-connected, treated as if service-connected, or you are
non-service-connected with a 50% or higher service-connected rating; otherwise $2,000 lifetime.
Confirm the current figure with VA before you plan around it.
- Larger home adaptations — Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) or Special Home Adaptation
(SHA), VA Form 26-4555. The maximums are set each fiscal year and change every October 1, so get
the current number from VA's page. SAH and SHA can be used up to six different times over your
lifetime, up to the maximum.
- Vehicles — automobile allowance, VA Form 21-4502. VA does not buy you a vehicle. It
pays an allowance toward a vehicle you buy. The maximum changes every October 1; get it from
VA's rate page. Adaptive equipment for the vehicle is a separate application — VA Form
10-1394.
Living in a Family member's home? There is a grant for that. Temporary Residence Adaptation
(TRA) pays toward adapting a home owned by a Family member you are living in temporarily —
also VA Form 26-4555, with separate maximums for SAH-eligible and SHA-eligible veterans. If you need
a ramp at your daughter's house, TRA is your program, and almost nobody mentions it.
A second automobile allowance exists. The allowance is normally paid once — but you may
qualify for a second one if you bought the vehicle with a VA automobile allowance 30 or more
years ago, or if a natural disaster destroyed a vehicle you bought with the allowance.
Vietnam-era and Gulf-era veterans who used this in the 1980s or 1990s: you may be eligible right now.
Go ask.
"Permanently disabled" is not the standard and that wording makes eligible veterans quit. You
qualify for the automobile allowance if a service-connected disability includes: loss or
permanent loss of use of one or both feet; loss or permanent loss of use of one or both hands;
permanent impairment of vision of both eyes (20/200 or worse in the better eye with corrective
glasses, or a field defect reducing peripheral vision to 20 degrees or less); a severe burn injury
causing contractures that limit motion; or ALS. Ankylosis (a joint fused so it cannot move) of
one or both knees or hips qualifies you for adaptive equipment only, not the vehicle allowance.
★ Approval first. Purchase second.
8 · Careers
Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E, Chapter 31)
Formerly called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. Training, education and
employment services tied to your service-connected disability.
If you were discharged on or after 1 January 2013, there is NO time limit on your eligibility.
None. Read that twice, because the old 12-year rule is still repeated everywhere and it turns
eligible veterans away by the thousand. If you separated in 2014 and somebody told you your window
closed, they were wrong.
- You need a service-connected disability rating of at least 10%
- And a discharge that is not dishonorable
- Generally up to 48 months of services
- Apply on VA Form 28-1900
Discharged BEFORE 1 January 2013? The 12-year basic period of eligibility applies to you,
running from the later of the date of your separation notice or the date of your first
service-connected rating. Even then it is not final — a VR&E counselor can extend it
if he finds you have a serious employment handicap. If your 12 years look gone, ask for the
counselor and ask for that finding. Do not walk away on your own arithmetic.
Chapter 31 carries dental. Enrollment in VR&E makes you Class V eligible for VA
dental care (see number 3). Two benefits out of one application.
★ On or after 1 Jan 2013 — no deadline.
9 · Life insurance
VALife — whole life coverage at a 0% rating
A veteran with a 0% service-connected rating usually thinks 0% is worth nothing. For
this benefit, 0% is the ticket in.
- You are eligible if you have a VA service-connected disability rating — even if that
rating is 0%
- Up to $40,000 of whole life coverage, in $10,000 increments
- No application time limit if you are 80 or younger
- Apply through the VALife page on VA.gov, linked below
Know the two-year rule before you count on this. Your full coverage does not begin until
two years after you apply. If you die inside those two years, your beneficiaries receive the
premiums you paid plus interest — not the face amount. That is not a reason to skip it.
It is a reason to apply now rather than later, because the clock only starts when you file.
Over 80? You can still qualify, on a narrow path: you must have applied for disability before
age 81, received the rating by age 81, and apply for VALife within two years of being notified of that
rating.
va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/valife
★ Apply early. The clock starts at filing.
10 · Monthly income
Veterans Pension — and Aid and Attendance
A needs-based monthly payment for wartime veterans. Different from disability
compensation, and far less claimed.
- Wartime service is the first gate, and it is where most readers stop:
- Active duty starting before 8 September 1980 — at least 90 days of active duty
with at least 1 day during a wartime period
- Enlisted starting after 7 September 1980 — at least 24 months, or the full
period for which you were called
- Officer starting after 16 October 1981 with no prior 24 months of active duty
- Plus an age or disability condition: 65 or older; or permanently and totally disabled; or in
a nursing home for a disability; or receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Plus yearly Family income and net worth within the limits Congress sets
- Apply on VA Form 21P-527EZ
Ask about the add-ons. Aid and Attendance and Housebound are increased-pension
allowances paid on top of the basic pension rate when you need help with daily living or are largely
confined to your home. Families pay for in-home help out of pocket for years without ever asking VA
about these two.
Pension and disability compensation cannot be paid at the same time. VA pays the greater of the
two. If you are already receiving compensation, this is a comparison question, not a second check.
★ Wartime service, then income, then the add-ons.
Also earned
VA home loan — the funding fee exemption
The loan is a service benefit, not a disability benefit. But a service-connected
disability can save you thousands at the closing table.
The funding fee exemption. The first-use VA funding fee is
2.15% of the loan with less
than 5% down (1.5% at 5% down, 1.25% at 10% down). On a $300,000 loan that 2.15% is $6,450. You are
exempt if:
- You are receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability
- You are eligible for it but receiving retirement or active-duty pay instead
- You are a surviving spouse receiving DIC
- You are a service member who has received a proposed or memorandum rating before the loan
closing date saying you are eligible for compensation because of a pre-discharge claim
- You are an active-duty member who documents a Purple Heart on or before closing
Number 4 is the one transitioning Soldiers miss. If you have a memorandum rating in hand, put it in
front of the lender before you close.
"Zero down, no matter your credit history" is not true, and that line sends people to a closing
table unprepared.
- Down payment: no down payment is required if you have full entitlement. If you have
used part of your entitlement and not restored it, your lender may require a down payment when your
remaining entitlement will not cover a 25% VA guaranty on the loan you want. Get your
Certificate of Eligibility (COE) first so you know which case you are in
- Credit: VA sets no minimum credit score, but 38 CFR 36.4340(g) requires the lender to find
you a satisfactory credit risk, and lenders add their own credit, income and occupancy
standards on top of VA's
No credit history is not the same as bad credit. The regulation says plainly that the fact a
recently discharged veteran had no opportunity to develop a credit history will not preclude a
satisfactory credit determination. Say that out loud to a lender who tells you otherwise.
Past bankruptcy. It does not automatically disqualify you. Under 38 CFR 36.4340(g)(2), a
Chapter 7 discharge within the past 12 months generally will not support a satisfactory-credit-risk
finding; a discharge one to two years back can still be approved if the bankruptcy was caused by
circumstances beyond your control and you have obtained credit since and paid it satisfactorily.
Under (g)(3), a Chapter 13 still in payout can get favorable consideration once at least 12 months
of payments have been made satisfactorily and the Trustee or Bankruptcy Judge approves the new
credit.
Eligibility is service-based. You need the minimum active-duty service for your service period,
or qualifying National Guard or Reserve service, a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable,
and you must occupy the home. A service-connected disability can shorten the required service
period to less than 90 days if you were discharged for that disability. The benefit is restorable
and reusable — this is not a one-house benefit.
If your discharge is other than honorable. A dishonorable, bad conduct, or other-than-honorable
discharge may make you ineligible — it is not automatic. You can request a VA
Character of Discharge review or apply for a discharge upgrade, and exceptions exist for
hardship, convenience of the government, and certain medical discharges. Start there instead of
assuming the door is shut.
★ Show the rating. Skip the fee.
Also earned
Beneficiary Travel — VA pays you to go to your appointment
One of the most under-claimed benefits VA has. If somebody told you free public transit
is a VA benefit, that is a state, city or transit-authority program, not VA. This is the federal
one, and it is real money in mileage.
- You qualify if you have a VA disability rating of 30% or higher
- Or you are traveling for treatment of a service-connected condition — at
any rating, including under 30%
- Or you receive a VA pension
- Or your income is below the maximum annual VA pension rate
- Or you are traveling for a scheduled VA claim exam, a service dog, or VA-approved
transplant care
Thirty days. File VA Form 10-3542 within 30 days of the appointment or of the
travel expense. Claims filed after the 30-day limit are usually denied. Make it a habit: appointment,
then claim, same week.
★ Service connected? Any rating travels.
Also earned
The federal recreation passes — two of them, not one
Free lifetime access to federal recreation sites managed by six agencies, not just
National Parks. And no, you do not need a disability rating.
Interagency Military Lifetime Pass — free to ALL veterans. No disability rating required.
Gold Star Family members qualify too. The National Park Service defines a veteran as anyone who has
served in the U.S. Armed Forces, including the National Guard and Reserves. If you served, this
is yours.
- Accepted proof: a DoD ID (DD Form 2, DD Form 2765, or Next Generation USID), a Veteran
Health Identification Card, a VA-issued Veteran ID Card, or a state driver's license or ID with a
veteran designation
- Cost: free in person at a participating federal recreation site, and free as a digital pass.
A mailed physical pass costs $7.50 shipping
- What it covers: entrance fees and standard amenity (day-use) fees
What the Military Pass does NOT cover. No coverage and no discount on camping, tours,
special recreation permits, reservation fees, fees for organized groups, or concession-operated
facilities and activities. Do not roll into a campground expecting a discount this pass does not give.
Interagency Access Pass — the disability pass, and it is better at campgrounds. Free to
any U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a permanent disability that severely limits one or more
major life activities. Rating percentage is irrelevant — a VA award letter or an SSDI
notice of award is accepted as proof. It covers the same entrance and day-use fees and, at many
sites, discounts expanded amenity fees such as camping, swimming, boat launching and guided
tours. It is free, but carries a $10 processing fee when ordered online or by mail — pick
it up in person and there is no fee.
★ All veterans. No rating needed.
Also earned
State and county property tax relief
Not a VA benefit — a state and local one. It can be the biggest yearly saving on
this whole page, and the 100% myth keeps people from checking.
- Many states offer property tax relief or exemptions to service-connected disabled veterans
- A number of states start well below 100%. Do not assume you must be rated 100% to qualify
- Rules vary by state, and savings can be significant
- You must apply through your state or county — VA does not do this for you and will not
do it automatically
I am not printing state percentages here on purpose. Legislatures reset these thresholds every
session, and the figures circulating online are frequently out of date. Get the number from your own
state's revenue or veterans-affairs office and your county assessor. A wrong number costs you a filing
year.
Two calls. Your county assessor or treasurer for the application and the local deadline,
and your state department of veterans affairs for what your rating qualifies you for. Ask both
what proof they want — usually your VA rating decision letter.
★ Below 100%? Check anyway.
Read this before you file
Intent to File — what it actually protects
An Intent to File can hold your effective date and back pay. But it does not cover
everything, and believing that it does can cost a survivor months of payments she cannot recover.
VA Form 21-0966, Intent to File, works for exactly three things:
- Disability compensation
- Pension benefits
- Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
File it, and you generally have a year to get the full claim in with your effective date held back to
the date of the Intent to File.
It does NOT apply to education benefits, CHAMPVA, or health care. Of everything on this page, an
Intent to File reaches Veterans Pension and nothing else. For Chapter 35 and
CHAMPVA there is no effective-date placeholder at all — the application itself is the
only thing that protects the date. If a Family is waiting on paperwork to file Chapter 35, they are
losing money every month they wait.
★ Compensation, pension, DIC. That is the list.
Read this before you file
If VA says no — your three review options
A denial is not the end of the claim. It is the start of a deadline. Know all three
before you pick one.
- Higher-Level Review — VA Form 20-0996. One year from the date of the
decision. A more senior reviewer looks at the same evidence
- Board Appeal — one year from the date of the decision. Goes to the Board of
Veterans' Appeals
- Supplemental Claim — VA Form 20-0995. You add new and relevant evidence.
No filing deadline
- Contested claim (more than one person claiming the same benefit) — 60 days,
Board only
The Supplemental Claim trap. "No deadline" is true, and it is also the most expensive
half-truth in the appeals system. If you file a Supplemental Claim more than one year after
VA's decision, you break what the regulation calls continuous pursuit, and your effective date
becomes the date VA received the supplemental claim — not the date of your original claim.
That can erase years of retroactive pay. File within one year and keep your original effective
date.
★ No deadline is not the same as no cost.
Read this before you file
Who can help you file, and what they may charge
Some help is free by law. Some help may charge, but only at a certain point and only up
to a certain amount. Know the difference before you sign anything.
- An accredited VSO representative (Veterans Service Organization) helps you prepare and file
at no charge. Under 38 CFR 14.636(b), only accredited agents and attorneys may receive fees at
all — a VSO representative charging you a fee is not a courtesy problem, it is a regulatory
violation
- An accredited attorney or accredited claims agent may charge a fee only after VA
issues its initial decision on the claim — never for filing the original claim
- Under 38 CFR 14.636, a fee of up to 20% of past-due benefits is presumed reasonable
Do not assume all accredited help is free, and do not assume all of it costs. Both assumptions
cost veterans money. Ask directly: are you accredited, and what will this cost me, and when?
★ Free before the decision. Ask before you sign.
Survivors
Survivor benefits and the form number that trips everyone
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is a monthly payment to eligible survivors.
Three different applicants, three different forms.
- Surviving spouse or child of a veteran — VA Form 21P-534EZ
- Surviving spouse or child of an active-duty service member — VA Form 21P-534a
- Parents' DIC — VA Form 21P-535, Application for Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation by Parent(s)
VA Form 21P-509 is NOT a DIC application. It is the Statement of Dependency of Parent(s), a
supporting form used to establish a parent as a dependent on a living veteran's award. That is a
different purpose entirely. I have seen this one confused, and a wrong form is a wasted month.
★ 21P-535 for parents. Not 21P-509.
Take this with you
Every form number on this page, in one place
Tear this panel off and carry it. Half of getting a VA benefit is walking in with the
right form number in your hand.
- 10-10d + 10-7959cCHAMPVA application and other health insurance certification (claims later on 10-7959a)
- 22-5490Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance, Chapter 35
- 10-8678Clothing allowance
- 10-10CGPCAFC caregiver program
- 21-4502Automobile allowance — the vehicle
- 10-1394Vehicle adaptive equipment — separate application
- 10-0103HISA grant — ramps and home modifications
- 26-4555SAH, SHA and TRA housing grants
- 28-1900Veteran Readiness and Employment, Chapter 31
- 21P-527EZVeterans Pension
- 10-3542Beneficiary Travel — file within 30 days
- 21-0966Intent to File — compensation, pension and DIC only
- 20-0996 / 20-0995Higher-Level Review / Supplemental Claim
- 21P-534EZ / 21P-534a / 21P-535DIC — veteran's survivor / active-duty survivor / parents
VA benefits line 1-800-827-1000. VA main information line 800-698-2411.
★ Right form, first trip.
The point of all this
Why these go unclaimed
Twenty years in uniform and two years in the transition office at Fort Riley taught me
the same lesson over and over.
- Almost nobody loses a benefit. They never hear it exists
- The rules that get repeated are the narrow versions — you must be 100%, your 12 years
are up, you missed August 1 — and the narrow version is what makes a veteran stop
- Program names change. The benefit does not. "Vocational Rehabilitation" became VR&E, and
veterans searching the old name find nothing and quit
- A form number is often the entire difference between a claim and a good intention
If you read something on this page that sounds like it might be you, the move is the same every time:
get the form number, get an accredited representative at no charge, and file. A denial has a review
path. A claim never filed has nothing. You should never give up.
Pass this on. A transitioning Soldier. A spouse who handles the paperwork. A caregiver. A
surviving spouse who does not know what she is entitled to. A veteran who separated years ago and
never engaged with VA at all. It costs you nothing to hand it over.
★ You cannot claim what you never heard of.