{"id":1167,"date":"2019-06-18T19:12:28","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T19:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2019-06-18T19:12:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T19:12:30","slug":"new-rules-for-veterans-aid-and-attendance-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/new-rules-for-veterans-aid-and-attendance-benefit\/","title":{"rendered":"New Rules for Veterans\u2019 Aid and Attendance Benefit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Jessica L. Estes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any Veteran, or surviving spouse\nof a deceased Veteran, whose income is not sufficient to cover his or her\nlong-term care expenses, may qualify for a non-service-connected improved\npension benefit called Aid and Attendance through the U.S. Department of\nVeterans Affairs (\u201cVA\u201d).&nbsp; This benefit\nprovides a monthly, tax-free income for the Veteran or surviving spouse provided\nhe or she meets the eligibility and entitlement requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are four basic eligibility\nrequirements for the Aid and Attendance benefit: (1) the Veteran or surviving\nspouse must be blind, residing in a nursing home, or require the aid of another\nperson to perform personal functions required for everyday living; (2) the\nVeteran\u2019s discharge from the military must be anything other than dishonorable;\n(3) the Veteran must have served at least ninety (90) days on active duty for\nanything other than training (those days do not have to be consecutive unless\nservice began after September 7, 1980 in which case two years continuous active\nduty is required, or any length of active duty if the Veteran has a\nservice-connected disability discharge; and (4) one of those days must have\nbeen during a period of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the Veteran or\nsurviving spouse must also meet the entitlement requirements.&nbsp; To be entitled to the benefit, the Veteran or\nsurviving spouse must pass the income and asset tests. The VA counts all gross\nhousehold income but allows a deduction for unreimbursed medical expenses.&nbsp; The Veteran or surviving spouse\u2019s monthly\nincome for VA purposes (gross income minus deductions) cannot exceed the\nmaximum monthly rates for the Aid and Attendance benefit.&nbsp; Currently, the rate for a Veteran without\ndependents is $1,881, the rate for a Veteran with one dependent is $2,230, and\nthe rate for a surviving spouse is $1,209.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previously, there was no\nspecific amount of assets that a Veteran or surviving spouse could retain and\nstill qualify for benefits.&nbsp; Rather, it\nwas up to a claims examiner to decide if the applicant\u2019s net worth was\nexcessive and a bar to entitlement of the benefit.&nbsp; Now, under the new rules, there is a net-worth\nbright line limit of $127,061.&nbsp; So, if\nthe applicant\u2019s countable assets plus his or her annual income for VA purposes\nexceed that limit, he or she will not be eligible for the benefit.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, there is now a\nlook-back period of 36 months.&nbsp; Any\ntransfers for less than fair market value occurring during the 36-month period\nimmediately prior to application will be penalized if such transfer would have\nresulted in the applicant exceeding the net-worth limit.&nbsp; However, any transfers occurring prior to\nOctober 18, 2018 will not be penalized.&nbsp;\nThe penalty period begins on the first day of the month following the\nlast asset transfer and is calculated by dividing the total amount of assets\ntransferred in excess of the net-worth limit by the current monthly rate for a\nVeteran with one dependent.&nbsp; Under no\ncircumstances, though, will the penalty period exceed five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As with any government benefit,\nthe application process can be daunting.&nbsp;\nIf you need assistance filing an application for benefits, contact a VA\naccredited consultant or attorney.&nbsp; Not\nonly can they assist you in making sure you have a fully developed claim, but\nby law, they are not allowed to charge for help with filing an application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jessica L. Estes Any Veteran, or surviving spouse of a deceased Veteran, whose income is not sufficient to cover his or her long-term care expenses, may qualify for a non-service-connected improved pension benefit called Aid and Attendance through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (\u201cVA\u201d).&nbsp; This benefit provides a monthly, tax-free income for the<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/new-rules-for-veterans-aid-and-attendance-benefit\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions\/1169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}