Almost 2 years and still waiting

[dianek]

I applied for A&A in April of 2009. He was approved in August of that same year.  After several months we hadn't heard anything so I called and was told we hadn't sent the fiduciary paper appointing me as fiduciary. We had, but we sent another one.  Months later I call and I'm told they can't tell me anything because of an "s" being removed from the Release of Information Form. The old one said something like 'Information can be released to the following persons'---plural, and the new form was identical to the old one but the "s" was removed---singular.  It was ridiculous, but I filled out another form.

My dad died yesterday.  Does this mean I won't get the money?

If I still can, what do I need to do?

[vetadmin]

Diane,

Sincere condolences for the loss of you dad. I am so sorry that this did not get resolved prior to this happening.

Please see this link on the site regarding his pension.
 http://www.veteranaid.org/faq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=3&id=15&artlang=en

[dianek]

Due to lack of sleep, I don't quite understand what I just read.

I read something about siblings being able to file and get part of the money...?

I took care of my daddy for over 2 years with no help from any of them. They were HORRIBLE to him. In fact, one of them had the cops come and question him. He was dead 3 weeks later.  What kind of a monster calls the cops on an 87 year old crippled blind man?

In 2 years, I only called 3 times to ask about the money. Money wasn't that big of a deal because I loved my dad and would've done it WITHOUT money being involved.

Now, that money is VERY important to me because I want it to move away from these people who were so mean to my daddy.

I can't make sense of what I read.  Will I get the money?

 

[ginnifarmer]

We filed for aid and attendence for my parents in 4/2009.  My father passed 8/2009.  I sent in the forms for my mother to become the benficiary of the accrued funds.  We had some problems with the claim because the VA needed more information.  Of course, we never received notification.  I called once to ask if there was a problem.  I was told no, that the claim was being processed.  I called a month later and actually spoke with someone who knew what they were talking about.  Come to find out, whenever you call the VA if it has been more than 3 months since the claim was filed, a request for update should be requested by the agent you contact.  I found out what was needed and took care of it.

My mother passed on 1/31/2011.  On 2/16/2011 VA sent out  a packet with the Award Amount and Payment Start Date.  It showed the total VA benefit, amount withheld, amount paid, and the reason for change.  It states that there are accrued benefits for the three months before my father's death.  There is an original award effective 8/1/2009 and a paypment was made.  This award is for the period before my father passed.  There is another award with an effective date of 9/1/2009, that appears to be for my mother alone.  There is a withholding adjustment where it appears funds were released, the effective date is 2/1/2011.

My question is this:  Is the accrued amoount for my father a part of my mother's estate since she was the sole heir upon his death?  And what about the amounts for my mother?  Will the accrued funds still be paid to her estate?  Or since the VA awarded it 16 days after she passed, is it now a matter of filing for just the cost of her final arrangements?  Or has the last 18 months been mostly a waste of time since it took the VA so long to act on this claim that my parents passed? 

We're dealing with elderly people here and it feels like the VA's standard mode of operation is to take as long as possible in the hopes the claimant dies before the claim is awarded.