Remarried Widow

[jmlmichiana]

My 88 year old mother-in-law's first husband served in the Army during WW2. They were married 20 years when he died in 1961. Twenty years later she married a man that retired from the Navy. They were only married 4 months when he died. There is a lot of confusing information available. I have read that the widow had to have not remarried and I also read that the marriage had to have lasted over a year. If those are true she would be disqualified from getting any VA assistance from either marriage. When her first husband died she had 5 minor children and got VA money for them so she has a file. My question is, can this twice widowed veteran's spouse get any VA aid?

[Fit2009]

Since the second marriage ended before 11/1/1990 she can file on her first husband's service.

[jmlmichiana]

Thank You! Now that I know it won't be a total waste of time I will get all the paper work going.

[jmlmichiana]

When my husband went to the local VA office to get his father and step-father's discharge papers the VA officer told him that this is all BS and that the only way his mother can get any money from VA is if her spouse had a disability rating of more than 30%. I had sent some papers I had printed from various websites about it and he wouldn't even look at them.
I have Civil War pension papers for several of my ancestors and the pension office used to send examiners to interview neighbors to get any dirt on you to give them a reason to deny your claim. My great great grandmother filed for a pension on her husband's service and twenty years later when the children were adults and she was dead they decided she was his legal wife. My point is that stalling is nothing new.

[vetadmin]

You can completely ignore what the local VA rep said.

This is a Pension and not Compensation and is NOT based on service related injuries.  What a shame that this VA rep is so misinformed that folks will walk out of his office thinking they are not entitled when in fact they are!

[jmlmichiana]

One of the papers I sent that he wouldn't look at explained the difference between Compensation and Pension. He told my husband that he has to keep telling people that they don't qualify. I'm hoping to get my mother-in-law approved so he will see it isn't BS and start helping people. He did get the discharge papers for us. He went to the County Recorders office in the same building and we had them in just a few minutes.

[vetadmin]

What city and what county is he in?  Do you have a name? I'm happy to call him and tell him he is doing an injustice to our veterans and their families.  As well as bring to his superior's attention he needs additional training in understanding compensation and pension.  Yes, I am quite serious about this .