Form 21-534 and Section III

[SCD]

Sorry, didn't know if you were asking me (SCD) or not....which application are you asking about?

[jumboco]

This is not a follow-up...but another question that just hit my email inbox.

I subscribe to a ElderLaw firm's email newsletter and the latest issue has just came in. In this email he addresses Veteran's Aid and Attendance and mentioned the following:

By law, the only people that can help compile an application for a veteran or a widow are:

A licensed attorney
A veterans service organization (such as the VFW, AmVets, American Legion), or
A state Department of Veterans Affairs office.

By law, it is illegal to charge a veteran for compiling and submitting an application.

On the other hand, it is not illegal to charge a veteran for the planning involved in qualifying for the benefit and implementing that plan.

Is this guy trying to drum up business in this area? I have never found anything that says such a thing so far in my searches.

[vetadmin]

The way that Elder Law Attorneys and Financial Advisors get around this is to provide "other" services for which they get compensated for and do the filing of A&A for "Free".  Some consider it trolling.  They put on "helpful" seminars at ALF's for Family members who are struggling to find resources to pay for care, newsletters, OPEd's, and other means of distributing information.  Many work directly in partnership with ALF corporations.  Taking care of the elderly is BIG business in this country.

I know of Financial Advisors who upon discovering that there was not enough money there to manage backed up from their assistance to do the "free" filing.  It's like anything else in advertising.  You identify your target market and go after it.  Baby Boomers are a massive target for those who have goods and services to sell.  As always a good train of thought would be;
"Buyer Beware".  Be an informed consumer.

Interesting note:  The VA has all these stipulations as to who cannot help file an application. Those who are "approved", more times than not don't know how to file, but you are free to get help from H&R Block or any other tax service provider to make sure your taxes are filed on time and that the government gets everything they are entitled to.

One would think that our veterans would have already filled out their paperwork by virtue of their service.