This has most likely been covered, however can someone please explain / confirm so that I understand.

I am 20 year retired Navy in 1991. I am VA 60%. Have been married for almost 18 years.

If upon my death, if it has anything to do with my service conected disabilities will my wife be entitled to received anything?

Example... I am service connnected for High Blood Pressure, so if my death has anything to do with that, is my wife entitled to anything. IF so will it be automatic or will she have to apply.

Thanks

Joe

Any Guesses?

I sure regret no one responded to this sooner-

it happens- sorry-

Have you paid into the Survivor Benefits program through the Military?

This can affect any DIC that your wife would receive-

But to answer your question- DIC is awarded when a service connected disability contributes or causes a veteran's death.

This often hinges on the wording of the death certificate and yet autopsies can often expand enough to show the correlation better as the details of an autopsy go beyond a death certificate statement of cause of death.

I highly recommend that spouses talk this over- to determine if the veteran wants to be an organ donor and to be autopsied.

Without autopsy I could not have proven my DIC claims.
I have 2 DIC awards.
Only the autopsy proved my husband had a SC disability causing his death.This SC condition was never diagnosed at all by the VA and never appeared in the medical records or even in the autopsy but the autopsy revealed what evidence I needed.

A service connection must be found as a contributory factor or cause of death unless the SC has been established as 100% P & T for 10 years prior to death.

There are a few other ways to get DIC.

I will find a link on the SBP and post it here for you.

http://www.military.com/benefits/survivor-...-plan-explained

This link and the VA web site itself has detailed info on SBP.

SBP is offset to a spouses's DIC if he or she is eligible for both.

Gold Star Wives latest newsletter mentions they still need support for HR 775-the Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act of 2009.
This aggressive organization has been pushing for years to finally have this offset eliminated.

This will affect every SBP surviving spouse.

The rates for DIC are at the VA web site and I believe Military.com would have an SBP rate chart.

If a service connected disability is listed on a death certificate as a contributory cause of death DIC should be awarded.
If a SC condition isnt on the death certificate a survivor should obtain an Independent Medical Opinion that strongly states with full medical rationale that the SC contributed medically to death.

Joe, good question and Berta's background is so valuable I'd make her Godmother of my kiddos if I could. Spousal death benefit questions comes up often. With a few tag words, you should be able to access some really good posts and discussion on Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) at Hadit. About once a month or so, I review my 'In Case of' notebook and catchall for the family, good thing because I have an active claim as well as challenged health. Just tossing in notes today, husband can't always keep up with my stuff and VA or military acronyms. Few things I learned over the years, widow or widower needs a helpmate to double, triple check things, ask tons of questions, keep answers in a singular notebook and be on time submitting applications. One instance to correct a death certificate the funeral home messed up stressed me even more, took $$$ and time off work I just returned to.

Congratulations on your upcoming 18 years anniversery!
Thank you for your service to our country during the Vietnam era.

Best to ya,
Cowgirl'up2009!

Your wife will have to apply for DIC after your death. I think both of you should make your doctors aware of your service connected hypertension. Make sure your doctors know that if you die from a heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, or a similar condition to list hypertension as one of the causes of your death.