Your reading, guides, and worksheets in one place. Start with a guide, then choose the tools you need.
Filing a Surviving Spouse DIC Claim walks eleven steps: find the path that fits, confirm the marriage rules, gather the claims file and certificates, complete VA Form 21P-534EZ with a cover letter, file within a year, and track it. Education only.
Five review lanes, and two of them cannot see new evidence. Sorts supplemental claim, Higher-Level Review and the three Board dockets, with a fillable sorting worksheet and one-year deadline check.
Accrued benefits must be claimed within one year of the death, and that deadline does not stretch. Lists every survivor benefit to ask about, with a fillable family inventory worksheet.
A death certificate answers only one DIC question. Explains contributory cause and the ten-year total rating route, with a fillable record worksheet for surviving families.
With a presumption, the proof moves to your personnel file. Covers what you still have to establish, where to get your records, and a fillable service timeline worksheet.
Help from an accredited Veterans Service Officer is always free. Find one at va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative.
Want a short email when VA rates change each December, when a big rule changes, or when a new guide comes out? Get rate-change emails. It's optional.
In crisis? Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255. Free, confidential, 24/7.