Know Your Vet Benefits

Daphne Silverman is always delighted to talk veterans benefits.

“I actually don’t practice in that area, but I did my own claim,” says Silverman, a former lieutenant commander and JAG officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve and, she adds, a “100% disabled veteran.” An attorney at Pattison Law Firm in Austin, she’s the chair of the State Bar of Texas’ Disability Rights and Issues Committee, which oversees a subcommittee that gathers resources to help veterans.

Silverman suggests vets file a claim by going to va.gov and creating an account. And if you don’t have a computer or internet connection, simply head to the nearest VA and someone will help you fill out a form.

“The system is set up in a way that you get the guidance you need,” says Silverman, who was exposed to Agent Orange during active duty. “You have to show that you have your medical condition well-documented, show your exposure to whatever it is that’s caused your disability, and provide a link for those two things.”

Penny Robe, an estate planning attorney at Robe Law Firm in Richardson, and a former JAG officer in the U.S. Air Force, also says va.gov is a good starting point.

“All the branches issue a DD214 when you become a veteran—when you’re finished with your service, essentially—and it’s going to see your time in service as well as the character of your discharge. That is what allows you to get different levels of benefits,” says Robe. 

Benefits differ state to state. “Texas has a nice tuition-waiver benefit called the Hazlewood Act, where you can attend a Texas state-funded university or college and they waive tuition,” Robe says. “At the federal level, I tell everybody who qualifies to go ahead and enroll in VA health care. There’s no cost, and doing it while you’re not in a crisis is the best idea. Anybody who is not dishonorably discharged can enroll. I was just talking to a veteran today, and he’s like, ‘I’m not retired. I can’t get that.’ You can because you served. You don’t need to be a retiree or have a disability connection to get that benefit.”

Along with VA health care, Robe says the most common example of benefits left on the table are burial benefits. “The VA will pay for a headstone in a national cemetery and burial or interment for cremains in a national cemetery,” she says. “Hopefully most veterans know about the home buying benefit, right?”

Vet benefits have improved over the years, Robe adds. “I served in the ’90s, and nobody cared about veterans. Before 9/11, people saw someone in uniform and they were like, ‘Is it Halloween?’ It’s better now. I have a 50% service-connected disability rating myself. I personally went through the process of [obtaining benefits], so I kind of know how the system works, and I can issue-spot for my clients.”

The higher the disability rating, Robe adds, the greater the benefits. 

“So 30% and above, you don’t have any co-pays at the VA for health care. Fifty percent and above in Texas, you get a handicap license plate, park free at the airport, things like that. There’s also things that kick in for spouses.”

Leigh Hilton, who runs an eponymous firm in Denton, says the Denton County Veterans Service is an office that fights for its clients.

“The director is a disabled veteran himself, and a lot of the people that work there are also disabled veterans,” says Hilton, an estate planning attorney and author of the book Who Gets Your Stuff When You Die. “They help people think through what they can apply for. … Once you get to a 100% disability rating, if you pass away, a portion of those benefits can go to your family.”

Some benefits are retroactive. Disabilities related to Agent Orange, for example, weren’t recognized by the VA until 1991. “So anybody who filed for a disability based on something that is now connected to Agent Orange,” Hilton says, “they will go retroactive back to when they first filed. That’s important for people to know.”

Another topic Hilton deals with regularly is veterans’ pension benefits. “They’re based on whether you served 90 days active duty, one day [of that] during a defined period of war. … When a veteran needs help with activities of daily living, they can get aid and attendance. So for a lot of our clients, once they get even $1 of that aid, they can then start hiring caregivers. That’s an important one.”

Planning helps. “There is an asset limit, and if you have more than that amount of money, you don’t qualify,” Hilton says. “But they only look back three years. So if you have more than that amount of money, and you want to put it in an irrevocable trust—let some other family member control it—then you could qualify for the VA benefits. The other thing is, they don’t let you have more than 2 acres. And a lot of our clients, because we’re in kind of a rural area, have more than 2 acres. So to get on VA benefits, you would either have to sell it or give it away more than three years before applying.”

All three attorneys encourage veterans to know the benefits they’re entitled to.

“I walked into the VA process, handed them my performance evaluation, and some historical documents that talk about what we did with the Agent Orange, and my medical records,” says Silverman. “And in a couple of months, I got a call to have an interview. … The woman looked at me and she said, ‘What did you think caused your cancer?’ And I said, ‘I just thought some people get cancer.’ She looked at me and said, ‘We are so sorry. We caused your cancer. We’re going to compensate you.’ And I started crying. Because I’d been fighting it for a number of years. All of a sudden, the United States Navy, through the Veterans Administration, was going to stand with me in my battle against cancer. And it was just overwhelming.”