Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) are for spouse, children, and parents of a veteran whose death was a direct result of serving in the military or military related injury that resulted in death. Why do they call it DIC? Well… Dependency simply means someone a person depends on for help and support. Indemnity simply means loss as if a person dies. Compensation is payment. Therefore, dependents who have lost a veteran due to a Military event may seek compensation from the VA.

• Spouse – wife or husband was married to a person serving in the military or a veteran for one year, and had a dependent or child. Wives and husbands may even qualify if the veteran and wife or husband were separated, if the wife or husband was not found at fault for the separation.
• Eligible Children – the child must the age of 18 or under. If the child is not under 18, he or she must presently be enrolled in a school and 18 to 23. The child cannot be married in order to qualify.
• A Surviving Parent – can qualify for compensation of a military member or a veteran that died serving in the military, of illness, or an injury related to service. A Parent must be a direct Biological, Foster, or an Adoptive Parent, of the dead service member or veteran. Biological parent or parents must have a certain low income base to qualify. The foster parent or parents must have proof of being the parent of the service member at least 1 year prior to the military person’s actively serving in the military.

Direct Deposit of Claim Benefits

Direct deposit of the claim benefits on the application form when applying for Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits. There is an area on the form to have the benefits directly deposited into the eligible person’s bank account. The reason for this is the law states that all government funds must be electronically transferred.

The eligible person will need to provide his or her bank name and savings or checking account information. The form requires the person to send a voided check and fill in the routing number of the bank and account number. This is so any payments are sent to the proper account of the eligible person.

Forms of Proof

Everyone who applies for the Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) must provide the required forms of proof for the application process to be approved for the compensation. These forms of proof may be death records, military records, stating the duration of service, hospital records or doctor records. Proof can include veteran hospital and doctor records as well.

The applicant may also have to provide the service members birth certificate, or adoption court records as proof of the relation to the service member. These records must be turned in with the application to better help determine eligibility.

The proof must show the dates, what the service person was treated for, the cause of the veterans’ death, an injury or an illness that was occurred during or as a result of service, or an injury or illness that caused the veteran to receive disability compensation if the service member has died after serving in the military because of injury or illness sustained while serving.

Application Assistance Resources

When applying for the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, wives, husbands, children, and parents can call the Veterans help line at 1-800-829- 4833. The toll free number will answer question about how and where to obtain the applications, proper forms, and can even assist eligible people with someone to help fill out the proper forms.

Calling can help get the needed forms and information from the proper places. Information can also be found on the internet that is helpful and can answer many questions. Some of the information that is offered on these sites are things like how to apply, benefit rates, the types of compensation that can be applied for. The sites even describe what goes into the application process and an approximation of how long the process can take once eligible people apply.

The applicants can see online at the VA how the claim is figured and will be distributed once the claim has been approved. Effective claim dates, the required form and proof the veterans review board will accept are also listed on many of the websites.

Application Forms for DIC

The application forms to apply for the Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) are several pages long.

• Form SSA-24 Survivors Benefits.
• VA Form 21-534 is the application for the Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC), Death pension, Accrued Benefits, by Surviving Spouses and Children.
• VA Form 21-535 is the application form for Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for Parents.

These papers must be filled out completely and truthfully as possible. Not properly filling out the paper work and sending in the proper proof documentation can delay the application process greatly. Please remember that any extra documents used for proof of a claim must be sent or turned in at the time the application is turned in.

Finally the applicant must also provide what part of the service the deceased service member served in. For example- branches such as army, navy, marines, coast guard and so on. This is also required information that must be provided. This type of information helps the review board determine how much the required benefit is and when the service member became eligible for the benefits.

Additional Resources from MicroHealth

This process can be confusing so don’t go in alone. Get help! We have compiled a list of chartered and non-chartered veteran service organizations which can be found here. We highly advise you get help.

We have two Dependency and Indemnity Compensation calculators to help you estimate compensation:

• DIC VA Disability Calculator (for spouse and children) 
• Parents DIC VA Disability Calculator