Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section identifies who can receive increased pension, DIC, death compensation, or spouse-related compensation because of a need for regular aid and attendance or qualifying housebound status.
Housebound status is not simply spending most time at home by choice. The rule requires substantial confinement by disability and reasonable certainty that the confinement will continue. Aid and attendance addresses the regular need for another person’s help under more detailed criteria.
How this helps your claim
Aid and attendance can be established through severe visual impairment, nursing-home residence because of incapacity, or the factual-need criteria in section 3.352(a). Housebound standards differ by benefit. For disability pension, a single permanent disability rated 100 percent under the rating schedule, excluding a rating based on unemployability under section 4.17, is required together with either separate qualifying disability rated at least 60 percent or permanent housebound status. Survivor provisions focus on permanent confinement due to disability.
What to check in your records
Identify the underlying benefit and compare the person’s medical and functional evidence with the specific aid-and-attendance or housebound paragraph for that benefit.
- Gather medical findings about vision, nursing-home status, and the need for help with daily personal functions.
- Describe how disability limits leaving the dwelling or immediate premises and whether the limitation is expected to continue for life.
- For disability pension, verify a single permanent schedular 100 percent disability, excluding ratings based on unemployability under section 4.17, and the separate independent 60 percent disability or permanent-housebound evidence.
Describe what help or confinement looks like
Use concrete examples such as assistance with dressing, bathing, medication safety, or protection from hazards. Identify how often help is needed and the condition causing it.
For housebound status, document actual trips outside the home, their purpose, assistance, duration, and difficulty. Occasional departures do not necessarily answer whether the person is substantially confined.
Are aid and attendance and housebound status the same benefit?
No. They use different standards, and some provisions expressly apply housebound status only when aid and attendance is not established. The underlying pension or DIC benefit also matters.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.351
eCFR snapshot: 2026-09-17. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.351 Special monthly dependency and indemnity compensation, death compensation, pension and spouse's compensation ratings.
(a) General. This section sets forth criteria for determining whether:
(1) Increased pension is payable to a veteran by reason of need for aid and attendance or by reason of being housebound.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1521(d), (e))
(2) Increased compensation is payable to a veteran by reason of the veteran's spouse being in need of aid and attendance.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1115(1)(E))
(3) Increased dependency and indemnity compensation is payable to a surviving spouse or parent by reason of being in need of aid and attendance.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1311(c), 1315(h))
(4) Increased dependency and indemnity compensation is payable to a surviving spouse who is not in need of aid and attendance but is housebound.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1311(d))
(5) Increased pension is payable to a surviving spouse by reason of need for aid and attendance, or if not in need of aid and attendance, by reason of being housebound.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1541(d), (e))
(6) Increased death compensation is payable to a surviving spouse by reason of being in need of aid and attendance.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1122)
(b) Aid and attendance; need. Need for aid and attendance means helplessness or being so nearly helpless as to require the regular aid and attendance of another person. The criteria set forth in paragraph (c) of this section will be applied in determining whether such need exists.
(c) Aid and attendance; criteria. The veteran, spouse, surviving spouse or parent will be considered in need of regular aid and attendance if he or she:
(1) Is blind or so nearly blind as to have corrected visual acuity of 5/200 or less, in both eyes, or concentric contraction of the visual field to 5 degrees or less; or
(2) Is a patient in a nursing home because of mental or physical incapacity; or
(3) Establishes a factual need for aid and attendance under the criteria set forth in § 3.352(a).
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1502(b))
(d) Housebound, or permanent and total plus 60 percent; disability pension. The rate of pension payable to a veteran who is entitled to pension under 38 U.S.C. 1521 and who is not in need of regular aid and attendance shall be as prescribed in 38 U.S.C. 1521(e) if, in addition to having a single permanent disability rated 100 percent disabling under the Schedule for Rating Disabilities (not including ratings based upon unemployability under § 4.17 of this chapter) the veteran:
(1) Has additional disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent or more, separate and distinct from the permanent disability rated as 100 percent disabling and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems, or
(2) Is “permanently housebound” by reason of disability or disabilities. This requirement is met when the veteran is substantially confined to his or her dwelling and the immediate premises or, if institutionalized, to the ward or clinical area, and it is reasonably certain that the disability or disabilities and resultant confinement will continue throughout his or her lifetime.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1502(c), 1521(e))
(e) Housebound; dependency and indemnity compensation. The monthly rate of dependency and indemnity compensation payable to a surviving spouse who does not qualify for increased dependency and indemnity compensation under 38 U.S.C. 1311(c) based on need for regular aid and attendance shall be increased by the amount specified in 38 U.S.C. 1311(d) if the surviving spouse is permanently housebound by reason of disability. The “permanently housebound” requirement is met when the surviving spouse is substantially confined to his or her home (ward or clinical areas, if institutionalized) or immediate premises by reason of disability or disabilities which it is reasonably certain will remain throughout the surviving spouse's lifetime.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1311(d))
(f) Housebound; improved pension; death. The annual rate of survivors pension payable to a surviving spouse who does not qualify for an annual rate of survivors pension payable under § 3.23(a)(6) based on need for aid and attendance shall be as set forth in § 3.23(a)(7) if the surviving spouse is permanently housebound by reason of disability. The “permanently housebound” requirement is met when the surviving spouse is substantially confined to his or her home (ward or clinical areas, if institutionalized) or immediate premises by reason of disability or disabilities which it is reasonably certain will remain throughout the surviving spouse's lifetime.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1541(e))
[44 FR 45939, Aug. 6, 1979]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.352: Aid and Attendance Evidence for SMC
- 38 CFR § 3.10: How VA calculates a surviving spouse’s DIC rate
- 38 CFR § 3.402: Effective dates for surviving-spouse benefit increases
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