Claim Raven explanation
What this means
Dependency and indemnity compensation, usually called DIC, is a monthly VA benefit for an eligible surviving spouse, child, or parent based on a qualifying service-connected death or another statutory DIC route.
DIC and survivors pension are different benefits with different entitlement rules. In the limited nursing-home-rate circumstance referenced here, survivors pension can be paid instead of DIC. The rule also retains historical provisions for deaths and benefit systems predating 1957.
How this helps your claim
This section supplies the basic definition and coordinates DIC with older death-compensation and survivors-pension provisions. It does not by itself prove that the death was service connected, that a survivor relationship qualifies, or what rate is payable.
What to check in your records
Identify the survivor category and the exact entitlement route VA considered, then compare it with the death, service-connection, and relationship evidence.
- Keep the veteran’s death certificate and the medical and rating records relevant to the cause of death.
- Document the claimant’s relationship as surviving spouse, child, or parent under the applicable definitions.
- Preserve VA’s decision identifying the DIC statute or alternative survivor benefit it applied.
Separate the survivor, death, and rate questions
A clear review has three parts: whether the claimant is an eligible survivor, whether a DIC entitlement route is met, and how VA calculated the rate. Evidence for one part does not automatically resolve the others.
Read the decision for the theory VA addressed. A cause-of-death claim under section 1310 differs from a claim based on a veteran’s qualifying total-disability history under section 1318.
Is DIC the same as survivors pension?
No. DIC is tied to a qualifying death or another DIC statute, while survivors pension is an income-based survivor benefit. This section coordinates them but does not make them interchangeable.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.5
eCFR snapshot: 2026-09-17. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.5 Dependency and indemnity compensation.
(a) Dependency and indemnity compensation. This term means a monthly payment made by the Department of Veterans Affairs to a surviving spouse, child, or parent:
(1) Because of a service-connected death occurring after December 31, 1956, or
(2) Pursuant to the election of a surviving spouse, child, or parent, in the case of such a death occurring before January 1, 1957.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101 (14))
(b) Entitlement. Basic entitlement for a surviving spouse, child or children, and parent or parents of a veteran exists, if:
(1) Death occurred on or after January 1, 1957, except in the situation specified in § 3.4(c)(2); or
(2) Death occurred prior to January 1, 1957, and the claimant was receiving or eligible to receive death compensation on December 31, 1956 (or, as to a parent, would have been eligible except for income), under laws in effect on that date or who subsequently becomes eligible by reason of a death which occurred prior to January 1, 1957; or
(3) Death occurred on or after May 1, 1957, and before January 1, 1972, and the claimant had been ineligible to receive dependency and indemnity compensation because of the exception in subparagraph (1) of this paragraph. In such case dependency and indemnity compensation is payable upon election.
(38 U.S.C. 1310, 1316, 1317, Public Law 92-197, 85 Stat. 660)
(c) Exclusiveness of remedy.
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, no person eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation by reason of a death occurring on or after January 1, 1957, shall be eligible by reason of such death for survivors pension or death compensation under any other law administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(2) A surviving spouse who, but for the surviving spouse's eligibility for dependency and indemnity compensation, would be eligible to receive survivors pension at the rate provided for in 38 U.S.C. 5503(d) will receive survivors pension instead of such compensation.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1317)
(d) Group life insurance. No dependency and indemnity compensation or death compensation shall be paid to any surviving spouse, child or parent based on the death of a commissioned officer of the Public Health Service, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Environmental Science Services Administration, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration occuring on or after May 1, 1957, if any amounts are payable under the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act of 1954 (Pub. L. 598, 83d Cong., as amended) based on the same death.
(Authority: Sec. 501(c)(2), Pub. L. 881, 84th Cong. (70 Stat. 857), as amended by Sec. 13(u), Pub. L. 85-857; (72 Stat. 1266); Sec. 5, Pub. L. 91-621 (84 Stat. 1863))
[29 FR 10396, July 25, 1964, as amended at 35 FR 18661, Dec. 9, 1970; 37 FR 6676, Apr. 1, 1972; 39 FR 34529, Sept. 26, 1974; 44 FR 22717, Apr. 17, 1979; 58 FR 25561, Apr. 27, 1993; 58 FR 27622, May 10, 1993; 60 FR 18355, Apr. 11, 1995; 70 FR 72220, Dec. 2, 2005; 73 FR 23356, Apr. 30, 2008; 91 FR 2713, Jan. 22, 2026]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.10: How VA calculates a surviving spouse’s DIC rate
- 38 CFR § 3.22: DIC when a veteran was totally disabled before death
- 38 CFR § 3.312: When a service-connected disability caused or contributed to death
- 38 CFR § 3.152: How VA treats a claim for death benefits
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