Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section authorizes VA to direct all or part of certain benefits to a spouse, child, or dependent parent in specified care, separation, custody, or incarceration situations. Current regulations sharply limit the circumstances for new apportionment claims received on or after February 9, 2026.
The statute covers compensation, pension, emergency officers' retirement pay, certain survivor payments, chapter 31 subsistence allowance, and a dependent portion of former chapter 34 educational assistance in the situations it names. For claims received on or after February 9, 2026, current regulations focus new apportionment eligibility on an incompetent veteran receiving specified government care, qualifying incarceration, and the related survivor-incarceration rule.
How this helps your claim
The statute supplies broad authority, but sections 3.450 and 3.451 govern current claims. They preserve qualifying apportionments already paid on February 9, 2026, while limiting new awards to the circumstances stated in the revised regulations. Apportionment does not create a new service-connected award.
What to check in your records
Document living arrangements, custody, financial support, and the benefit available for possible apportionment.
- Confirm the current VA benefit, payee, and recognized dependents.
- Preserve custody orders, addresses, support payments, and household expenses.
- Identify any government hospital, institutional, or domiciliary care period.
Show the actual support arrangement
First identify when VA received the apportionment claim and whether an apportionment was already being paid on February 9, 2026. Existing awards continue only while the circumstances that created entitlement remain in place. A new claim must fit the current regulatory categories and use VA's prescribed form.
For a new claim, document the qualifying care or incarceration facts, relationship, custody, and existing benefit. For a preserved award, document any event that may end the underlying entitlement, such as divorce, death, or another change named in section 3.450.
Does separation automatically send part of a veteran's compensation to a spouse?
No. For claims received on or after February 9, 2026, separation by itself is not one of the new-claim categories in current section 3.451. An apportionment already paid on that date may continue under section 3.450 until the circumstances supporting it end.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 5307
OLRC release: pl-119-108. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 5307. Apportionment of benefits
(a) All or any part of the compensation, pension, or emergency officers’ retirement pay payable on account of any veteran may—
(1) if the veteran is being furnished hospital treatment, institutional, or domiciliary care by the United States, or any political subdivision thereof, be apportioned on behalf of the veteran’s spouse, children, or dependent parents; and
(2) if the veteran is not living with the veteran’s spouse, or if the veteran’s children are not in the custody of the veteran, be apportioned as may be prescribed by the Secretary.
(b) Where any of the children of a deceased veteran are not in the custody of the veteran’s surviving spouse, the pension, compensation, or dependency and indemnity compensation otherwise payable to the surviving spouse may be apportioned as prescribed by the Secretary.
(c) If a veteran is not living with the veteran’s spouse, or if any of the veteran’s children are not in the custody of the veteran, any subsistence allowance payable to the veteran under chapter 31 of this title or that portion of the educational assistance allowance payable on account of dependents under chapter 34 of this title may be apportioned as may be prescribed by the Secretary.
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.450: Which VA apportionment rules apply to a claim
- 38 CFR § 3.451: When VA benefits may be apportioned under the current rule
- 38 USC § 1115: Extra VA Compensation for Dependents
- 38 USC § 1311: DIC rates and additions for a surviving spouse
- 38 USC § 5313: VA payment limits during felony incarceration
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