VA Laws & Regulations: Disability Claim Rules: Page 15

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1. 38 USC § 1318
   Statute

   DIC for survivors of certain totally disabled veterans

   This section can pay DIC as though death were service connected when a veteran had a qualifying continuous total-disability rating before death. It provides separate duration paths for ten years before death, five years from release from active duty, and certain former prisoners of war.

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2. 38 USC § 2101
   Statute

   Who may qualify for specially adapted housing assistance

   This section defines disability paths for two VA housing-adaptation programs. The larger specially adapted housing path covers specified permanent service-connected losses, blindness, burn injuries, and functional loss of extremities, while a separate residence-adaptation path covers loss of both hands and severe burn injuries.

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3. 38 USC § 2102
   Statute

   Limits and payment rules for VA housing adaptation grants

   This section sets payment plans, aggregate limits, grant-frequency rules, annual adjustments, a future additional-assistance path, and overpayment procedures for housing assistance authorized by section 2101. The applicable limit depends on the program and project.

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4. 38 USC § 3901
   Statute

   Eligibility definitions for VA automobile assistance

   This section defines who is an eligible person for the automobile-assistance chapter and what counts as adaptive equipment. It covers specified service-connected loss or permanent loss of use, qualifying bilateral vision impairment, and severe burn injury.

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5. 38 USC § 3902
   Statute

   VA automobile and adaptive-equipment assistance

   This section authorizes payment toward an automobile or other conveyance for an eligible person and requires necessary adaptive equipment for safe operation. It also covers repair, replacement, and reinstallation of adaptive equipment and allows another person to operate the vehicle.

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6. 38 USC § 5105
   Statute

   Joint applications for Social Security and VA survivor benefits

   This section allows a survivor's application showing intent to seek survivor benefits, filed with either VA or the Social Security Administration, to be treated as an application under both the Title 38 DIC chapter and Social Security title II. The agencies transmit the filing and relevant supporting material to each other.

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7. 38 USC § 5301
   Statute

   Protection of VA benefits from assignment and many creditor claims

   This section generally makes VA benefits nonassignable, tax exempt, and protected from creditor attachment, levy, or seizure before and after receipt. It also contains significant exceptions for federal claims, tax levies, insurance obligations, certain offsets, and property bought with the benefits.

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8. 38 USC § 5302
   Statute

   Requesting waiver of a VA overpayment debt

   This section permits waiver of benefit overpayments when collection would be against equity and good conscience. It requires a waiver request within one year after VA's debt notice, with a possible longer reasonable period when the payee shows the notice was not actually received within a reasonable time.

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9. 38 USC § 5302B
   Statute

   When VA processing delay may not create a benefit debt

   This section bars an individual from incurring a debt caused by VA's failure to process information supplied by or for the individual within the Secretary's applicable timeliness standards. It also requires detailed overpayment notice and generally delays federal collection action for 90 days.

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10. 38 USC § 5303
    Statute

    Statutory character-of-discharge bars to VA benefits

    This section lists service-separation circumstances that bar benefits based on the affected period, including a general court-martial sentence, desertion, specified conscientious-objector conduct, certain officer resignations, and some prolonged unauthorized absences. It also contains important exceptions and special discharge-review rules.

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11. 38 USC § 5303A
    Statute

    Minimum active-duty service requirements and exceptions

    This section generally requires certain people who entered service after specified dates to complete the shorter of 24 continuous months or the full period called or ordered. It contains major exceptions, including disability-related releases and benefits connected with a service-connected disability, condition, or death.

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12. 38 USC § 5303B
    Statute

    Requesting a VA character-of-service determination

    This section requires VA to provide a process for a former service member to seek a determination about whether the discharge or dismissal from a particular service period bars benefits. If VA finds a bar, it must provide information about ways to address the condition.

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13. 38 USC § 5304
    Statute

    When federal law prevents duplicate benefit payments

    This section limits concurrent payment of specified VA benefits, military retired pay, active-service pay, and some survivor benefits. It also preserves stated exceptions, including certain concurrent-retirement authorities and particular pension treatment.

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14. 38 USC § 5305
    Statute

    Waiving retired pay to receive VA compensation or pension

    This section allows a person receiving specified military or uniformed-service retired pay to waive an equal amount of that pay so VA pension or compensation can be paid. The retired-pay department reports the waiver amount and effective date to VA to prevent duplicate payment.

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15. 38 USC § 5307
    Statute

    When VA may apportion benefits to family members

    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.

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16. 38 USC § 5310
    Statute

    VA benefits for the month a veteran dies

    A surviving spouse may receive the amount the veteran would have received for the month of death when the veteran was receiving chapter 11 compensation or chapter 15 pension, or is later found entitled for that month under the accrued-benefit or substitution rules.

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17. 38 USC § 5313
    Statute

    VA payment limits during felony incarceration

    This section limits compensation or DIC after more than 60 days of incarceration for a felony conviction. The reduced amount begins on the sixty-first day and ends when incarceration ends, with exceptions for work release and residence in a halfway house.

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18. 38 USC § 5313B
    Statute

    VA benefit restrictions for fugitive felons

    This section bars payment or provision of listed VA benefits during a period when the veteran or, in some circumstances, a dependent is a fugitive felon. It defines the term through flight to avoid felony prosecution or custody and violation of felony probation or parole.

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19. 38 USC § 5314
    Statute

    When VA may offset benefits to collect a debt

    Unless recovery is waived, this section generally directs VA to deduct a person's benefit-program debt from future VA payments. It requires notice of dispute and waiver rights, a determination or specified jeopardy finding, and notice of the proposed deductions.

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20. 38 USC § 5314A
    Statute

    The VA process for disputing a benefit debt

    This section requires VA to maintain an efficient, effective, and equitable administrative process for disputing whether a benefit-program debt exists or whether its amount is correct. It also protects a pending dispute from submission to a covered debt collector.

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21. 38 USC § 5501A
    Statute

    Your rights before VA finds you unable to manage benefits

    Before making an adverse mental-capacity determination about managing VA monetary benefits, VA must provide notice and supporting evidence, an opportunity to request a hearing, an opportunity to present evidence, and an opportunity for representation at no government expense.

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22. 38 USC § 5502
    Statute

    VA payments through and supervision of fiduciaries

    This section permits VA to pay benefits directly or through a relative or other fiduciary when that serves the beneficiary's interest. It authorizes supervision, accounting requirements, action against poorly performing fiduciaries, temporary payment arrangements, and rules for held funds.

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23. 38 USC § 5701
    Statute

    Confidentiality and permitted disclosure of VA claim records

    This section makes VA claim files and identifying information confidential and privileged, then lists required and permitted disclosures. It covers claimant access, government and court uses, debt collection, limited address releases, consumer reporting, organ donation, and prescription-monitoring disclosures.

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24. 38 USC § 5702
    Statute

    How to request copies of VA claim records

    This section requires a written or secure electronic request for a disclosable VA record. The request must identify the record, state its intended use, specify certified or uncertified form, and select printed or downloadable format.

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25. 38 USC § 5901
    Statute

    Who may act as a VA claims agent or attorney

    This section generally prohibits an individual from acting as an agent or attorney in preparing, presenting, or prosecuting a VA claim unless VA has recognized that person. It also requires multilingual online warnings and links for reporting and checking representatives.

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