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Compensation to widows and children for service-connected death before Jan. 1,

1957-Continued

Subject....

Definition of widow...

Date of marriage...

Remarried widow.

Peacetime service

A woman who, according to the
law of the place where the
parties resided when the marital
relationship began or ended,
was the lawful wife of a veteran
at the time of his death, and
who lived with him continu-
ously from the date of marriage
to the date of his death, except
where there was a separation
which was due to the miscon-
duct of, or procured by, the
veteran without fault of the
wife. Whenever it is estab-
lished by evidence satisfactory
to the Administrator of Vet-
erans' Affairs that a woman,
without knowledge of any legal
impediment, entered into a mar-
riage with the veteran which,
but for a legal impediment,
would have been valid, and
thereafter cohabited with him
for 5 or more years immediately
before his death, the purported
marriage shall be deemed to be
a valid marriage, but only if no
claim has been filed by a legal
widow who is found to be en-
titled to benefits.
Married veteran-

(1) before the expiration of
10 years after the termination
of the period of service in
which the injury or disease
causing the death of the vet-
eran was incurred or aggrav-
ated; or

(2) for 5 or more years; or
(3) for any period of time
if a child was born of the
marriage.

Right of widow terminated upon
her remarriage and such right
may not be revived (unless the
purported remarriage is void).

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1 Persons eligible for death compensation based on death occurring before Jan. 1, 1957, may, under certain conditions, apply for and receive dependency and indemnity compensation.

Except in certain missing persons cases the dependents of veterans who die on or after May 1, 1957, while their life-insurance premiums are waived pursuant to sec. 622 of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, as amended, are not eligible to receive dependency and indemnity compensation but may be paid death compensation notwithstanding the fact the death occurred after Dec. 31, 1956.

The commencement of a program of education or training under the War Orphans' Educational Assistance Act of 1956 is a bar to subsequent payments of compensation based on the death of a parent to an eligible child over the age of 18 pursuing a course in an educational institution.

COMPENSATION TO DEPENDENT PARENTS FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED

DEATH BEFORE JAN. 1, 195712

Subject....

Peacetime service

Rates to parents..... Dependent mother or father.

$60

Dependent mother and father (each) $32
NOTE.-Wartime rates payable for
death (1) direct result of armed con-
flict; (2) while engaged in extrahazard-
ous service, including service under
conditions simulating war; (3) after
Dec. 31, 1946, and before July 26, 1947.

Definition of parent. Father, mother, father through adop-
tion, mother through adoption, or an
individual who for a period of not less
than 1 year stood in the relationship
of a parent to a veteran at any time
before his entry into active military,
naval, or air service, or if 2 persons
stood in the relationship of a father or
mother for 1 year or more, the person
who last stood in such relationship
before the veteran's last entry into
active service.

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Compensation not terminated upon re-
marriage provided dependency exists
notwithstanding such remarriage;
however, redetermination of depend-
ency made upon remarriage of parent.

World Wars I, II, and Korea

Dependent mother or father...
$75
Dependent mother and father (each). $40

Same.

Death before Jan. 1, 1957,12 as the result of injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military, naval, or air service, in line of duty, during a period of war, discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.

NOTE. For periods of war, see limitations as to dates of service, p. 4, Compensation to Veterans for ServiceConnected Disabilities.

Same.

Proof of dependency. Income insufficient to provide reasonable maintenance for father or mother and members of his or her family under legal age and for dependent adult members of family if dependency of such adult member results from mental or physical incapacity, including housing, food, clothing, and medical care. Factors considered: Net income of property owned, or business operated by mother or father and earnings of father or mother and other members of family under legal age; actual contributions by members of family of legal age; social-security benefits, i. e., old-age assistance and old-age survivors' insurance, family allowances under Public Law 351, 81st Cong., as amended. In determining whether other members of family under legal age are factors in necessary expenses of mother or father, consideration given to any income from business or property (including trusts) actually available to mother or father for support of minor but not to corpus of estate or income of minor not so available. In determining dependency, amounts received from following sources by mother or father or other member of family disregarded: as designated beneficiary or otherwise of insurance under War Risk Insurance Act, World War Veterans' Act, or National Service Life Insurance Act, or amendments thereto; pension or compensation under laws administered by Veterans' Administration; benefits under World War Adjusted Compensation Act or Adjusted Compensation Payment Act, or amendments thereto; the 6-month death gratuity to designated beneficiary thereof; payments pursuant to mustering-out payment; servicemen's indemnity; donations or assistance from charitable sources; annuities received from the Uniformed Services Contingency Option Act of 1953; or payments of bonus or similar cash gratuity by any State, Territory, possession, or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia, based on military, naval, or air service. Consideration given to corpus of claimant's estate if it is reasonable same or some part be sold and proceeds used for claimant's maintenance. Habitual contributions by veteran not conclusive evidence dependency existed but considered. Remarriage of mother or father does not per se bar entitlement but is prima facie evidence dependency has ceased.

Dependency of a parent may not be denied (1) solely because of remarriage, or (2) in any case in the United States, its Territories, Commonwealths, and possessions, where the monthly income for a mother or father, not living together, does not exceed $105, or where the monthly income for a mother and father living together does not exceed $175, plus, in either case, $45, for each additional member of the family whom the father or mother is under a moral or legal obligation to support, as determined by the Administrator.

1 Persons eligible for death compensation based on death occurring before Jan. 1, 1957, may, under certain conditions, apply for and receive dependency and indemnity compensation.

Except in certain missing persons cases the dependents of veterans who die on or after May 1, 1957, while their life-insurance premiums are waived pursuant to sec. 622 of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, as amended, are not eligible to receive dependency and indemnity compensation but may be paid death compensation notwithstanding the fact the death occurred after Dec. 31, 1956.

DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION TO WIDOWS, CHILDREN AND PARENTS FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH ON OR AFTER JAN. 1, 1957 (P. L. 881-84th CONGRESS, AS AMENDED)

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(3) Widow and 2 or more children under age 18:
Same rate as that payable to widow
alone with following exception:
Where total amount payable under the
Railroad Retirement Act or Social Security
Act, or under sec. 405 of the Servicemen's
and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act based
upon an assumed fully and currently insured
status, is less than $128, the compensation
rate payable to widow by VA increased by
$25 for each child in excess of 1, but the total
increase may not exceed the difference be-
tween the amounts payable under the above
and $128.

(4) Widow and child or children age 18 and
above permanently incapable of self-
support where incapacity began under
age 18:

Regular widow's rate payable to
widow, plus $70 for each such child pay-
able to child.

(3) Child or children ages 18 to 21 attending
school:

Same as basic rate payable to children
under age 18 where there is no widow.
(See item "Bar Against Duplicate Bene-
its.".)

less than

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Monthly
rate to
each

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(5) Widow and child or children age 18 but

under 21 attending school:

Regular widow's rate payable to
widow, plus $35 payable to each such
child. (See item "Bar Against Dupli-
cate Benefits.")

See note at end of chapter for additional
payments by VA where social security
benefits are not payable.

To qualify as a widow a woman must have
been married to the deceased person:

(1) Before the expiration of 15 years after
the termination of the period of active duty,
active duty for training, or inactive duty
training, in which the injury or disease
causing the death was incurred or aggra-
vated; or

(2) For 5 or more years; or

(3) For any period of time if a child was born of the marriage.

Additional requirements:

(1) Widow must have continuously co-
habited with the husband from the date of
marriage to the date of death except where
there was a separation due to the miscon-
duct of or procured by the husband without
fault on her part.

(2) Payments of compensation may not
be made to a "widow" after she has re-
married, unless the purported remarriage is
void.

Not a factor.

See note at end of chapter for additional
payments by VA where social security
benefits are not payable.

A person who is unmarried and

(A) who is under the age of 18 years, or
(B) who, before attaining the age of 18
years, became permanently incapable of
self-support, or

(C) who, after attaining the age of 18
years and until completion of education or
training (but not after attaining the age of
21 years), is pursuing a course of instruc-
tion at an approved educational institu-
tion;

and who is a legitimate child, a legally
adopted child, a stepchild who is a member
of a veteran's household, or an illegitimate
child but, as to the alleged father, only if
acknowledged in writing signed by him, or
if he has been judicially ordered to contrib-
ute to the child's support or has been, before
his death, judicially decreed to be the father
of such child, or if he is otherwise shown by
evidence satisfactory to the Administrator
to be the father of such child.

Not a factor.

See note at end of chapter for additional
payments by VA where social security
benefits are not payable.

A "parent" is a father, a mother, a father
through adoption, a mother through adop-
tion, or an individual who for a period of not
less than 1 year stood in the relationship of a
parent to a veteran at any time before his
entry into active military, naval, or air serv
ice or, if 2 persons stood in the relationship of
a father or a mother for 1 year or more, the
person who last stood in the relationship of
father or mother before the veteran's last
entry into active military, naval, or air
service.

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Annual income limitations as indicated above.
All payments of any kind or from any
source considered income except-

(1) 6 months death gratuity.

(2) Donations from relief organizations.
(3) Payments of dependency and in-
demnity compensation or death or dis-
ability compensation by VA.

(4) Lump-sum death payments under
title II of the Social Security Act.

(5) Payment of a bonus or similar cash gratuity by any State, Territory, possession, or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia, based on service in the Armed Forces of the United States.

(6) The Administrator may provide by regulation for exclusion from income of unusual medical expenses.

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Dependency and indemnity compensation to widows, children and parents for service-connected death on or after Jan. 1, 1957-Continued

Subject

Service groups
covered.

Deaths covered.

Types of duty or
other period of
coverage..

General provisions

Generally covers members of the uniformed services defined as including

(1) Members of the Regular and Reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard (excluding temporary members of the Coast Guard Reserve);

(2) Cadets and midshipmen of the Service Academies, both while attending the Academies and while engaged in special training duties;

(3) Members of the ROTC, NROTC, and AFROTC while on annual training duty for 14 days or more and while performing authorized travel to and from such duty;

(4) General coverage of commissioned officers of Coast and Geodetic Survey and of the Public Health Service;

(5) Persons provisionally accepted or selected for active duty who die from injury or disease incurred while en route to or from or while at a place to which ordered.

Death on or after Jan. 1, 1957:

(1) From disease or injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty while on active duty or active duty for training;

(2) From injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty while on inactive duty training; or

(3) From disability compensable under laws administered
by VA.

Deaths prior to Jan. 1, 1957, if the widow or child is eligible
for death compensation under existing VA laws, in which event
the beneficiary may receive dependency and indemnity com-
pensation upon application. A beneficiary eligible as a de-
pendent parent under existing VA death compensation law, or
who would be eligible thereunder but for his annual income,
based on death occurring prior to Jan. 1, 1957, may receive
dependency and indemnity compensation upon application and
subject to the income limitations of sec. 205. Election to take
the new benefit in these cases terminates the right to con-
tinued payments of servicemen's indemnity to the beneficiary
or to his or her successor in interest, except that child's portion
of the indemnity may be paid to another child of the deceased
person.

(1) Active duty performed by member of a uniformed service;
active duty for training and inactive duty training per-
formed by members of Reserve components of uniformed
services; authorized travel to or from active duty or active

NOTE.-Benefits equal to social security benefits are also payable by the Veterans'
Administration where an individual dies after December 1956, and is not fully or currently
insured (as defined in sec. 214 of the Social Security Act) at the time of his death; and whose
death occurs-(A) while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training
as a member of a uniformed service; or (B) as a result of disease or injury which the Ad-
ministrator determines was incurred or aggravated in line of duty while on active duty
or active duty for training, or an injury which the Administrator determines was incurred

Subject

Character of dis-
charge required....

Application..

Bar against dupli-
cate benefits.

Service connection.

General provisions

duty for training; death from injury incurred on or after
Jan. 1, 1957, while proceeding directly to or returning directly
from active or inactive duty training if the member of a
Reserve component assumed obligation to perform such
duty as authorized or required by competent authority.
(2) Training or duty performed by member of National Guard
under secs. 92, 94, 97, 99, or 113 of National Defense Act
deemed "active duty for training" or "inactive duty train-
ing" as applicable.

(3) Annual training duty for 14 days or more by members of
ROTC, NROTC, or AFROTC, and authorized travel to
or from such duty.

(4) Following discharge or release from active duty on or after
Jan. 1, 1957, a person will be deemed to continue on active
duty and to be entitled to the same basic pay during the
period of time determined by the Secretary concerned to
be required for him to proceed to his home by the most
direct route, and in any event until midnight of the date of
such discharge or release.

Dependency and indemnity compensation not payable unless
the deceased person (1) was discharged or released under con-
ditions other than dishonorable from the period of active duty,
active duty for training, or inactive duty training in which the
disability was incurred, or (2) died while on active duty, active
duty for training, or inactive duty training.

Application filed with VA for D. & I. C. or with social security
for benefits constitutes application for both benefits.
Persons eligible for such compensation based on a death after
Jan. 1, 1957, shall not be eligible on account of such death for
death compensation or death pension under any other VA law
or for payments under FECA.

Beneficiaries of compensation or pension or FECA under
present laws based on death prior to Jan. 1, 1957, who elect under
sec. 206 to take D. & I. C. may not thereafter receive compen-
sation or pension under present laws based on same death.

Commencement of an educational program under the War Or-
phans' Educational Assistance Act of 1956 is a bar to payment
of dependency and indemnity compensation to or on behalf of
a child, over age 18 but under age 21, attending school.

Criteria for determining service connection and line of duty for
purpose of D. & I. C. same as those applicable under disability
compensation laws administered by VA.

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or aggravated in line of duty while on inactive duty training, as a member of a uniformed service after Sept. 15, 1940, and who was discharged or released from duty under conditions other than dishonorable. The determination as to whether any survivor of a deceased individual would be entitled to benefits and the amount of benefits which would be paid, if the individual had been fully and currently insured at the time of his death, is made by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and certified by him to and paid by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs.

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