Aid and Attendance for Surviving Spouses: DIC and Survivors Pension

DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation) is paid when a Veteran's death is connected to service. It also applies when the Veteran was rated totally disabled for a set time before death. DIC has no income or asset limit.

Survivors pension is needs-based. It is for low-income spouses of wartime Veterans. The death does not have to be related to service. Income and net worth limits apply.

Both programs can add Aid and Attendance or Housebound amounts. You can get one or the other, not both.

The rules are the same for both programs (38 CFR 3.351(c)). You qualify if any one of these is true:

• You need another person's regular help with tasks like bathing, dressing, eating, using the bathroom, or staying safe at home.
• You live in a nursing home because of a mental or physical disability.
• Your corrected eyesight is 5/200 or less in both eyes, or your visual field is 5 degrees or less.

If you don't qualify for Aid and Attendance, you may still qualify as Housebound. For a surviving spouse, that means a disability keeps you substantially confined to your home and its grounds. It must be expected to last for life (38 CFR 3.351(e) and (f)).

These rates apply when the Veteran died on or after January 1, 1993. Earlier deaths use a table based on the Veteran's pay grade.

• Basic monthly DIC for a surviving spouse: $1,699.36
• Aid and Attendance added amount: $421.00 a month
• Housebound added amount: $197.22 a month
• Basic DIC plus Aid and Attendance: $2,120.36 a month
• 8-year provision: add $360.85 if the Veteran was rated totally disabled for the 8 full years before death. You must have been married those same 8 years. A TDIU rating counts.
• Each child under 18: add $421.00

The DIC added amount is based on your own health, not the Veteran's. VA's rule asks whether you need regular help or are in a nursing home. It does not ask what caused your condition.

Survivors pension pays the yearly limit minus your countable income. These limits apply through November 30, 2026:

• Surviving spouse alone, basic: $11,699 a year
• Surviving spouse alone, Housebound: $14,298 a year (about $1,192 a month)
• Surviving spouse alone, Aid and Attendance: $18,697 a year (about $1,558 a month)
• With 1 dependent child, Housebound: $17,902 a year
• With 1 dependent child, Aid and Attendance: $22,304 a year
• Each added child: add $2,984 a year
• Net worth limit: $163,699 (December 1, 2025, through November 30, 2026)

Unreimbursed medical costs above 5% of your basic MAPR are subtracted from income. That threshold is $584 a year for a surviving spouse alone and $765 with one dependent.

A simple example: a surviving spouse rated for Aid and Attendance has $18,000 a year in Social Security. Assisted living care costs $48,000 a year. After the deduction, countable income is zero. The pension would be the full $18,697 a year, about $1,558 a month.

Survivors pension uses the same 36-month look-back on asset transfers as Veterans pension (38 CFR 3.276).

• You have not remarried since the Veteran's death.
• You lived with the Veteran from marriage until death, with limited exceptions for separations that weren't your fault.
• The Veteran did not have a dishonorable discharge.
• The Veteran had wartime service. For example, service that began before September 8, 1980, needs 90 days of active duty with at least 1 wartime day.

A spouse eligible for DIC generally cannot also get survivors pension for the same death. The law lets the spouse choose death pension instead (38 U.S.C. 1317). DIC with Aid and Attendance usually pays more, but compare the numbers for your situation.

• VA Form 21P-534EZ applies for DIC, survivors pension, or both.
• VA Form 21-2680, completed by a medical examiner, shows the need for Aid and Attendance or Housebound status. Send it with a new claim, or later if your health changes.
• VA Form 21-0779 is needed if you live in a nursing home.
• VA Form 21P-8416 reports unreimbursed medical expenses for survivors pension.
• Mail to: Department of Veterans Affairs, Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365. An intent to file can protect an earlier start date.

DIC rates, pension limits and the net worth limit rise each December 1. VA had not published rates effective December 1, 2026, when this article was checked.

A new DIC or survivors pension claim is free help from a Veterans Service Organization. If VA has already decided a DIC claim, ClaimScope can review it. The review checks whether the Aid and Attendance or Housebound amount was missed or wrongly denied. General information, not legal advice.