Many people from Los Angeles have served our country in the military. There are no words to describe the debt of gratitude that we owe to these brave men and women. Wartime veterans go through a lot, and many people who have served in the military are returning back home to Los Angeles.
Though there is no way to fully repay the former service members for their sacrifices, there are some benefits that can be of great assistance.
Most people are aware of the military retirement pension. If you serve for at least 20 years, you can retire with a pension. The longer that you remain in the service, the greater your benefit will be.
A significant percentage of people in the military join up when they are quite young. It would be possible to serve for 20 years, retire when you are around 40 years old, and embark on a career in the private sector. You would be receiving a retirement pension while you are earning income on your job, and you could potentially build a retirement nest egg by saving the pension payouts.
On the other hand, you could remain in the military for your entire working life. If you retire after 40 years of service, your pension benefit would be equal to 100 percent of your pay at the time of retirement.
Veterans Aid and Attendance Special Pension
As an estate planning and elder law firm, we are deeply committed to the needs of senior citizens and those who are planning ahead for their retirement years. One of the major elder law issues of our day is the matter of long-term care.
When you have always been perfectly capable of handling all of your own day-to-day needs, it can be hard to wrap your head around a time when you may need assistance with your activities of daily living. However, when you look at the facts, you see that most people will eventually need some form of help.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services maintains a very useful website called longtermcare.gov. You can obtain a lot of great information about the subject if you visit the site. According to research that has been conducted by these folks, seven out of every 10 people who are turning 65 at any given time will eventually require living assistance.
When you hear about this, you may assume that you won’t have to worry about paying for long-term care, because you will be qualified for Medicare when you reach the age of 65. In fact, the Medicare program does not pay for living assistance. It will pay for up to 100 days of convalescent care after an injury or illness, but it will not pay for custodial care.
Long-term care is not something that can be easily paid for out-of-pocket, even if you can get the care that you need in your own home. According to a survey that has been conducted by Genworth Financial, the average annual cost for an in-home health aide was almost $50,000 last year.
If you are a wartime veteran who is in need of living assistance, there is a valuable benefit that you may qualify for that will help defray the costs. The benefit that we are referring to is the Veterans Aid and Attendance Special Pension.
To qualify for this pension, you must have a minimum of 90 days of service, with at least one of these days taking place during a time of war. This benefit is intended for veterans who have some level of financial need, so there is an asset limit of $80,000, but your home is not counted, and you can retain ownership of one vehicle.
Of course, you also have to provide medical proof that you are in fact incapable of handling all of your own activities of daily living.
A single veteran who is eligible for this special pension could receive as much as $1788 per month. For a married couple, the maximum monthly benefit is $2120. A surviving spouse of a qualified veteran could qualify for an $1149 monthly benefit.
Plus, a healthy veteran who has a spouse who requires living assistance can qualify for $1406 each month.
Contact Us
For more information, please join us for one of our upcoming free seminars. If you have additional questions or concerns about conservatorship in the State of California, contact the Collins Law Firm by calling (310) 677-9787 0r Click Here reserve for a Free Estate Planning Workshop.
Caprice Collins
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