Currently, in limited situations, VA may pay a portion of a beneficiary’s monetary benefits directly to the beneficiary’s dependent, referred to as an apportionment. VA has implemented a new ruling that will limit the circumstances in which compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) benefits are apportioned and will stop making need-based apportionments going forward.
This change serves to avoid conflicts with awards granted by state family courts. State family courts are usually more familiar with family circumstances and therefore better suited to make decisions regarding financial matters.
Understanding apportionments
An apportionment is when VA pays a portion of monetary benefits directly to dependents, rather than to the Veteran or beneficiary. A beneficiary must specifically request an apportionment by submitting an apportionment claim.
Need-based apportionment claims are challenging for many reasons. These usually involve complex issues of family law. Additionally, claims for apportionment require a substantial amount of information, which is typically available to state courts, but not readily accessible by VA. This requires VA beneficiaries and dependents to be contacted multiple times by VA to gather this information and can be a lengthy process.
Because of their proximity, state courts have more expertise and authority in family law and therefore are better equipped to handle apportionment claims. VA apportionment decisions may conflict with the awards of better-situated state family courts which have the authority and expertise to make fully informed, accurate and economically appropriate awards.
Limitations on new apportionments
For these reasons, VA will no longer grant need-based apportionments of compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) awards in most circumstances.
VA will continue to make apportionments where a Veteran or surviving spouse is incarcerated and where an incompetent Veteran without a fiduciary is institutionalized at government expense. For example, if a Veteran is incarcerated at a federal penitentiary on felony charges, or institutionalized at a VA Medical Center, a portion of their benefits can be paid directly to their dependents if they are eligible.
Current apportionments
Dependents who currently receive an apportionment will not be affected by these changes. VA will continue apportionments currently being paid; however, adjustments to current need-based apportionments will not be made.
These changes will go into effect on Feb. 9, 2026.
Additional Information
Eligible Veterans and surviving spouses who wish to request apportionments under the stated exceptions can do so using VA Form 21-0788, “Information Regarding Apportionment of Beneficiary’s Award.” VA forms are available at https://www.va.gov/find-forms.
The rulemaking can be viewed in the Federal Register under 2026-00237.
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I am a combat female veteran I have been going thru family court for over ten years. I was forced to testify to my trauma and my painful experiences as an army medic in open court in great detail. They also started the hearing without me since they changed court rooms and didn’t notify me of th change. Would not let me present witnesses or evidence I I asked for time to get a lawyer in open court because I refused to sign a blanket release of all of my medical records after my VJO advised me to not sign it. I had GAL fees counseling fees ($140/per hour session once a week for over a year, supervised visits ordered based on the fact that I refused to sign the release and those visits were $330 a day. Supervisors couldn’t work holidays, so I haven’t seen my daughter for anny holiday in ten years or h don’t let me forget a $50 round trip fee for traveling to my home. Asked for sliding scale said nope, asked for accommodations, recommendations they could make to the court. None. Requested receipts for the supervision. Nope they don’t give receipts and cash only accepted. I have been de facto Terminated my parental relationship with my child because on top of all of those fees I have a never ending indefinite custody order that is $1200 a month which pay $1000 in child support I hate the family court system they have caused so much pain for me and my child. No CYS case no abuse no neglect, i’ve never even exchanged harsh words with my children, and I have been reduced to solely the cash flow and what they can get out of me and the custodial parent is loving all of this because he gets to do absolutely nothing and not have to bring her to our visits because I can’t afford the $1200 a month I’ve been paying $1200 a month for supervision (because I’m a POS for having gone to war to save people’s lives and have seen some horrible things from the war) and been doing this for years and obviously can’t afford a lawyer and he gets to try and forget about me erase me and continue harming our daughter. I’m left with $209 to live every month someone tell me how the hell I live in that.
Another cog in the wheel of VA benefit destruction by ole’ Mr. Collins !
Here we go again, water down & eliminate DIC for spouses after death. Removing another benefit while politicians receive better healthcare than veterans & somehow end up with millions? Yet Veterans and their families get stroked by these parasites slowly eliminating our benefits! More smelly BS
Needing help and guidance please on how to contact the support team
I am a female veteran and have been trying for years to get compensation. I am 77 years old Marine Corps Veteran. Last turn down was because I didn’t receive medical treatment before leaving active duty. Time before turn down we know you were at the bases where Agent Orange was used, but can’t prove direct contact. I have high blood pressure 48 years, type 2 diabetic for 39 years, planter fascitis diagnosed by VA 5 years ago, had to have spinal surgery and neck disc replacement surgery also diagnosed by VA. Skin cancer, ovarian cancer and Lukemia. Arms and hands numb as well as feet can’t stand long and have to use a cane. My husband was a Air Force Veteran 3 times Vietnam he passed Nov.10, 2024 he was 100% I am getting some DIC from his. I need help getting what is due me. I saw a VSO, but all she did was refile so I lost all the years of my battle. Please help??
My friend was injured while working for the v.A medical center in battle creek mi is not computer savvy, and is having a very hard time. He moved to tennessee and is finding it very difficult to see a doctor that will take his workman’s comp through the V.A. he is in great pain and really does need a number where a person will answer.Can anyone help him? I added his information below
The VA does wonderful work. Very much appreciated.
My husband died of just about everything you could get from Agent Orange and his PTSD was through the roof from the Battle of Avon Thein in Vietnam. He received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star and was 100% service connected for his death. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the health care I receive as a surviving spouse. His battle to get his benefits was an 11 year fight, but my care since his death has been exceptional. I just see the VA getting better all the time and I could not be cared for better from any private insurance anywhere, for any amount of money.
Thank you beyond words.
I am the surviving spouse of a 100% disabled veteran
He passed away February 2024
We were married over 35 years
I have not received anything since burial
Sold our home that was Va financed October this year
I’m so lost
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Have you seen a reach out to a VSO ( veteran service officer.
You can also setup a VERA appointment
Link below
I’m a widow of agent orange I also have MS does the military have a place to live when assistance is needed other than a state nursing home
I would like to know the answer to this also
What is state family law going to cost to get the apportion benefit ?
The VA is taking money away from people when they really should be looking at defense contractors who are milking it for all they are worth.
Don’t understand why VA will not paid me from the time I became disabled! They still own me for 10 years that they said they can’t paid me for! I think this is so wrong never paid my children for going to college or my wife. Sure could use this money. If I own them they wouldn’t stop until they got their money!
If you believe you got a back-paid owed to you, I would reach out to CCK they’ll fight for you all the way to the Supreme Court if need be. They’re a good law firm.
You could try doing a HLR first and see if VA sees the error
Why are they attacking Veterans so intentionally? The U.S. Gov’t should focus upon the incompetence of their weak Healthcare system. Further, how is it law that when you receive authorization for pay (retro), they only go back one year. If you get a woman pregnant they go all the way back to the day you first took her to a dairy queen. Taxes? What 7 years? It’s a joke.
Yes I am entitled to my apportionmate since 2015 and the VA has cost a hardship on the vet and the spouse??? Could you explain why all these laws but no payments???
Thank you for all information you send me this is very helpful to me ?
I paid child support off my va income and they took an apportionment of 400$ out of my va pay. 758$ a month. I was blindsided n legally robbed by her n the va and no one at the va would help me for 10 years . Now she’s an adult and it’s irrelevant but goes to show the crookedness of people and our precious va system. Trust unexploded ordinance before will them ever again.
They need to get something done with the Veterans retirement pay, if you draw disabley and don’t have 50%@ they will take part of your retirement pay and pay your disabley. They have been trying to get the Senate Arms commity to change this for years and they won’t change it. Retirement should not have anything to do with disability.
You’re having a hard time getting to 50%??
Try being a chapter 61 medically retired without 20 years, don’t even qualify for concurrent receipt even with 90%
Thanks in advance!
I appreciate the veterans care in Stony Brook VA home ?? I have painfull spinal stenosis !!Paul walwanis
Does this affect someone who is retired from the Navy?
With this type of treatment why would any one in their right mind go into the military.
IT WAS ONCE STATED THAT WE THE MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY WERE LOSERS, MAYBE THAT WAS CORRECT!!
Because disability payments and apportionment should be the furthest thing from a potential recruits mind. Me me me me me, what can I get out of it, instead of being part of a team and the greater good.
Anyone working for a paycheck should consider the whole paycheck and entitlements. No part of a Soldiers benefits should be ‘far from their mind’. They have every right to understand the potential benefits that will take care of them and their family if they are being asked to risk their life for their country. It is an intelligent thing and should be encouraged, not a selfish thing.
Although I also do not agree with OP. There are so many benefits to being a SM and there are plenty of reasons one would join (benefits considered or not).
I agree.However, the greater good cannot apply to some and not all.
Apportionments are garnishments essentially. VA disability compensation is generally protected from such by federal law. State courts and welfare systems have been trying to attack veterans protected benefits for years. I appreciate the “deadbeat” parent argument but if a parent is fully disabled and unable to work they should file for dual compensation through the VA and SSD at which point children would be eligible for compensation under SSD.
I have to disagree with the state only going after SSD. For example, in Texas the Attorney General’s office will go after both SSD and VA benefits for child support claims for a maximum of up to 50% of total compensation. And still leave the veteran responsible for providing health insurance daycare, and 50% of deductibles. Those funds become a free-for-all for the custodial parent that can be spent anyway they choose. I am all for taking care of and being responsible for children I bring into this world. Yet, I want the money I provide to be spent on my child and not the custodial parent, her boyfriend, and other children not receiving child support from their father.
I’m aware that this subject is part of a much larger issue. However, garnishments of any type against veterans especially disabled veterans need to be abolished. Dealing with constant repercussions of service connected disabilities on a daily basis is enough without incorporating apportionments or any other type of garnishments into the picture.
There should be a constitutional law that prohibits using VA disability or SSD as income that can be calculated and subsequently garnished for any reason. Veterans answered the call and fought for our country. Now we ask that our country stand by us and help protect the small amount of benefits we receive each month.
So let me see if I got this … so your sperm created a child or children, and because you get a disability check from the Gov.. Your children, should not eat or be clothed, entertained, or educated? Is that right?
I wish you were in my shoes. metally challenged and made the fight.
You guys in court day the day you control. I don’t have any of the information you do. But yet I’m my lawyer who is supposedly credited by you. It comes to the court and is not prepared. I have been waiting nearly 40 years ago since I got out. That’s a disabled man, veterans. I have only gotten money from you in the last couple of years. And it’s only 20%. I have been in a wheelchair since 2004.
And still you deny me my full compensation. I’m so tired of the Va. game. It seems you want me to die before I collect. What I am due. You may win this game but God will be watching over you,
And he is a god of vengeance.still i must ask you why the VA medical team member told me just a bit ago she had found the right code to conect my condition to the camp lejeune toxic water poisoning i suffer from. why does nobody in VA seem to know how to work their own system and code things appropreatly? what hope do have in a system lìke this .it has failed me for 40 years and i expect it will keep up the good work.
Contact VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans of your state; they have lawyers who will represent you free of charge. Veteran Service Officers never helped me. There is also National Veterans Legal Services Program.
They contacted me and helped me get a zoom hearing with a judge. 30 years finally 100% SC.
How long till we take arms? I’m ready and able. We lack leadership direction and specific targets. All problems can be solved if we band together.
You want to take up arms against the VA?! I can only imagine it’s because you are not getting as much disability compensation as you would like?!?! This my friend is the reason!
I do not agree with this decision. For my case personally my ex spouse refused to pay court ordered child support. He was paid additional money each month from the VA for each child which he kept for himself. He lost his visitation rights and had no relationship with his children and provided zero support despite being paid additional amounts monthly for each child. I was able to get an apportionment for his child support amount from the VA. It is illegal for Family court to garnish any VA disability pay, so the claim that family court is better equipped to handle need based cases is not a valid argument. Family court has no jurisdiction or authority in regards to VA compensation. Because the VA agreed to
aportion the child support, that kept my ex spouse out of prison for felony charges of nonsupport. If veterans are not paying child support and the VA will only aportion if the veteran is incarcerated, it seems this will likely result in many more disabled veterans being incarcerated due to felony charges of non support which will be the only way for children to receive any support in such cases. Prosecutors will have no other option in cases where the veteran is unable or unwilling to pay child support.
It seems the VA is making this decision in order to reduce their own administrative burden and save money and not because it is in the best interest of Veterans or their Dependants.
I am sorry that you had a child with a dead-beat dad. The money you get for a dependent child is not even close to what the child support order is. If he is truly unable to work, he can get SSD and the child or children are entitled to money, and they will get it. Also, the amount that the veteran receives depends on the percentage of their disability. If they are 100% then the children are eligible for CHAMP VA, which is the medical that you would not have to pay. If you look at the amount per child is from $32.00 to $109.11 per child, is that what they were ordered to pay or did you get more from the state? I know that I paid more than that $109.11 back in 1986 and as soon as the Judge said divorce granted, I lost money for having a family.
Not true. It’s a 100% plus total and disabling disability to qualify for CHAMPVA. If service member qualifies for Tricare, they must pay tricare premiums and dont qualify for CHAMPVA. Even on CHAMPVA you still have to pay an annual deductible. Each state is different and have different caps on child support payments.
What about money she has received that child support don’t count from the years of her getting money from me, her mother changing her name while she has been receiving money from me, adopting our daughter to her husband, still receiving money from my pension. What about that?
Well they dont move quickly at all. It has been 1 yr and no help. The VA doesn’t care if you ask for apportionment or it is court ordered. The children suffer and they are working on it. Will this rule change anything nope!
I am so incredibly disappointed and truly saddened that this is even a topic for debate!!! Veterans deserve more than they have ever gotten, sadly more than they ever will, yet they are the VERY REASON we have a nation that is allowed to have a voice!!!!
Wake up America!!! We should be on the same side!!! Before the big money industry bankrupts us and then buys us at Pennie’s to the dollar…. We have to fight for our kids, our lives, and for those that have already fought for us!!!!
Local/state courts routinely garnish vets money. They know they can’t legally go after vet benefits, so they set an amount and garnish it. VA says they can’t do it, but if you don’t pay, you are in contempt of court.
I have nothing but contempt for the US Injustice System, so they’d at least be right about that.
The VA’s narrative is presumptive that family courts are ethical. In Iowa the courts are corrupted. Read new book, Domestic Terrorism: USA vs Veterans and the First Amendment, Dr. KC Tennant, DC
Sangrete blood sausages witches Salem Oregon and salem Winston North Carolina. Salem witch trials Wikipedia unexplained phenomenons etc. Evangelist Sheena Harris Sherrell and Sharell. Bka Saint Sheena. I out rank u.
This is going to allow deadbeat parents that aren’t paying child support to continue to so so because child support cannot be garnished from va disability.
I’m dealing with this now. Ncp paid nothing for 10 years. Then every 4 mo paid $50, then started paying $138 a mo out of his required $300 (which he had lowered from 430 due to hardship). During covid he got fake business loans that never had to be paid back, child support cant touch it cause he doesn’t have to claim it on taxes, they couldn’t touch his backpack because it’s va disability and tax free so no tax return filed. He allows his children to suffer and laughs about it and the va is going to allow it now instead of intervening and intercepting his check and sending a portion to dependents based on need. I really hope this gets revisited and reversed because so many children will suffer now because of it.
VA compensation should not be subject to families. It is not a retirement benefit that a spouse can argue their support lays claim to part of it. The compensation is to make whole the Veteran in respects to actual injury or illness experienced. Even the additional sums for dependents is related to how the Veteran can experience and participate in the relationship with those dependents. In these cases, “if you weren’t there” matters
Not a good idea
How do we veterans OPT out ?
VETS elected the orange traitor. Thoughts and prayers. KNOW that the stolen funds he WILL use for building GAZA into trump land.
Trump Derangement Syndrome , is real seek help Denise ! LOL
No such thing as Palestine , just terrorist !!!
Nuke Gaza !!!
Trump 2028 !!!
What a psycho. The low asvab community is full of nut jobs.
Well expect more of the same changes.. I agree just leave our Benifits alone they already make it hard to get a good decision.
As they say in the old country Lil crying girl, GFY . Obviously never in the military but a wetback
VA is a subsidiary government grants.
But when Obama tried to get the VA to stop having Bonuses and raises in 2014. VA still did that. VA thinks they can do whatever they want. Doctors don’t get fired from the VA. Bad ones only get transferred to different departments or facility. Good ones quit because their hands are tied.
If they can change your military status, marriage and address they can erase you completely. See they have done that many times to My husband and I.
They were only looking at his second enlistment. They changed his Marital status to single. They moved me back to our old address. Then moved my husband to it. Then took out the second number of our address. And they call it a computer error.
The VA needs a babysitter to watch every move they make.
I am a VA employee. This will cause children to go without support. The VA does not honor court orders or enforce child support orders. The apportionment process was a way around that for parents fighting for help with their children. So sad.
My own childs other parent is Veteran, he already gets away with zero child support and has a payee. GALs Inc ensured he will never pay a dime to support his child. This just cements the entire situation. Blows my mind he can live on 6k a month, get dependents pay and doesn’t have to support his child at all. I respect he served his time, I also served my sentence with him for his injuries. Just another way to the VA to screw the spouse and kids. Really terrible!
Actually, my husband pays child support. His child’s mother got them to apportion the disability money as well. So sometimes people do things out of spite.
Seems to me that you want to make it easier for all states to come after veterans in family court. Making it easier for states to take from veterans. Veterans are already a target in family court. Courts know they can max out the veteran and expect the government to give in. Terrible.
Agreed. The federal protections afforded to veterans prevents local courts from having free rein to veteran benefits. Think this will negatively impact a lot of veterans
Giving that the “family” court system is currently in crisis with it being full of fraud, child trafficking, destruction of familys for profit to name a few problems. Putting more money on the table for the judges, attorneys, GALs, and other bad court actors is a horrible idea… The only good thing about this is that you will see more cases of illegal activities in the courts and hopefully it can speed up the process of exposing and abolishing “family” courts… The “family” courts are an embarrassment to America in how they treat veterans and children…
yes to everything you said n are you familiar with this matter because I can use some much needed guidance and advice because I can’t take anymore with what they did do and continue to do to my children and me. it’s unbearable and my story is like something out of the twilight zone and makes no sense to me at all with everything.