Military Member, Family and Veterans Benefits

I recently attended a Continuing Education Seminar with regard to Veterans Benefits.

We covered benefits available to the military member, their spouse and/or children if they die while enlisted, disabled military members, and other benefits for retired Veterans.

It continues to amaze me that there are benefits available that the military members and their families may or may not be aware of.

Top Five Things I Took Away From the Program

1. A military member must complete a DD Form 93, together with their estate planning documents, in order to determine who will get the $100,000 death benefit if the member is killed on duty; who will get their remains, who will get the flag at the funeral, and even letting the military know who should be told first in the event you are killed. The military will follow the Form, regardless of the terms of the Member's Will.

2. Disabled Veterans claims can take several months, or even years to complete. If appealed with the help of an attorney or Veterans' Group, there is a high success rate to overturn the original decisions.

3. The Veteran can get disability benefits for drug and/or alcohol abuse of they can prove that such abuse is directly caused from another diagnosis as a result of a service connected disability.

4. There are new diagnoses added to the list that a Veteran can collect for, where payments can be made retroactively from the original claim.

5. If you know Veteran or a Military Member (or their family) that have questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office or direct them to their nearest Veteran Administration Office.

Providing Advice to other Attorneys in Family Law

I have signed up for the Rhode Island Bar Association’s Online Attorney Resources (OAR) as a Volunteer in the area of Domestic/Family Law. I expect to be most helpful for military family law questions, and division of retirement plans.

This service is exclusively for Bar members and available through the Members Only section of the Bar's web site at www.ribar.com, to help Bar members provide and receive timely and direct assistance with practice-related questions.

OAR provides Bar members with the names, contact information and Bar admission date of volunteer attorneys willing to answer questions concerning particular practice areas based on the volunteer's professional knowledge and experience. As the Rhode Island Bar Association does not and cannot certify attorney expertise in a given practice area, the Bar does not verify any information or advice provided by OAR volunteers. Questions channeled through OAR volunteers may range from inquiries concerning specific court procedures and expectations to current and future opportunities within practice areas. However, OAR is NOT a forum for Bar members to engage other Bar members as unofficial co-counsel in an on-going case.

As everyone's time is a limited and precious commodity, all Bar members who contact volunteers must formulate their questions concisely prior to contact and ensure the initial contact takes no longer than 3 to 5 minutes unless mutually-agreed upon by both parties.

OAR offers two options:

1) Bar members willing to volunteer as information resources.

2) Bar members with questions about a particular area of the law.

OAR practice areas include: Domestic/Family Law Practice; Civil Practice in Rhode Island District Court - Collections Law & Evictions; Civil Practice in Rhode Island Superior Court - Plaintiff's Personal Injury Practice; Criminal Law Practice; Commercial Real Estate Transactions; Organizing a Rhode Island Business; Probate and Estate Planning; Residential Real Estate Closings; Workers' Compensation Practice; Creditors' and Debtors' Rights: Federal Court Practice; and Administrative Law.