Review or change dependents for disability, pension, or DIC benefits
Find out how to add a dependent spouse, child, or parent to your disability, pension, or Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits for additional compensation.
You can also sign in to VA.gov to review the dependents currently added to your disability benefits.
Can I get higher benefit payments for one or more of my dependents?
If you and your dependents meet the requirements here, you may be eligible for higher disability compensation, pension, or DIC payments.
For disability compensation
You may be eligible for higher disability compensation payments if both of these are true for you:
- You’re eligible for VA disability compensation, and
- You have a combined disability rating of at least 30%
For pension benefits
You may be eligible for higher pension payments if one of these is true for you:
- If you have a dependent child, their income and assets are within the limits to be eligible for pension benefits, or
- If you’re married, you and your dependent spouse’s combined income and assets are within the limits to be eligible for pension benefits
Note: You must report your spouse’s income and assets when you apply for pension benefits.
Learn about the income and assets for pension benefits
For DIC benefits
You may be eligible for higher DIC payments if both of these are true for you:
- You’re the surviving spouse of a Veteran, and
- You have one or more children under the age of 18
Note: Surviving children and parents of Veterans may also be eligible for their own separate DIC payments.
Who does VA consider a dependent?
A dependent is:
- A spouse (Note: We recognize same-sex and common-law marriages)
- A parent, if you’re directly caring for them and their income and net worth are below a certain amount
- An unmarried child (including an adopted child or stepchild) who meets one of the eligibility requirements in the next list
To be considered a dependent, one of these must be true of an unmarried child:
- They’re under 18 years old, or
- They’re between the ages of 18 and 23 years old and enrolled in school full time, or
- They became permanently disabled before they turned 18
How to review current dependents for VA disability benefits
You can use our online tool to review the current dependents you’ve added to your VA disability benefits. To do this, you need to be signed in to VA.gov with a verified account.
How to add or remove a dependent child or spouse
First, you’ll need to file your dependency claim.
In certain situations, you may need to submit additional evidence with your claim. Keep reading to find out what evidence you may need to submit.
You can file a claim in one of these 2 ways:
Option 1: File a dependency claim online
You can add or remove dependents online right now.
Option 2: Mail us a dependency claim
Fill out an Application Request to Add and/or Remove Dependents (VA Form 21-686c).
Get VA Form 21-686c to download
Then, mail your completed form to us at this address:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Evidence Intake Center
PO Box 4444
Janesville, WI 53547-4444
Note: If your dependent is a child who’s between 18 and 23 years old and attending school full time, you’ll also need to fill out and mail us a Request for Approval of School Attendance (VA Form 21-674) with your application.
Additional evidence you may need to submit
In certain situations, you may need to submit additional evidence with your dependency claim. Find out what kind of evidence you’ll need to submit for your situation:
To add a dependent child
If you live outside the U.S., its bases, or territories
You’ll need to submit a copy of the child’s birth certificate.
If your child is adopted
You’ll need to submit a copy of the final adoption decree, the placement agreement, or the child’s revised birth certificate.
If your child is permanently incapable of supporting themselves
You’ll need to submit copies of these documents:
- Medical records that document your child’s permanent physical or mental disability existed before they turned 18 years old, and
- A statement from your child’s doctor that shows the type and severity of the child’s physical or mental disability
To add a spouse
If you live outside the U.S., its bases, or territories
You’ll need to submit a copy of your marriage certificate, church marriage record, or other public marriage document.
If you were married by common law
You’ll need to submit copies of these documents:
- Birth certificates for you and your spouse’s children, and
- 2 Statements of Marital Relationship (VA Form 21-4170)—1 that you complete and 1 that your spouse completes, and
Get VA Form 21-4170 to download - 2 Supporting Statements Regarding Marriage (VA Form 21P-4171) completed by 2 different people with knowledge about your marriage
Get VA Form 21P-4171 to download
If you were married in a tribal ceremony
You’ll need to submit copies of these documents:
- Signed statements from you and your spouse. They must include the name of the tribe, date (month, day, and year) of marriage, place (city and state, county and state, or city and country) where the marriage ceremony occurred, and the name and mailing address of the person who performed the ceremony, and
- Signed statements from at least 2 people who were present at the tribal marriage ceremony. They must include the name of the tribe, date (month, day, and year) of marriage, place (city and state, county and state, or city and country) where the ceremony happened, and the name and mailing address of the person who performed the ceremony, and
- A signed statement from the person who performed the ceremony. This must include the date (month, day, and year) and place (city and state, county and state, or city and country) where the marriage ceremony happened, and the person’s authority for conducting the ceremony
If you were married by proxy (someone else represented you or your spouse at the marriage ceremony)
You’ll need to submit copies of all documents and certificates issued in connection with your proxy marriage.
How to add a dependent parent
First, fill out an Statement of Dependency of Parent(s) (VA Form 21P-509).
Get VA Form 21P-509 to download
Then, mail your completed form to us at this address:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Evidence Intake Center
PO Box 4444
Janesville, WI 53547-4444
What if I need help filing my claim?
You can work with an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative. These professionals are trained and certified in the VA claims and appeals process. An accredited representative can answer your questions or even file your claim for you.
More questions about adding or removing a dependent for VA disability benefits
Questions about the process and timing for adding a dependent
This depends on where you are in the process of filing for disability compensation.
If you haven’t yet filed a claim for disability compensation
You can file a claim for additional compensation for a dependent at the same time as you file your original claim for disability compensation.
If you receive a combined disability rating of at least 30%, we’ll automatically consider your eligibility for additional compensation for your dependent.
Find out how to file a claim for disability compensation
If you have one or more dependents, but you didn’t claim them when you originally filed for disability compensation
If you have a combined disability rating of at least 30%, you can file a claim for additional disability compensation now.
If something changes in your family status after you received a combined disability rating of at least 30%
You can file a claim for additional disability compensation whenever you add a dependent.
You can add a dependent if:
- You get married
- You have or adopt a child
- Your child is between 18 and 23 years old and enrolled in school full time
- We determine that your child, who’s at least 18 years old, became permanently disabled before turning 18
- You become the caregiver for a parent whose income and net worth is below a certain amount
Yes, but we encourage you to file online. The online process is simple, and you can upload your supporting documents along with your claim.
If you can’t, or don’t want to file online, you can file a claim for additional disability compensation by mail using these forms:
- For a spouse or a child under 18 years of age, you’ll need to fill out an Application Request to Add and/or Remove Dependents (VA Form 21-686c).
Get VA Form 21-686c to download - For a child who’s between 18 and 23 years old and attending school full time, you’ll need to fill out both VA Form 21-686c and a Request for Approval of School Attendance (VA Form 21-674).
Get VA Form 21-686c to download
Get VA Form 21-674 to download - For a dependent parent, you’ll need to fill out a Statement of Dependency of Parent(s) (VA Form 21P-509).
Get VA Form 21P-509 to download
Mail your completed form(s) to:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Evidence Intake Center
PO Box 4444
Janesville, WI 53547-4444
You can file your claim again online for a faster decision. If we award you additional disability compensation, we’ll give you back pay from the original date we received your paper form.
We may pay you back to the date of your marriage or the birth or adoption of your child if you meet all of these requirements.
All of these must be true:
- You had already received a combined disability rating of at least 30% at the time of the marriage, birth, or adoption, and
- You file your claim for additional disability compensation for the dependent within a year of the marriage, birth, or adoption, and
- You respond within a year to our request for any more information or evidence needed to confirm your claim
If it’s been more than one year since you got married or had or adopted a child, we may not pay you back to the date of the marriage, birth, or adoption. Instead, we may pay you back only to the date we received your claim for additional disability for the dependent or, in some cases, up to a year before this date.
We’ll begin paying you within 2 weeks after we approve your claim.
Questions about adding or removing certain kinds of dependents
If you and your spouse are both Veterans with a combined disability rating of at least 30%, you can both receive additional disability compensation for each other and for your children.
You should know: It’ll take us longer to process your claim if your spouse is also a Veteran. But if you file your claim online, and we decide you’re eligible for additional disability compensation for your dependent(s), we’ll pay you back to the date you started the online claim process.
You can use our online tool to remove a divorced spouse or a dependent from your disability compensation. We’ll need more time to process a request that involves a child than a request that involves a spouse, but the online process is still much faster than submitting a paper request.
If you get divorced, you’ll want to notify us right away. You don’t need to send or upload supporting documents in this case. This will help to make sure we don’t continue paying you additional disability compensation for your former spouse and, if applicable, stepchildren after the divorce. If we continue paying you benefits that you’re not eligible for, we may withhold money from future payments until you’ve paid us back.
If you have a child who will remain in school past the age of 18, you’ll need to add their information again in our online tool. This is because we automatically remove children from disability compensation when they turn 18.
No. We’ll track your child’s age based on the date of birth you give us when you submit your claim. When your child turns 18, we’ll stop paying additional disability compensation for them unless you let us know they’re enrolled in school full time.