Pennsylvania has well over 1 million residents who are veterans. Many of these veterans are eligible for at least some benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA benefits can provide significant assistance to help veterans meet their daily living, health-care, and long-term care needs.

VA appoints fiduciaries to assist veterans who, due to injury, disease, or due to age, are unable to manage their financial affairs. VA will only determine an individual to be unable to manage his or her financial affairs after receipt of medical documentation or if a court of competent jurisdiction has already made the determination.

Upon determining that a beneficiary is unable to manage his or her financial affairs, VA will appoint a fiduciary. Generally, family members or friends serve as fiduciaries for beneficiaries; however, when friends and family are not able to serve, VA looks for qualified individuals or organizations to serve as a fiduciary.

VA is hosting a free one hour webinar on February 28, 2014 at 9:30 AM ET and 1:30 PM ET on the fundamentals and benefits of the VA Fiduciary Program. The hour long presentation will be followed by a thirty minute question and answer session for participants. Click on the following links to learn more about the webinar and reserve your place.

9:30am session: goo.gl/HNkSRi

1:30pm session: goo.gl/yBn05F

Information regarding the VA Fiduciary Program is also available on the VA website: https://benefits.va.gov/fiduciary/beneficiary.asp.

See also my earlier post: Over 65 and a Veteran? Don’t miss out on VA Pension Benefits.