Compensation for being Fiduciary

Jim,

I have been married to my husband, a %100 Disabled Vietnam Veteran, for almost 12yrs now. My husband has been receiving monthly VA Disability Benefits since 1997. My husband has been declared "incompetant" by the VA, therefore, I, his wife, was appointed the spouse/payee and fiduciary of his monthly benefit payments. The check is addressed to me as the Spouse/Payee/Fiduciary for the veteran. My question is, does the Veterans Admin provide any comensation to a "fiduciary", the reason I ask, is because being the spouse is a difficult job itself, but also being the fiduciary, requires a lot of difficult work that consumes a lot of my time and I'm not doing very well in the "health" area myself. Thank You

Reply:

Thank you for taking care of your veteran husband. We know that can be very challenging and we appreciate the dependents who provide care for our disabled veterans.

A fiduciary is compensated when the appointment is made to a professional (such as an attorney or bank officer), not a family member. Even then, the professional is paid about 4% of the monthly check. The payment is deducted from the veterans money. In the eyes of the VA, you are already receiving "payment" as it is assumed that you also benefit from the veteran compensation.