File the VA Aid and Attendance Claim Yourself or Pay Someone? Count the Forms and Fees Before You Sign

If your parent is a wartime veteran or the surviving spouse of one, the VA may have a pension with Aid and Attendance that helps pay for care at home or elsewhere. The claim is a federal application, and someone has to prepare it. You can do the work yourself, let a free accredited representative do it, or pay an accredited attorney or claims agent. Before you choose, confirm the conditions on the VA's own page at va.gov/pension/aid-attendance-housebound, which covers wartime service, age or disability, the need for help with daily activities or housebound status, and income and net worth limits.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Check the conditions before you gather anything

Find the discharge papers first. You need a copy of the DD Form 214 or an equivalent record showing the dates and character of service. If you cannot find it, the claim can still start, but the missing record will slow it down. Then pull the last few months of bank statements, the current Social Security benefit letter from the Social Security Administration, and any pension or annuity statements. Ask your parent's accountant or your own tax preparer for the most recent return or an IRS tax return transcript from IRS.gov, because the VA counts income from the return year.

Do it yourself: the forms in order

• File an Intent to File, VA Form 21-0966, to hold a start date while you collect papers. It does not finish the claim, but it protects your place.
• Complete the Application for Veterans Pension, VA Form 21P-527EZ, with the income and asset figures you gathered. Answer every line. A blank line is treated as a question the VA has to send back to you.
• Ask the doctor's office to complete the Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance, VA Form 21-2680. The clinician fills in the medical sections. You do not, and you should not coach the answers.
• Keep a copy of every page you send and a log of the date and method of each submission.

Hire it out: free first, then paid

A Veterans Service Organization representative is free to you. Ask the county or state office that serves your parent which accredited representative will take the claim, then sign the appointment form, VA Form 21-22. For a paid attorney or accredited claims agent, sign VA Form 21-22a instead. Look up any name you are offered in the VA's accreditation search at va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation. An accredited attorney or agent may charge a fee only under the VA's rules, and those rules limit when the fee may be charged and how it is set. Ask in writing when the fee begins, what triggers it, and what it covers. A person who is not accredited may not charge a fee for the claim at all. If someone asks for money before the claim is filed and cannot show an accreditation number, stop there.

What to compare before you choose

Compare three things across the options: who is allowed to charge, what the appointment form says about who can see your parent's records, and how each option handles the exam form and the income proof. Ask each helper how long they expect the file to take to be sent in, and ask who will call you when the VA writes back. Get the answers in writing before you sign anything.

Where the line is

This page covers the claim process and the papers. It does not decide whether a past gift, a transfer of the house, or a plan to shelter assets will delay eligibility or create a recovery problem. Those questions belong to a Missouri-licensed attorney. You can find one through the Missouri Bar. For free help with the claim itself, start with Local Help With Paying for Care, and check the public pages you used against Sources.