What are the prospects for my VA appeal for my late husband's Survivor's Benefits

HelenePerini

Premium Member
Hello,

I began my request for my late husband's VA Survivor's Benefits. I was denied, but am taking the option to appeal. I submitted my paperwork in April of 2019 and my hearing will be at 8:30 am on 2/25/20 in Oakland, Ca. The public sees me as highly deserving but a modification of a rule would have to be allowed. I wish to re-publish one of my late husband's book to begin to establish him as an important person in American photography. That is my intention. Without his benefits, I am in a financial stew.

My chart is in my profile. (My husband: Jimo Perini 8/13/1926 2am Alameda, CA)

If anyone has a take on my situation, please share. I worked with Rahu before but he is no longer accepting mail.

Thanks,
Helene
 

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waybread

Well-known member
Helen, I am sorry for your loss. Normally a "yes or no" question wouldn't be answered transparently off a birth chart, but by a horary chart, which goes by the moment of when a question first became a burning issue for you. If you peruse the horary boards, you'll get the idea. It will be important to peg the timing of your original question as accurately as you can.

I'm unclear as to why you think you are entitled to your late husband's VA benefits, independently of what you would do with the money. So far as the VA is concerned, I suspect that's neither here nor there. Also, if your husband published a book in the past that you feel deserves re-printing, hopefully you can identify a commercial or academic publisher who does the kind of book you have in mind. Then the publisher pays the costs of the new release, not you out-of-pocket. A publisher also handles a lot of the PR for their publications on their dime, not yours. If you have to publish a book privately to get it back into circulation, that suggests the bigger market may not be there.

Alternatively, these days, think about mounting a website dedicated to you late husband's work. No publication costs involved; and a website could reach a much bigger audience than a self-published book with a small print run. (Times are changing.)

If you have the original photographs, perhaps a local gallery or art museum would show them, as well.
 
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Osamenor

Staff member
I'm unclear as to why you think you are entitled to your late husband's VA benefits, independently of what you would do with the money.

Low income widows (and widowers) of U.S. military veterans are entitled to VA benefits if they themselves have not remarried, and if the deceased spouse did wartime service and was honorably discharged. It's all here: https://www.benefits.va.gov/pension/spousepen.asp

Assuming Helene's husband served in war (his birthdate makes him old enough, barely, to have served the last year of WWII, and also the right age for the Korean War--not deleted because native is deceased) and was honorably discharged, it's a reasonable assumption that she would qualify. I suspect the denial was based on income.

There may be some blip in the income that's making them say she has too much, even if she doesn't overall: for example, if she sold her home last year and got a one time increase in taxable income, but in general lives on a fixed income that would be under the threshold for survivor's VA benefits. Or, considering that she lives in a high COL area, maybe her income is low for where she lives but not that low for the country as a whole. I don't know whether the income requirements are set regionally or nationally, but if it's nationally, people who live in a high cost of living area could have a low income for where they live but too much to qualify for benefits based on the national average.

However, horary would probably give the most accurate answer. You might also get somewhere with an event chart for the date and time of the appeal, in a synastry wheel with your natal. Asker is expected to post the chart(s).
 

Osamenor

Staff member
my hearing will be at 8:30 am on 2/25/20 in Oakland, Ca.

Most likely, nothing will come of it. On that date, the moon will be void of course from 6:12 am to 10:47 am Pacific Time. When the moon is void of course, endeavors don't bear fruit. Nothing changes. Since you've already had a denial, the most likely outcome is that your claim remains denied. The next most likely outcome is that the decision gets deferred to a later date.

If you can get your hearing postponed until after 10:47--say, a start time of 11:00 am or later on the same day--you might see some results. However, those results could just as easily be a definitive ruling against your claim as one in favor of it.

Edited to add: If, because of this, you decide to try to get a new hearing date, check for void of course moons and make sure you're not being scheduled during one. There are several sites and apps that list the void of course moons (make sure you have the time zone correct--most of them give the time in either UTC or Eastern, so adjust if necessary), and Llewellyn offers a line of print calendars and datebooks that include transits and VOC moons. If you see ":moon: v/c at (time)," the moon will be void of course from then until it enters a new sign.

If you can't reschedule your hearing at all, or if every time you try to reschedule for ends up being another void of course moon, that's a signal from the universe that the status of your appeal isn't going to change.
 
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HelenePerini

Premium Member
Thanks for so much. The chart for the time of the hearing seems weak to me too. I hadn't thought of asking to reschedule. I will think about it now.

The lunar return for late January seems very favorable.

I lived with my husband for 13 years before his death. The problem is not that I have too much money but that we didn't marry until 6 months before he died.

I never got a divorce from my ex and when a couple of years before his death, Jimo said he wanted me to have his art work and he wanted to marry, I was taking full time care of him (Parkinson's) and working, and not having enough money to hire a lawyer, tried to do the papers by myself. I made many mistakes because I was so stressed and so tired and my mistakes cost me at least six months which is what we lack to qualify. My first appeals were perfunctory requests but this a serious appeal. Almost 75 of our friends have written in support of our long public presence as a married couple. I have written long and at length about that year in explanation of why our marriages was delayed at least 6 months.

The advocate at VA says that the judge looks at the law and at the human factor. I'm 71 and I have lymphoma. Jimo was not only in WW2 but he was in the OSS. He received three purple hearts and the Army Cross. Also a medal for extraordinary bravery during an escape from a POW in Germany. He was 100% disabled at the end of the War, I'm honestly not sure why. His birth is listed in army records as 1924 as he lied about his age by two years when he enlisted.

So I will ask to reschedule but that lunar return looks strong.
What do you think?

Helene
 

HelenePerini

Premium Member
Thanks for so much. The chart for the time of the hearing seems weak to me too. I hadn't thought of asking to reschedule. I will think about it now.

The lunar return for late January seems very favorable.

I lived with my husband for 13 years before his death. The problem is not that I have too much money but that we didn't marry until 6 months before he died.

I never got a divorce from my ex and when a couple of years before his death, Jimo said he wanted me to have his art work and he wanted to marry, I was taking full time care of him (Parkinson's) and working, and not having enough money to hire a lawyer, tried to do the papers by myself. I made many mistakes because I was so stressed and so tired and my mistakes cost me at least six months which is what we lack to qualify. My first appeals were perfunctory requests but this a serious appeal. Almost 75 of our friends have written in support of our long public presence as a married couple. I have written long and at length about that year in explanation of why our marriages was delayed at least 6 months.

The advocate at VA says that the judge looks at the law and at the human factor. I'm 71 and I have lymphoma. Jimo was not only in WW2 but he was in the OSS. He received three purple hearts and the Army Cross. Also a medal for extraordinary bravery during an escape from a POW in Germany. He was 100% disabled at the end of the War, I'm honestly not sure why. His birth is listed in army records as 1924 as he lied about his age by two years when he enlisted.

So I will ask to reschedule but that lunar return looks strong.
What do you think?

Helene
 

Osamenor

Staff member
I lived with my husband for 13 years before his death. The problem is not that I have too much money but that we didn't marry until 6 months before he died.

I never got a divorce from my ex
Is your ex still alive? Did your divorce not go through?

If so, your marriage to Jimo wouldn't even be a legal one. Unless they're willing to consider it so because you were living as married for 13 years.

My dad worked for Social Security for 30 years, and he ran into cases like that: people had been living as married but were not actually legally married for whatever reasons, and perhaps the most common one was that one of them was technically still married to someone else, but thought they were divorced. In those cases, if the couple had been living as married for long, usually the surviving spouse was considered the surviving spouse, legal or not. Sounds like the VA might play by the same rules.

So I will ask to reschedule but that lunar return looks strong.
What do you think?
If you filed the paperwork back in April and didn't get a hearing date til next February, there's no way you can reschedule to anytime that soon. If they let you reschedule at all. If they're scheduling hearings ten months in advance, it's not realistic to expect a reschedule within weeks of the original date.

If you can get a new date, it would make more sense to look at the transits for that date when you know what it is. But it might not be any better than this one.

At the very least, see if the moon is void of course. That's the main thing to avoid if you want your case to go somewhere.

But maybe it's too soon for your case to go somewhere. Did you have anyone knowledgeable advising you on your appeal? Do you know if you filed all the paperwork correctly? The void of course moon might simply reflect you not being ready.
 

HelenePerini

Premium Member
It was a difficult situation.

I did finally get my divorce in 4/17 and Jimo and I married 5/17.

Of the 13 years years we had no legal bond, Jimo had been ill for several years and the last two were very intense. I couldn't get the paperwork right since i couldn't afford a lawyer and had no time to go for free advice at the courthouse. I lost at least 6 months in mistakes in paperwork for filing, mailings back and forth by snail mail. My primary focus was my sick husband. I also had to continue my work as an after-school Teacher. I also had my own health issues.


I believe these hearings are meant for people like me when the human factor doesn't meet the letter of the law. I applied 2 years ago and the hearing coming up soon is my opportunity to advocate for myself in person.

Maybe it is simpler to simply ask if there is the prospect soon of having my finances anchored?
 

Osamenor

Staff member
Maybe it is simpler to simply ask if there is the prospect soon of having my finances anchored?

That would be a horary question. Natal astrology is too general to be able to address something that specific. Even electional astrology won't be of much help. Electional astrology can tell you if a particular time on a particular date is good for a certain endeavor, but not whether your finances will become stable soon.
 
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