Apportionments

This final rule amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations to limit the circumstances in which benefits will be apportioned and to stop making need-based apportionments. Currently, in limited situations, VA may pay a portion of a VA beneficiary's monetary benefits directly to the beneficiary's dependent, referred to as an apportionment. To qualify, the dependent cannot reside with the beneficiary, must demonstrate financial need, and the apportionment must not cause financial hardship to the beneficiary. VA claims processors, whose expertise is in VA benefits and not in matters related to child or spousal support, decide whether to take monetary benefits from the beneficiary and reallocate the funds to dependents. VA claims processors can take this action without the consent of the beneficiary. These apportionment decisions, which can have significant financial consequences, are based on both parties' self-reported income and self-reported expenses. Unlike State courts, VA has no ability to compel evidence of income and expenses. Allegations of inadequate child or spousal support involve complex issues of family law that are best suited to the expertise and authority of State courts. VA apportionments can upset the expectations upon which a State court support award was predicated, requiring a State court to expend additional resources to revisit a prior determination. Finally, due to their intricacy, a significant amount of information is needed to adjudicate apportionment claims properly. While this information is typically available to State courts, VA must attempt to gather this information from the VA beneficiary and the beneficiary's dependent, which is unavoidably a time-consuming process. The time and effort needed to gather this information increases VA workloads and consumes resources that are better utilized to process veterans' claims. Because VA apportionment awards may conflict with the awards of better-situated State family courts, and because VA lacks the authority and expertise to make fully informed, accurate, and economically appropriate awards, VA is amending its regulations to discontinue making need-based apportionment awards. VA will continue making apportionment awards in situations when a veteran or surviving spouse is incarcerated, or when an incompetent veteran, who does not have a fiduciary, is institutionalized at government expense. VA will not discontinue any current apportionments because of this rulemaking.