Dependency and Indemnity Compensation

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, commonly referred to as DIC, is a monthly monetary benefit payable to the surviving dependents of a deceased veteran when eligibility requirements have been met. For a survivor to be eligible for DIC, the veteran’s death must have resulted from one of the following causes:

• A disease or injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty while on active duty or active duty for training.
• An injury, heart attack, cardiac arrest, or stroke incurred or aggravated in the line of duty while on inactive duty for training.
• A service-connected disability or a condition directly related to a service-connected disability.

DIC payments also may be authorized for survivors of veterans who were totally disabled from service-connected conditions at the time of death, even though their service-connected (SC) disabilities did not cause their deaths. The survivor qualifies if the veteran was:

• Continuously rated totally SC disabled for a period of 10 or more years immediately preceding death;
• Continuously rated totally SC disabled from the date of military discharge and for at least five years immediately preceding death; or
• A former prisoner of war who died after Sept. 30, 1999, and who was continuously rated totally disabled for a period of at least one year immediately preceding death.

Payments are subject to offset by any amount received from judicial proceedings brought on account of the veteran’s death. When the surviving spouse is eligible for  payments under the military’s Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), only the amount of SBP greater than DIC is payable. If DIC is greater than SBP, only DIC is payable. The Veteran’s discharge must have been under conditions other than dishonorable.