Would you give a copy of your will to the VA? Why or why not?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 19:57:19 -0400

A follow-up to this older thread -
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/what-are-best-practices-for-creating-maintaining-and-storing-a-will-for-legal-action-upon-death

What are best practices for creating, maintaining, and storing a will for legal action upon...

Response by SSG Trevor S. made Aug 10 at 2017 10:44 PM

SSG Trevor S. — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 22:44:57 -0400

My questions that determines the answer would be, "Why would they need it?" and "What privacy/ intrusion protections do I have against big brother VA using it in some nefarious way?" As an example, Say a Veteran had a few firearms, and that Veteran wanted to leave them to his/ her children in their will. I have heard stories about over reaching VA officials trying to take firearms from Veterans who needed help with their finances by trying to say they are incompetent to own them because the can't look after their own bills. Would there be protections to keep this from happening?

Response by SFC James Asbill made Aug 11 at 2017 4:52 AM

SFC James Asbill — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 04:52:14 -0400

No .. I give the VA no more information that I think they need to have .. and my will is not one of those things .

Response by SGT David T. made Aug 11 at 2017 8:36 AM

SGT David T. — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 08:36:37 -0400

The VA doesn't get anymore information than they need from me. Since I don't use them for anything right now, they get nothing.

Response by LTJG Edward Bangor Jr made Aug 11 at 2017 1:52 PM

LTJG Edward Bangor Jr — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 13:52:02 -0400

The only thing I could ever foresee close to a will that the VA might need are any advanced directives you have in place relating to your health care, and then only if you're using a VA hospital for some sort of surgical procedure. If you would rather have the plug pulled than stay on life support indefinitely, this is something I'd inform the doctors of before I went under.

Aside from that, the VA doesn't need to know anything.