Another thing I was wondering is that if I can't get the DIC because his heart issues were never listed as a compensable disability, can I go back now and have them to consider it and make it one of his disabilities. He had been having his heart taken care of by private Drs. until the last 6 months, at that time he went back to the VA and they started treating him for his heart. He had been having heart issues for several years but his previous Primary care Dr never looked at his heart, he always said it was anxiety and thats what he treated him for, 10-12 different meds. We went to a private Dr. they put a Holter Monitor on him and in less than 24 hrs he was in ICU. We never pushed getting any of his other health problems listed as service-connected because he was already 100%. I am just wondering if I may need to now have it included or if I can have it included. I have all his records for his cardiologist and they have their cardiologist records also. Also, they were wanting to do a cardiac ablation on him the week he died but he wouldn't go because they kept canceling the pre-tests and just wanted to go in blind. He had had a previous ablation which had made him worse and so he and I were both leary of a 2nd. He died in his sleep, peacefully, coroner said it was a heart attack. He didn't have any signs of struggle, he just went to sleep and didn't wake up, I thank God that he finally is pain free and suffers no more, he went out just the way he wanted, no hospitals, tubes, wires, just home in bed with me by his side. Thank You for letting me vent and thank you for any help or information you can give me.

The normal way to compute partial benefits available to a widow is to take the years of marriage into account (3 years of legal marriage) and divide into that the number of years your husband worked, or served, to accrue the full benefits to which he was entitled. (Normally, death benefits are less than the full benefits he received while alive.)

For example, if his service and working years, which counted toward his accruing benefits, totaled 10 years, a normal calculation would place you at an entitlement of 30% of any full death benefits payable to a spouse. This type of ratio is used in many situations to determine a wife's entitlement to a pension based on her husband's years of work and service.

Sometimes, however, there is, for entitlement to death benefits under a federal program, a threshold of a certain number of years the marriage had to last. For example, in regular Social Security payments, the requirement for an ex-spouse is a 10-year marriage.

But this should not prevent you from receiving widow's benefits where you were married at the time of his death, regardless of the length of time you were married.

Here is the toll-free number of the VA for all types of death benefits, including continued monthly benefits, lump sum payments, service life insurance, burial insurance, and other entitlements. It should get you started to recover everything to which you are entitled: 1-800-827-1000.

Because you stood by your husband for many years, you must be entitled to a widow's pension.