zddoodah
Well-Known Member
- Jurisdiction
- US Federal Law
Hey all...might be the first time I've started a thread.
My brother was a veteran of the Navy, and he died in October 2023. He and I were not close and he was not particularly close with the immediate family for the last 25 years or so. He got married in the mid-'90s, and his wife got him to be active with the family for a few years. However, by the turn of the century, they were largely out of contact.
Over the last 5-8 years of his life, he and I were communicating a bit through Facebook, and we had lunch a few times when he would come to California. At one point, he wanted to talk about estate matters, and I asked him about his wife. He said she had "kicked me to the curb" a while ago. I then specifically asked if they had actually gotten divorced, and he said yes.
Fast forward to a couple months ago. I got a call from his ex-wife and sent her a copy of the death certificate. More recently, she has asked me for a written statement in connection with her efforts to obtain some sort of VA benefits. She says she's entitled to them because they were married more than 10 years, but for some reason she needs a statement from me to the effect that they "had a continuous relationship." She has left me lengthy messages describing the extent to which they were in contact with each other, but I have no personal knowledge of anything, and I'm reluctant to put anything in writing that's going to be submitted to the federal government that is nothing more than a regurgitation of what she's telling.
Anyway...the reason for the post is to find out if this even makes sense. I can believe there are benefits that she might by entitled to if, in fact, they were married a certain length of time, but I have a hard time believing that getting those benefits might be dependent on a statement from me (even if I had personal knowledge). Anyone have any insight into this? Thanks.
My brother was a veteran of the Navy, and he died in October 2023. He and I were not close and he was not particularly close with the immediate family for the last 25 years or so. He got married in the mid-'90s, and his wife got him to be active with the family for a few years. However, by the turn of the century, they were largely out of contact.
Over the last 5-8 years of his life, he and I were communicating a bit through Facebook, and we had lunch a few times when he would come to California. At one point, he wanted to talk about estate matters, and I asked him about his wife. He said she had "kicked me to the curb" a while ago. I then specifically asked if they had actually gotten divorced, and he said yes.
Fast forward to a couple months ago. I got a call from his ex-wife and sent her a copy of the death certificate. More recently, she has asked me for a written statement in connection with her efforts to obtain some sort of VA benefits. She says she's entitled to them because they were married more than 10 years, but for some reason she needs a statement from me to the effect that they "had a continuous relationship." She has left me lengthy messages describing the extent to which they were in contact with each other, but I have no personal knowledge of anything, and I'm reluctant to put anything in writing that's going to be submitted to the federal government that is nothing more than a regurgitation of what she's telling.
Anyway...the reason for the post is to find out if this even makes sense. I can believe there are benefits that she might by entitled to if, in fact, they were married a certain length of time, but I have a hard time believing that getting those benefits might be dependent on a statement from me (even if I had personal knowledge). Anyone have any insight into this? Thanks.
