Question:
I was bamboozled into a fiduciary program but not deemed incompetent by a doctor or court. I was not even aware the process had taken place until I went to the bank. Just a month ago, I was finally given my competency test. When the results came back, the examiner told me that I was neither competent nor incompetent.
The fiduciary payee doesn't want to send me my full monthly allowance because she has personal feeling about my wife. She said my wife wants to exploit my benefits. So now the fiduciary sends me a $200 or $300 Walmart gift card and a $50 Walmart visa gift card instead of my full monthly benefits. I don't shop at those stores. Can the fiduciary be forced to send me my monthly allowance?
Jim's Reply:
The VA fiduciary program is possibly the most mismanaged of all the efforts that VA puts forward to "help" a veteran. The fidu appointment process defines the much loathed VA paternalism. The program does not require a physician opinion nor does it require any sort of competency hearing. You have no rights to due process.
The rater and a team of less than professional bureaucrats make the decision without the guidance of an attorney or any sort of representation of the veteran. The usual scenario is that during a C & P exam the examiner will ask you a question similar to, "How do you manage your finances? Do you pay your rent and monthly bills yourself?"
Most veterans will respond, "Well, my wife and I agreed a long time ago that only one person writes the checks in our house, it's less confusing that way. She's a lot better with math and balancing the checkbook than I am so we let her do it all." This is the response I would give and I think most married Americans would agree. The response doesn't mean I'm not competent to manage my finances, it means I choose to have my spouse do it. Welcome to married life in the United States.
Once the fidu process is begun you have no rights. If you request a family member be appointed the family member will be subjected to a background check and they'll be rejected for having too many parking tickets or any similar record of such criminal offenses. If your family member isn't appointed then a professional fiduciary will be appointed for you. That person will manage your money as the VA instructs, you'll have no access to it whatever. Most of the bulk of your benefits money will be held in an account and not dispersed to you. If you die, your heirs do not have access to the money, it's returned to the treasury.
The VA fiduciary appointment is a draconian process that strips away your 2nd Amendment rights as well as withholding disability benefits money you earned. Once the fidu is appointed it can be a steep uphill climb to be rid of the burden of dealing with these people.
You have little choice but to ask for help from a skilled and experienced veterans law attorney. Click https://www.vawatchdog.org/how-to-hire-a-veterans-law-attorney.html
All the lawyers you'll meet on that page will talk with you for free and provide an assessment of your case. With the help of a veterans law attorney, it's likely that you can appeal the decision to appoint a fidu and be free of the hassles of dealing with it.
Good luck.