#Middlebury #Veterans #FiduciaryProgram #Finances
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Fiduciary Program is set up to help veterans take care of their finances and benefits if they can’t handle it themselves because they’re sick, injured or elderly. There is a lot of money at stake: $2.7 billion in a recent year. Each of the hundred thousand veterans who fall in the category of needing assistance are assigned a fiduciary, someone who protects the veterans and their finances.
The VA’s Pension and Fiduciary Service, which manages the fiduciaries, is tasked with ensuring the proper handling of veterans’ affairs through in-person examinations, fiduciary accountings and investigations into misuse. All goes well with this arrangement … until it doesn’t. A recent VA Office of Inspector General report details what they found when they investigated the Fiduciary Program.
Over 300 veterans and their financial affairs were not being monitored or supervised by the Fiduciary Program for three years and in some cases longer. The hole in the system was because the program had no way to identify veterans who were in need of fiduciary services or because their records did not move from one system to the other, the Veterans Benefits Management System – Fiduciary (VBMS-Fid), after need was determined. This left a whole lot of money out there without oversight: in excess of $24 million.
A fiduciary is required to submit written reports about how the veteran’s money is being spent, and those reports are reviewed by program staff. In the event there’s a question, the fiduciary must clear it up. Failure to do that constitutes misuse, and an investigation is supposed to follow.
If you are a veteran who has a fiduciary managing your benefits and if you suspect that person is not acting in your best interests, let the VA know. Call them at 800-827-1000 to report possible fraud and misuse of your benefits. Or call the VAOIG hotline at 800-488-8244 to make a complaint. For a flyer about the VAOIG’s crime alert, put “Protect Vulnerable Veterans from Fiduciary Theft” in a search box online.
© 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.
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