DIC Survivor Benefits Calculator
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is a tax-free monthly benefit for surviving spouses and children. Estimate your 2026 monthly amount with every add-on you may be owed.
2026 rates, effective December 1, 2025. Surviving-spouse DIC for deaths on or after January 1, 1993.
Understand DIC before you estimate
DIC supports the families veterans leave behind. Here is who qualifies and what raises the monthly amount. Read these cards before you touch the numbers. A calculator only multiplies what you feed it, and the VA only pays what your file proves. If a card describes your situation, write down where the proof lives: a DD-214, a rating decision, a marriage or death certificate, a medical record. If you cannot point to the paper, treat that line of your estimate as a question, not a promise.
Who DIC is for
DIC is a tax-free monthly benefit for the surviving spouse (and dependent children) of a service member who died in service, or a veteran who died from a service-connected condition, or who was rated totally disabled for long enough before death.
The 8-year provision
If the veteran was rated totally disabled for at least the 8 years immediately before death, and you were married that whole time, an extra monthly amount is added on top of the base DIC rate.
Aid & Attendance and children
Additional amounts apply if the surviving spouse needs regular aid and attendance or is housebound, and for each dependent child. A transitional benefit can also apply for two years when a child is under 18.
Your situation
Every surviving spouse who qualifies receives the base DIC rate. Add the circumstances that apply to you.
Dependent children
Estimated monthly DIC payment
Answer the questions to see your estimated monthly DIC benefit.
DIC amounts depend on the facts of the veteran's death and your circumstances. This is a 2026 estimate for a surviving spouse. An accredited agent (Accreditation #45147) should review your specific situation.
You should not face the VA alone
Survivor claims are emotional and paperwork-heavy, and the VA still denies many that should be granted. An accredited agent can file, appeal, and fight for the benefit your family earned. No fees on representation unless you win. Here is your part before you pick up the phone: pull your most recent rating decision, your DD-214, and a list of every condition you are treated for today, service connected or not. Bring the estimate you just ran. If the number on your screen is higher than the number on your award letter, that gap is the conversation. The VA will not call you to point it out. Under 38 CFR 3.103 you have the right to see the evidence and to be heard, but only you can use it.
Explore every VA benefit calculator
Free, no sign-up. Each estimate is a starting point, an accredited agent turns it into a strategy that finds the ratings and benefits the VA missed. Every calculator below runs the same rules the VA uses, from the combined ratings table in 38 CFR 4.25 to the current compensation rates. Your part is simple: enter what is actually on your rating decision, not what you hope it says. If the number you get does not match what the VA pays you, that gap is worth a second look.
Real Veterans. Real Claims. Real Outcomes.
Every case on this desk belongs to someone who served. These are the veterans this practice represents, across every era, branch, and condition: the Vietnam vet who was told it was too late, the Gulf War vet the system called a mystery, the young veteran who walked out of a five minute exam with a zero. Different stories, same fight. The record decides the claim, so we build the record.
Veteran Representation
Veteran Representation
Veteran RepresentationWatch: how the VA evaluates claims
Understanding how the VA connects a death to service helps you build the strongest survivor claim. Watch it once before you file and again before any exam. The VA has a duty under 38 CFR 3.159 to help you gather records, but it has no duty to argue your case for you. Take notes on what the examiner is expected to ask, then make sure your own records already answer it.
Your VA Claim Exam: What to Expect
