Added VA compensation for dependents, starting at 30%
Veterans rated 30% or higher with a spouse, child, or dependent parent may be eligible for added monthly compensation, verify with VA.
The 30% floor, straight from the statute
38 U.S.C. §1115 provides added monthly compensation for dependents to any veteran whose disability is rated not less than 30%. Below 30%, the compensation tables carry no dependent amounts at all, which is why the rate tables for 10% and 20% show a single figure regardless of family size.
A qualifying dependent is a spouse, a child under 18, a child between 18 and 23 who is in school, a child who became permanently incapable of self-support before 18, or a dependent parent.
How the amounts scale
The statute sets the dependent amounts at the total-disability level and then scales them: a partial rating receives the same ratio of those amounts as the rating bears to total disability. The actual dollars come from the annual VA compensation rate tables, adjusted each December 1 with the cost-of-living adjustment.
Dependents are not added automatically. The veteran files VA Form 21-686c or uses the add-dependents tool on VA.gov, and VA adjusts the award. Verify your own dependent status and amounts with VA; unreported changes in dependency can create overpayment debts.
See it next to everything else your rating may open
The Benefits Explorer lists this program beside the rest of the federal set, and your state’s verified programs, keyed to your combined rating. Educational only. Every program is decided by the agency named on it.