This form is used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Form 21-686C is known as an Application Request to Add and/or Remove Dependents or Declaration of Status of Dependents. The VA uses this form to ensure that a dependent is still eligible for veterans benefits.
This form will require information about the veteran and his or her family. This includes their spouse, children, and any other dependents. For marriages, official information and proof may be required, such as marriage certificates or divorce decrees. For children, documents such as birth or adoption certificates can be included. This information will be verified by the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to determine the eligibility of benefits for these dependents.
This form is commonly used if you are receiving disability compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but did not let the VA know about the dependents that you support. The VA may award you an increase in VA benefits to help you support your family.
A VA Form 21-686c contains the following sections:
To complete a VA Form 21-686c, you will need to provide the following information:
For the purposes of VA disability compensation, a dependent is defined as: a spouse, children, parents in your direct care whose income and net worth are below the limit set by law.
To add a dependent, you can do it online through the eBenefits system or through VA Form 21-509 or VA Form 21-686c.
To add a dependent online go to: https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage. Log in to the system, click “Dependents” on the left side of the dashboard, or click “Add of Remove a Dependent” under the Apply section of the eBenefits homepage. Follow the instructions on the website. You cannot add spouses in common law marriage and parents to your benefits online.
You should add a dependent if you did not add dependents as part of your initial disability claim. Adding dependents is important if you receive a 30% or higher rating decision from the VA. In some cases, the VA will only pay back benefits to the date of the dependency claim.
If you have questions on how to fill out this form, you can contact an accredited veteran service officer (VSO) to help you with your application. A list of veterans service organizations is available at https://www.va.gov/vso/.