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Can a Step-Parent Transfer Benefits?

January 25th, 2011
by Jeffery Anderson
Can a step-parent transfer a portion of their GI Bill to a step-child?  My ex-husband’s current spouse is in the military now and wants to give a portion of her GI Bill benefits to my son and her other children.  I am the person who claims the child on my taxes.  My ex-husband claims you can transfer the benefit to “anyone” you want to and I would like to know if this is true.  Mindy

Hi Mindy, That’s a nice offer by your ex-husband’s spouse, but I don’t think she is going to be able to transfer her Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to your son.  It’s a complicated issue and she might want to give it a try to get an official VA determination, but after doing a little bit of research I think they are going to deny her request.

Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits can be transferred to eligible dependent children and where I think she is going to run into a problem is with the VA’s definition of the word “dependent.”  The VA defines the word as “having constructive control” or supplying more than 1/2 of total support and I don’t think your ex-husband’s spouse fits either definition.  If your ex-husband was in the military, then he could transfer his benefits, but I don’t believe it will work when the service member is your son’s step-mother and your son lives with you.

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Posted in GI Bill Transfer, New GI Bill, Veterans Education Benefits | 1 Comment »

One Response to “Can a Step-Parent Transfer Benefits?”

  1. Alan says:
    January 27, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    The Post 9/11 GI Bill can only be transferred to Dependents registered in DEERS so the spouse of the ex-husband would have to have legal documents showing support to meet the requirement for the children to be enrolled onto the DEERS program in her name.

    The ex-husband is incorrect.

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