Cutting the Red Tape: Form 29-4125

Once someone is declared dead, an interesting thing starts to happen. Mail arrives asking for confirmation that the person has actually passed. This leads you to believe that somewhere, someone has actually received one of these letters and is still alive.

I'm sure that would seem like some big cosmic joke to the living recipient of one of these letters, but as the surviving child or spouse --- it is sort of a kick in the teeth. Another reminder that your loved one is gone.

If your loved one was a military veteran and had a VA Group Insurance Policy, you will probably get one of these types of letters a week or so after the funeral. Apparently, once the Social Security Administration gets the news, the automatic paperwork starts-a-coming.

The letter from the VA (Veterans Administration) will ask for confirmation of the death in writing, or give you a phone number to get further information about how to file the claim. Plan this call when you have plenty of time to hold on the line because (trust me) you will need it.

The process is fairly straight-forward. They will mail you a form or you can go online and print it out from your computer. The form you will need is called 29-4125 - Claim for Sum Payment.

If you're reading this - you can simply click on my link and go straight to the form. I've saved you some time and a headache. For me, however, it took about 30 minutes to locate this form because my "Helpful Service Representative" - gave me this number as 29-41-25. Not once, but twice. While this might make for an interesting Lotto Pick for Cash 3, it will NOT bring up the correct PDF form on a Google search. And...yes...she actually told me to go to Google and type in the number. There is no easy-to-find website address to simply get you there!

I also kept hearing "Claim for Some Payment," which almost played out like a "Who's on First?" moment until I realized she was saying "Sum."

Once you have this form (and as I said - they will also mail it to you if you prefer) - you fill it out and send it along with a copy of the death certificate. You can FAX it or send it by snail mail. Thankfully, the form is one page and simple to fill out.

We're at the "sending back" step now - so...I'll let you know what happens next.