A wartime veteran in Tennessee who needs daily help with bathing or dressing can receive up to $2,874 a month in VA pension, and a surviving spouse up to $18,697 a year, about $1,558 a month. VA Aid and Attendance in Tennessee is one of the most underused VA benefits, and many families who qualify never apply because they don't know it exists.

This guide covers who qualifies, how much you can receive, how to apply, and where to get help filing in Tennessee, including from the Tennessee Department of Veterans Services and your county Veterans Services Office.

In This Guide

What Is Aid and Attendance?

Aid and Attendance (A&A) is an enhanced VA Veterans Pension benefit for wartime veterans and their surviving spouses who need help with everyday activities. It isn't a separate program. It's an increase added to a monthly VA benefit: on the pension route it's the same VA pension paid at a higher maximum rate when you need regular care, so the Aid and Attendance rate sets the ceiling for the whole pension rather than adding a second payment to the basic rate. The same benefit can also be added to a veteran's monthly compensation.

You may qualify if you need help with daily activities such as:

  • Bathing or showering
  • Dressing and undressing
  • Eating or preparing meals
  • Using the toilet
  • Adjusting prosthetic devices
  • Protecting yourself from everyday hazards

You can also qualify if you're bedridden, if you're a patient in a nursing home because of a loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability, or if your eyesight is limited to 5/200 or less in both eyes (or your visual field is contracted to 5 degrees or less).

The money is flexible. Aid and Attendance is a cash benefit that can pay for in-home care or assisted living room and board. That flexibility is part of what makes it so useful for Tennessee families piecing together long-term care.

Not sure whether your parent qualifies for Aid and Attendance? Chat with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com.

Do You Qualify?

To receive Aid and Attendance, you have to meet all four of these requirements.

1. Wartime service, without a dishonorable discharge. How much service the VA requires turns on when the veteran started active duty, not on which war they served in. A veteran who started active duty before September 8, 1980 must have served at least 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a recognized wartime period. A veteran who started active duty as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980 generally needs at least 24 months, or the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty, again with at least one day during wartime. A third branch covers an officer who started active duty after October 16, 1981 and had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months. Recognized wartime periods include World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War era, and the Gulf War, which runs from August 2, 1990 through a future date to be set by law or presidential proclamation.

2. Age, disability, or one of two other routes. The VA lists four alternatives here, and meeting any one of them satisfies the test. The veteran must be at least 65 years old; or have a permanent and total disability; or be a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability; or be getting Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. The nursing-home and SSDI/SSI branches stand on their own, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI qualifies without any adjudicated permanent-and-total rating.

3. Need for assistance. The veteran or surviving spouse must need regular help from another person with daily activities, be bedridden, be a patient in a nursing home because of a disability-related loss of abilities, or have severely limited eyesight as described above.

4. Net worth under $163,699. This is the 2026 limit. It counts your assets and income, and your dependents', combined. Your primary residence, your car, and basic household items don't count.

Surviving spouses qualify too. If the veteran has passed away and the surviving spouse needs help with daily activities, they can apply for the VA Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance.

VA Aid and Attendance Rates in Tennessee (2026)

The Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) for your category is the maximum amount of pension payable, and the VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and that limit. If your income is low enough, the award reaches that ceiling. These rates are federal, so they're the same in Tennessee as anywhere else.

One note before the table: the VA publishes annual rates, so a monthly amount is the yearly maximum divided by 12 and is approximate unless the VA states it outright.

Category Maximum Annual Rate Approx. Monthly
Veteran, no dependents $29,093 $2,424
Veteran with spouse $34,488 $2,874
Two veterans married to each other (both A&A) $46,143 $3,845
Surviving spouse, no dependents $18,697 $1,558
Veteran, no dependents (Housebound) $21,313 $1,776
Surviving spouse, no dependents (Housebound) $14,298 $1,191
Veteran, no dependents (basic pension) $17,441 $1,453
Surviving spouse, no dependents (basic pension) $11,699 $974
Each additional dependent +$2,984 +$248

Here's how the math works. If a veteran with a spouse has $12,000 in annual countable income and qualifies for A&A, the VA pays the difference: $34,488 minus $12,000 leaves $22,488 a year, or about $1,874 a month. Unreimbursed medical expenses, including what you pay for care, reduce your countable income, which raises your benefit. Only the portion above 5% of the applicable MAPR is deductible, which is $872 for a veteran with no spouse or child.

The Net Worth Limit and 3-Year Look-Back

The 2026 net worth limit is $163,699. This combines your assets (savings, investments, and property other than your home) with your annual income.

What counts: bank accounts, stocks, bonds, investment property, IRAs, and other financial assets, plus your annual income.

What doesn't count: your primary residence, your car, and basic household items. The house you live in doesn't push you over the limit.

The 3-Year Look-Back Rule

The VA reviews any assets you transferred for less than fair market value in the three years (36 months) before you file your claim, under 38 CFR 3.276. If you gave away or sold assets below market value to get under the net worth limit, the VA may impose a penalty period of up to five years during which you won't receive pension benefits.

This rule exists to stop people from simply giving away savings to qualify. If you're thinking about transferring assets, talk to a VA-accredited attorney or an elder law attorney first. The penalty can be severe.

How to Apply for VA Aid and Attendance in Tennessee

Aid and Attendance is an increase added to a monthly VA benefit, and VA Form 21-2680 covers it whether it is being added to a VA pension or to monthly compensation. The steps below are the pension route, the one a wartime veteran or surviving spouse follows to claim Aid and Attendance as part of a VA pension. A veteran who already receives VA disability compensation rather than pension should not file the pension application; the exam form still applies, but the surrounding claim is a compensation claim.

1
Step 1

File an intent to file, if you're still gathering paperwork

VA Form 21-0966 (Intent to File) tells the VA a claim is coming. The VA says submitting an intent to file can secure the earliest possible effective date for any retroactive payments you may be eligible to receive, so it protects your place in line while you collect records.

2
Step 2

Get a medical examination

A medical examiner fills out the examination information section of VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), documenting which daily activities you need help with and why. Be thorough. The more detail about specific limitations, the stronger the claim.

3
Step 3

Complete the pension application

On the pension route, a wartime veteran who is not already receiving a VA pension submits VA Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), which covers service history, income, net worth, and medical conditions. This is the means-tested wartime pension application, so it is not the form for a veteran whose Aid and Attendance would be added to disability compensation.

4
Step 4

Submit everything

You can file online at VA.gov, mail the forms to the VA Pension Intake Center, or bring them in person to a VA regional office. An accredited representative, such as a Tennessee Department of Veterans Services officer or your county service officer, can also file for you. Filing online lets you save your progress and track the claim.

5
Step 5

Wait for a decision

Asked how long a decision takes, the VA's answer is "It depends." It processes claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim qualifies for priority processing. A complete application with strong medical documentation gives the VA less to go back and ask for. Incomplete submissions are the most common reason for delays.

Documents to Gather First

  • DD-214 (discharge papers) showing wartime service dates
  • Medical records documenting the need for daily help
  • Income documentation (Social Security and pension statements)
  • Asset information (bank and investment statements)
  • Marriage certificate, if claiming as a veteran with a spouse
  • Death certificate, if applying as a surviving spouse

Free Help in Tennessee: TDVS and County Service Officers

You don't have to file this claim alone. Accredited help is available across the state, and the VA says the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free, while an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge you fees.

The Tennessee Department of Veterans Services (TDVS)

The Tennessee Department of Veterans Services (TDVS) runs State Veterans Services field offices across Tennessee that help veterans file claims for federal VA benefits. For help filing a federal claim, TDVS tells veterans to contact one of its field offices to reach that claims assistance and expertise. The federal benefits the VA administers include disability compensation and pension, and Aid and Attendance is a monthly payment added to the amount of a monthly VA pension for qualified veterans and survivors. Find your nearest State Veterans Services Office and make an appointment with a Veterans Resource Coordinator to start your claim.

County Service Officers

TDVS publishes a lookup called Find Your County Veterans Services Office that lets you locate the Veterans Services Office nearest you by county. Each listing gives the county, the TDVS region, the office's address, phone, fax, and its hours. TDVS also posts a downloadable companion roster, the TN County and State Service Officer Contact Roster, covering both county and state service officers, so you can reach a specific officer directly.

Your county also handles a benefit the VA has nothing to do with. Tennessee reimburses property tax on part of a qualifying disabled veteran's home value, and you apply for it at the county trustee's office rather than through a service officer. See our guide to Tennessee's disabled veteran property tax exemption for who qualifies and how the filing works.

A Note on Tennessee's Veteran Population

Tennessee is home to several hundred thousand veterans. The VA's National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics (NCVAS) counted 430,165 veterans in Tennessee in FY2024, out of 17,921,245 nationwide. With that many veterans, demand on service officers is real, so it's worth contacting yours early rather than waiting until a care crisis forces the issue. TDVS keeps a county-level map of veteran population and VA expenditures, and NCVAS maintains the state-by-state estimates.

A word of caution: be wary of companies that charge fees to help with VA claims. The VA says the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free, while an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge you fees, so working through TDVS, your county Veterans Services Office, or a Veterans Service Organization like the VFW, American Legion, or DAV is the route that costs you nothing.

Tennessee State Veterans' Homes

For a veteran who needs more care than family can provide at home, Tennessee runs its own veterans' homes. The Tennessee State Veterans' Homes (TSVH) provide skilled nursing care in Murfreesboro, Humboldt, Knoxville, Clarksville, and Cleveland, with a new home under construction in Arlington. They offer long-term care, short-term skilled nursing, and rehabilitative therapy with 24-hour clinical oversight, and they're governed by the Tennessee State Veterans' Homes Board, whose members the Governor appoints. A veteran may qualify for admission if honorably discharged from active service, in need of a skilled level of care, and meeting at least one Tennessee connection (living in Tennessee at the time of admission, for instance, or having been born in Tennessee). Spouses and Gold-Star parents are eligible on a space-available basis.

An A&A award can help cover the cost of care whether a veteran stays at home, moves into assisted living, or enters one of these homes. Because the benefit is flexible cash, it follows the veteran to wherever they receive care.

How Aid and Attendance Works with TennCare

Aid and Attendance and TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program, are run separately, under different rules. A veteran can receive both at the same time, but the two count money differently, so a few points are worth understanding.

  • A&A income doesn't automatically disqualify you from TennCare. For aged, blind, and disabled applicants, TennCare determines financial eligibility using SSI income rules, and under those rules the VA aid and attendance allowance isn't income, so it's the basic pension amount, not the A&A increase, that counts toward the income limit. A state that uses eligibility criteria more restrictive than SSI may count it differently, so confirm the rule with TennCare or the Tennessee Department of Human Services office taking your application. It works the other way at the next step: once you're eligible and receiving nursing facility or CHOICES waiver services, income that was disregarded at eligibility has to be counted in your patient liability, so the A&A amount does count toward what you owe the facility, after the state deducts your incurred medical expenses.
  • The two programs cover different things. A&A is flexible cash that can pay for costs TennCare often doesn't, such as room and board in assisted living, while TennCare's long-term care program covers care services themselves.
  • Timing matters. Because VA pension income factors into any patient liability or cost share, the order in which you apply can affect eligibility for one or both. Talk to a benefits counselor who understands both programs before you file.

For how TennCare itself pays for nursing-home and long-term care, see our guide to Tennessee Medicaid long-term care and nursing homes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does VA Aid and Attendance pay in Tennessee in 2026?

The maximum depends on your situation. The ceiling is $29,093 a year (about $2,424 a month) for a veteran alone, $34,488 a year ($2,874 a month) for a veteran with a spouse, and $18,697 a year (about $1,558 a month) for a surviving spouse. These are federal rates, identical in Tennessee. Your actual payment is reduced by your countable income, and out-of-pocket medical expenses can lower that income and raise your benefit.

Can I receive Aid and Attendance and TennCare at the same time?

Yes. A Tennessee veteran or surviving spouse can receive both. When TennCare decides eligibility it uses SSI income rules, under which the aid and attendance allowance isn't income (the basic pension amount is what counts toward the limit), but once you're eligible and receiving long-term care services, the A&A amount does count toward your patient liability. The programs can still complement each other, with A&A covering costs TennCare doesn't, like assisted living room and board. Talk to a benefits counselor before applying, because timing can affect eligibility.

Where can I get free help applying in Tennessee?

Contact the Tennessee Department of Veterans Services or your county Veterans Services Office. TDVS runs State Veterans Services field offices across the state and tells veterans to contact one for help filing a federal claim, and its county-office lookup finds the office nearest you. The VA says the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your claim are always free, while an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge you fees.

How long does it take to get approved?

The VA's own answer is "It depends." It works through claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim qualifies for priority processing. The most common cause of delay is an incomplete application, so have the medical examiner be detailed on VA Form 21-2680 and submit all supporting documents at once.

Learn More

MedicareMedicare Plans and Coverage in TennesseeMedicare in Tennessee for 2026: Part A, Part B, Medicare Advantage, Part D, Medigap, plus TennCare programs that help pay your Medicare costs. MedicaidTennessee Medicaid Long-Term Care and Nursing HomesTennessee Medicaid nursing home coverage runs through TennCare CHOICES Group 1. 2026 eligibility, patient liability, estate recovery, and how to apply. MedicaidTennessee Medicare Savings ProgramsTennessee Medicare Savings Programs in 2026: QMB, SLMB, and QI income limits, the Part B premium savings, Part D Extra Help, and how to apply through TennCare. Care TypesNursing Homes in TennesseeTennessee nursing homes 2026: about $113,150/yr semi-private, how Medicare and TennCare CHOICES pay, CMS Five-Star ratings, and what to ask on a facility tour. CaregiverYour Guide to Being a Family Caregiver in TennesseeTennessee caregivers guide for 2026: how to get paid via TennCare CD or PC 182 agency route, find respite, layer programs, and reach the right TN AAAD. MedicaidYour Guide to TennCare and Tennessee MedicaidTennessee Medicaid (TennCare) covers 1.4M Tennesseans in 2026. Eligibility, CHOICES, ECF CHOICES, Katie Beckett, MCOs, estate recovery, and how to apply.
Your next step Find personalized help applying for VA Aid and Attendance in Tennessee at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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