Buncombe County Veterans Services

Buncombe County Veterans Services "offers assistance in a wide range of services to our nation's veterans, service members and their families": veterans, dependants, surviving spouses and children, Guard and reserve members and active-duty service members. It is "funded by Buncombe County and the State of North Carolina. There is no charge to our clients." A county service officer also sits on the veterans treatment court team. Where and when. 40 Coxe Avenue, 2nd floor, Asheville 28801, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 828-250-5726 for an appointment or questions. Parking is free in the deck at Coxe Avenue and Sears Alley; have the ticket validated by the greeter in the main lobby. Pages to read with care. The office's benefit pages have not kept up with VA: - Burial. They give "$300 payment towards burial and funeral expenses and $300 for a plot" for a death that was not service-connected. VA pays $1,002 and $1,002 for a death on or after October 1, 2025, and $1,032 and $1,032 on or after October 1, 2026. - Life insurance. They say Servicemembers' and Veterans' Group Life Insurance go "up to $200,000"; the top amount is $500,000, and VGLI can be bought for up to the SGLI amount within 1 year and 120 days of leaving service, not one year. They still offer Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance ("RH"), which stopped taking new applications after December 31, 2022; VA Life Insurance (VALife) replaced it on January 1, 2023. - Education. They describe the Montgomery GI Bill and VEAP and say veterans "generally have 10 years" to use education benefits. The Post-9/11 GI Bill, which most recent veterans use, is not described, and under the Forever GI Bill it has no time limit for a veteran whose last discharge was on or after January 1, 2013. Check VA's own pages, or ask the office, before relying on these.