South Carolina Safeguarding American Veterans’ Benefits Act

This is the largest change to South Carolina veterans law in years and the published Code of Laws does not contain it yet. Chapter 11 of Title 25 as served by the Legislative Services Agency ends at Section 25-11-730. Article 8 exists because the General Assembly enacted it, not because the code shows it, so read the ratified act. S. 695 was ratified as R. 146 on May 14, 2026 and signed by the Governor on May 19, 2026, becoming Act No. 211. It takes effect on approval, so it has been law since May 19, 2026. It adds Article 8, "Safeguarding Veterans' Benefits", to Chapter 11 of Title 25, at Sections 25-11-810, 25-11-820 and 25-11-840. There is no Section 25-11-830; the enacted text skips it. The definitions in Section 25-11-810 are drawn wide. A "claim" is any application for benefits administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security, including associated appeals. A "veterans' benefits matter" is the preparation, presentation or prosecution of such a claim, reaching "any program, service, commodity, function, or status". A "person" includes any entity. A "claimant" includes the veteran, a surviving spouse, dependent children, dependent parents, a fiduciary and a legal representative. Section 25-11-820 carries the prohibitions. Subsection (A) is the core: "No person shall receive compensation for preparing, advising, presenting, or prosecuting a claim for any individual regarding any veterans' benefits matter, except as permitted under federal law." Federal law, in 38 U.S.C. 5904 and its regulations, permits fees only to a VA-accredited agent or attorney and only after a decision has been issued on the claim; it does not permit a fee for preparing an initial claim. Subsection (B) bans referral fees, with a carve-out for licensed attorneys representing an individual under a joint contract of representation that complies with the South Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct. Subsection (C) bans guarantees, "either directly or by implication, that any individual is certain to receive specific veterans' benefits, or that any individual is certain to receive a specific level, percentage, or amount of veterans' benefits." Subsection (D) bans upfront and nonrefundable fees, requires the terms to be in a written agreement signed by both parties before any services are rendered, and then sets the cap: compensation "must be capped at a one-time fee that is contingent upon an increase in benefits awarded and shall not exceed five times the amount of the monthly increase in benefits awarded based on the claim or twelve thousand five hundred dollars, whichever is the lesser amount." An instalment plan must be interest free and may not exceed twelve months. Read subsections (A) and (D) together and note the tension honestly. Subsection (A) forbids all compensation not permitted under federal law; subsection (D) prescribes how a lawful fee must be structured and capped. For a VA-accredited agent or attorney, who is exempted from the whole article by subsection (I)(2), the cap does not apply. For anyone else, subsection (A) is the operative bar and subsection (D) describes a fee arrangement that subsection (A) will usually forbid. A veteran who is quoted "five times the monthly increase, capped at twelve thousand five hundred" by an unaccredited consultant should ask under what federal authority any fee is being charged at all. Subsection (E) protects the newly separated: no compensation for services in connection with a claim filed "within the one-year presumptive period of active-duty release, unless the veteran acknowledges by signing a waiver that he is within this period and choosing to deny free services available to him." Subsection (F) prescribes a disclosure to be given at the outset of the business relationship, in exact words. It states that the business is not sponsored by or affiliated with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, the South Carolina Department of Veterans' Affairs or any federally chartered veterans' service organisation; that the state department, a local veterans' service organisation, a county veterans affairs officer and federally chartered service organisations "may be able to provide you with this service free of charge"; that products or services are not necessarily endorsed by those organisations; and that "you may qualify for other veterans' benefits beyond the benefits for which you are receiving services here." Subsection (G) sets the form: at least twelve-point font, in an easily identifiable place in the agreement, signed by the individual, with a copy retained while services are provided and for at least one year after the relationship ends. Subsection (H) adds three operational bans that address specific documented abuses: no using a veteran's own log-in, username or password to access medical, financial or government benefits information; no employing a medical provider to conduct a medical examination; and a background check including identity verification and a criminal records check, by a reputable source, on anyone with access to veterans' medical or financial information. Subsection (I) exempts three groups: a licensed attorney representing an individual on the payment and resolution of VA medical care liens; an accredited representative of a recognised organisation or an accredited agent or attorney under 38 C.F.R. 14.629; and an employee of a South Carolina veterans home acting in that capacity when assisting a veteran with benefits. Section 25-11-840 supplies three remedies that run in parallel. A violation is a misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars, up to thirty days' imprisonment, or both, and "each veterans' benefits matter handled in violation of the terms of this article shall be declared a separate offense". An individual who suffers an ascertainable loss of money or property may sue under the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act, which carries treble damages and attorney's fees for a wilful violation. And the Attorney General may bring an action in the name of the State for a temporary restraining order or an injunction, without bond, in the county where the person resides or transacts business, with each day of a continuing violation a separate violation, reasonable costs and attorney's fees awarded to the State on a final order, and any civil penalties deposited into the Veterans' Trust Fund. That last detail connects to Chapter 21 of Title 25, which establishes the Veterans' Trust Fund of South Carolina as an eleemosynary corporation governed by a board of trustees, funded by gifts, grants, bequests, appropriations and the income tax check-off, and dedicated to supporting veteran service programmes. Section 25-21-10 requires that the fund "may supplement and augment, but shall not take the place of, services provided by state agencies." Penalties collected from claims consultants now flow into it. What to do with all of this as a veteran: the free and lawful route is a county veterans' affairs officer, who must be accredited under Section 25-11-40(C), or an accredited representative of a national service organisation. Nobody needs to be paid to file an initial claim.