Citation Nr: 18144287 Decision Date: 10/24/18 Archive Date: 10/24/18 DOCKET NO. 10-41 896 DATE: October 24, 2018 REMANDED The question of whether the Veteran is competent to handle disbursement of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) funds is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran, who is the appellant, had active service from August 1970 to December 1974. This matter came before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2009 rating decision of the VA Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida, which continued the prior finding that the Veteran was not competent to handle disbursement of VA funds. This matter was previously before the Board in April 2014, where the competency issue on appeal was remanded to allow the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) the opportunity to consider newly received competency evidence in the first instance. A remand by the Board confers on the claimant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with the remand orders. Failure of the Board to ensure compliance with remand instructions constitutes error and warrants the vacating of a subsequent Board decision. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). While the Board regrets the further delay, for the reasons discussed below, the issue on appeal must once again be remanded for additional development. As such, the Board need not address Stegall compliance at this time. The Veteran testified from St. Petersburg, Florida, at a December 2013 Travel Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. The hearing transcript has been associated with the record. Competency to Handle Disbursement of VA Funds The record reflects that upon remand by the Board in April 2014, the Veteran received a new VA competency examination in July 2015. Per the examination report, the Veteran displayed a number of severe psychological symptoms, including impaired judgment, gross impairment in thought process or communication, and persistent delusions or hallucinations, and the VA examiner found that the Veteran was totally occupationally and socially impaired. At the conclusion of the examination, the VA examiner opined that, due to the severity of the symptoms and the Veteran’s financial history, the Veteran was not cognitively and emotionally able to handle his own financial affairs at that time. Per the Veteran’s VA treatment records, in October 2017 a VA nurse practitioner conducted a clinical review of the Veteran’s medical chart and found that the appointment of a fiduciary was still appropriate at that time. However, approximately six months later, per an April 2018 VA psychiatry note, upon examination the Veteran displayed minimal psychiatric symptoms. As such, the VA psychiatrist found that the Veteran did not need a fiduciary at that time. Subsequently, VA received a May 2018 handwritten note from the VA psychiatrist stating that the Veteran was competent to manage all his own affairs and was no longer in need of a fiduciary. The note did not include the rationale for this competency opinion. Having reviewed all the evidence of record, and considering the recent evidence indicating that the Veteran may be competent to manage VA funds, the Board finds remand to schedule a new VA competency examination to be warranted.   The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Contact the Veteran and request information as to any outstanding private treatment (medical) records concerning the Veteran’s competency status. Upon receipt of the requested information and the appropriate releases, the AOJ should contact all identified health care providers and request that they forward copies of all available treatment records and clinical documentation for the relevant time period on appeal, not already of record, for incorporation into the record. If identified records are not ultimately obtained, the Veteran should be notified pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e). 2. Associate with the record all VA treatment records pertaining to the Veteran’s competency, not already of record, for the period from May 2018. 3. Schedule a VA competency examination. The relevant documents in the record should be made available to the examiner, who should indicate on the examination report that he/she has reviewed the documents in conjunction with the examination. A detailed history of relevant symptoms should be obtained from the Veteran. All indicated studies should be performed. A rationale for all opinions and a discussion of the facts and medical principles involved should be provided. The VA examiner should provide the following opinion: Upon consideration of the Veteran’s mental health and/or any other relevant symptomatology, is the Veteran currently competent to handle disbursement of VA funds? If the VA examiner finds that the Veteran is not competent to handle disbursement of VA funds, the VA examiner should address the April and May 2018 medical evidence to the contrary. S. L. Kennedy Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD E. Blowers, Counsel