When a Veteran Cannot Speak for Themselves: The VA-DOJ Guardianship MOU and What It Means for Our Most Vulnerable

A new federal partnership clears the legal path to protect incapacitated veterans—and opens a critical role for VSOs at every stage.

Credit: Apr. 23, 2012 (Tommy Bellegarde)

On March 11, 2026, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Justice announced a signed Memorandum of Understanding that grants DOJ the authority to appoint VA attorneys as Special Assistant United States Attorneys (SAUSAs). That appointment gives those VA attorneys standing to initiate and participate in guardianship proceedings—proceedings that VA has long lacked the independent legal authority to pursue on its own.

"Our new partnership with the Justice Department reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that every Veteran receives timely, appropriate care, even in complex cases," VA Secretary Doug Collins.

For veterans who cannot advocate for themselves, a legal guardian can be the difference between remaining indefinitely hospitalized and receiving the right level of care, in the right setting, at the right time. Combat Veterans of America believes this MOU represents one of the most operationally significant legal developments in VA care management in years—and we want our stakeholder community to understand exactly what it does, how it works, and where VSOs fit into the picture.

Understanding the Legal Gap: Why Guardianship Matters

Guardianship is the legal mechanism by which a court appoints an individual or entity—a guardian—to make personal and financial decisions on behalf of a person who lacks the legal capacity to make those decisions for themselves. In the veteran's context, this arises most acutely when a veteran has a severe psychiatric condition, traumatic brain injury, or advanced dementia that renders him or her unable to make decisions for themselves.

VA healthcare providers are equipped to treat these veterans. What they could not do, prior to this MOU, was independently initiate a guardianship petition when no family member, friend, or private attorney was available to do so. The result, in many documented cases, was extended hospitalization not because the veteran needed inpatient care, but because there was no legal mechanism to authorize a safe transition to a lower level of care. The veteran remained institutionalized by default—and sometimes not by clinical judgment.

"The appointment of a legal guardian can be a lifeline for Veterans in this situation. Among other things, a legal guardian can help Veterans avoid unwarranted continued hospitalization." VA Press Release, March 2026

That is precisely what a SAUSA appointment accomplishes: it deputizes an attorney under DOJ authority, giving that attorney the legal standing to bring a guardianship action on the veteran's behalf. This is a clean solution to what had been a jurisdictional dead end.

“The Department of Justice is proud to partner with the Department of Veterans Affairs to support our Nation's brave Veterans by ensuring that they have the best legal resources available when it comes to making medical decisions and receiving timely care,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We owe our Veterans a debt we can never full repay — but we can give them the support they deserve.”

What CVOA Is Calling For

Combat Veterans of America supports this MOU as a meaningful and long-overdue structural fix. We are calling on VA and DOJ to implement it with the urgency the target population demands. Specifically, we urge the partners to share with the public:

• Clear referral protocols. VA should publish guidance within 60 days establishing how VSOs, community providers, and VA staff can formally refer a veteran for SAUSA-initiated guardianship proceedings, including points of contact at each VISN.

• VSO training and integration. VSO service officer training curricula should be updated to include recognition of legal incapacity indicators, guardianship referral pathways, and caregiver coordination responsibilities in these cases.

• Transparency and reporting. VA should track and publicly report, on an annual basis, the number of guardianship proceedings initiated under the MOU, the states in which they occurred, outcomes achieved, and average time from identification to guardian appointment.

• Caregiver notification. Where a veteran being considered for VA-initiated guardianship proceedings has a known caregiver, VA should notify and engage that caregiver as early as practicable, consistent with applicable privacy protections.