A recent CBS news article told the story of a veteran who dreaded filing for VA disability benefits because of the paperwork involved and the perceived bureaucratic nightmare. To make the process more manageable, the veteran enlisted the services of a company recommended to them by a friend and fellow veteran. Unfortunately for the veteran,…
Veterans’ disability benefits are part of the government’s contractual obligation to service members who are injured or who develop illnesses connected with their service. But they do not represent the only contractual benefits a veteran or separating service member may receive. Some of these contractual benefits include those set forth in the Montgomery GI Bill….
Your VA disability claim is supposed to be decided on the objective facts of your case. Your service record, your condition or ailment, and the connection between the two should be the deciding factors in whether your claim is approved. Your claim should not depend on your sex, your religion of choice, or on your…
VA disability benefits are not limited only to those veterans who suffer physical injuries and illnesses connected to their military service. Veterans who develop one or more mental health conditions due to their military service are also eligible to file claims for VA disability benefits. The process for filing and obtaining these benefits is the…
Even though you may conceptually know that the VA can deny your claim for disability benefits for a variety of reasons, you may still not understand how the VA will communicate that denial to you. If you are not sure what you should be looking for after submitting a claim for disability benefits, you may…
If you have served in this nation’s armed forces, then you received a discharge at the conclusion of your military service. The discharge you receive does more than simply characterize the service you rendered to the United States while in uniform. Your discharge plays a determinative role in whether you qualify for VA benefits, including…
The effective date of your VA disability claim is important to determine the benefits you will receive once your claim is approved. Specifically, the effective date is the date from which your benefits will be paid. If you have an effective date of January 1, 2020, then that will be the date from which the…
In any legal or quasi-legal proceeding, you may hear a reference to the phrase, “burden of proof.” When discussing the burden of proof, courts or decision-makers are concerned with “who” has the burden of proof in that particular proceeding as well as “what” is that person’s burden of proof. The person who has the burden…
The Appeals Modernization Act (AMA), which was signed into law in 2017 but became effective in 2019, gave veterans three methods by which they could appeal a denial of their VA disability claim. Under the AMA, veterans could choose: What is more, under the AMA veterans can choose several of these options, just not at…
Last year, the U.S. government passed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act, more commonly referenced as the PACT Act. Among other outcomes, the PACT Act expanded the list of presumptive conditions and illnesses that will enable certain veterans to obtain VA disability benefits easier than others. These…