Intelligent, Aggressive Representation For The Injured And Disabled
WAGES V. MCDONALD: THE BOARD OF VETERANS APPEALS CAN REVIEW THE DECISION OF THE DIRECTOR REGARDING ENTITLEMENT TO TDIU ON AN EXTRASCHEDULAR BASISIn the case of Wages v. McDonald, No. 13-2694, decided January 23, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans...
WHAT IS A RATING CODE SHEET AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? When a veteran receives a rating decision from the VA, one document that should be included, but is often omitted, is a rating code sheet. A rating code sheet provides information on a number of important matters....
NEW VA NOTICE OF DISAGREEMENT PROCESS Effective tomorrow, March 24, 2015, the VA will require veterans who disagree with a VA rating decision to file a VA Form 21-0958 Notice of Disagreement. The VA will no longer accept Notices of Disagreement that are not...
NEW VA CLAIMS PROCESSBeginning March 24, 2015, the VA will institute a new process for filing claims for disability compensation. The new VA claims process will require the use of standardized forms to begin a claim. The new policy is a change from the informal claims...
EFFECTIVE DATE AND VA CLAIMS FOR HEARING LOSSIn the case of Swain v. McDonald, No. 14-0947, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) reversed a Board of Veterans' Appeals' (Board) decision which assigned an incorrect effective date for Veteran's claim for...
UPDATE TO AGENT ORANGE REGISTRY The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs maintains a list of ships that were presumptively exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam Era. The VA has recently updated the list of ships that operated in Vietnam to add new ships, expand...
The Department of Defense has agreed to reconsider bad-paper discharges for Vietnam veterans and other past war veterans who may have suffered from combat-related PTSD and received other than honorable discharges. The Department of Defense has agreed to give "liberal...
The Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced that it processed 1.3 million disability compensation and pension claims in fiscal year 2014 - the highest number in VA history. The number of claims processed in fiscal year 2014 surpassed the number of claims...
In 2012, Congress passed the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejume Families Act, which provided, in part, for health care (for veterans who served at least 30 days in Camp Lejune) and co-pay reimbursements for veterans and family members who lived at...
Beginning next March, the Department of Veterans Affairs will offer standardized electronic forms. The VA hopes to streamline and speed up the claim filing process with the use of the electronic forms. In the past, veterans could file claims and appeals on any piece...