It can be crushing when the VA denies your disability claim. This was the government that you worked to support and defend, and now you’re left to navigate a maze of VA bureaucracy.
When many veterans land here, they reach for the phone and call an “expert.” This expert may be a VA claims attorney. And why not? These legal professionals know what they’re doing, right? Won’t they save you from the agony of filing another claim only to get denied again? And can’t they advocate for you in court with their well-honed legal skills?
The problem is that most of these attorneys send you to the VA appeals process. This is an incredibly bogged-down process where cases can rot away for years. Tragically, many veterans have died while waiting for their claim to make its way through the overcrowded appeals process.
There’s usually a better strategy than filing an appeal with an attorney—one that could help you get the full VA compensation you are entitled to without having to pay a large percentage of your retroactive benefits to your attorney.
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Will This Change with the New Administration?
With the new administration focusing on government efficiency, there’s a chance that the VA appeals process will be under a microscope. Hopefully, this process will be streamlined, but in the meantime, your best bet is to educate yourself on options other than the lengthy appeals process.
How Are VA Disability Lawyers Compensated?
Most VA disability lawyers work on contingency fees, meaning that if they win your case, they keep a percentage of your past-due benefits.
Fortunately for the lawyers (but unfortunately for you), the appeals process can take a long time—sometimes more than seven years. So by the time your case reaches the VA board, your attorney has racked up years of backpay that they can now garnish. In most cases, they keep 20 to 33% of that pay.
Let’s say you get awarded an additional $1,000 a month in back pay after the appeal. If the appeal has taken seven years, that’s $84,000 you have been missing out on. But what about the bill you now owe your lawyer for seven years of very little work on their part? $28,000.
As you can see, there is no incentive for most lawyers to speed this process up for you.
You Don’t Need an Expert’s Help to File a Good Claim
The real kicker is that an estimated 80+% of these cases never need to be seen by the Board of Veterans Appeals to begin with. If veterans educate themselves about the relatively simple steps for filing a strong claim, they could increase their rating while skipping the appeals process altogether.
Bypass the Appeals Process with:
A Supplemental Claim
The term “appeal” comes with a lot of legal baggage. An appeal triggers a lengthy legal process that ties up your claim in a system that can take years to resolve.
For many veterans, filing a supplemental claim can be a far better option. Just like health supplements make your body stronger, supplemental claims make your VA claim stronger so you can increase your rating.
Your claim should be submitted with new evidence. This evidence could include:
- Medical records—you can submit updated records showing that your condition has worsened or that new symptoms have developed.
- A nexus letter from a physician—this critical letter from a doctor shows that that your illness/injury is service-connected. It could contain verbiage like “it is as least as likely as not” that your condition is related to your military service
- A personal statement—this statement is written by you and includes the details of your condition (such as your symptoms, onset date, etc.) and its relation to your military service.
- Buddy letters—these letters from family, friends, and/or co-workers can describe what they have observed about your health condition and explain how it is related to your military service.
A supplemental claim augments your current claim without starting a new one. Because of that, it avoids the bogged-down VA appeals system.
A Higher-Level Review
Another way to escalate your VA disability claim without turning it into an appeal is to request a Higher-Level Review. You can compare this to asking for a manager’s help. In the Higher-Level Review process, a senior VA specialist will re-evaluate your previously denied claim to see if there were errors in the review process.
Exhaust All Other Options Before You Appeal your VA Claim
Once you have exhausted all other available options to resolve your disability claim and it has still been denied, you may be left with no choice but to submit a legal appeal case.
However, if you follow the process of filing a supplemental claim before pressing the appeal button, you may be able to increase your rating and compensation in months versus years.
Remember, if the VA has denied your disability claim, don’t jump straight to hiring a lawyer and filing an appeal. There are other avenues to try first, which could produce a faster, more positive outcome. Contact us to learn more.