Hi, I'm Travis Studdard, a veteran's disability attorney with Perkins Law Firm.
Today I want to talk to you about four things you need to know about filing a VA claim.
First off, the most important thing to know perhaps, is there's no time limit on filing
your claim for VA disability compensation.
Without knowing anything about the particulars of your claim, most likely you can still file
a claim today for something that happened long ago.
If you served in Vietnam, you can still file on Agent Orange exposure, or some other condition,
no matter how many years have passed.
The important thing to remember though, is while there's not a time limit on it, you
won't be eligibile for benefits prior to the date of your application.
In general, it's a good idea to go ahead and file your claim if you're considering doing
so.
The second point that you need to keep in mind, is that now VA requires veterans to
file their disability compensation claims on VA forms.
In the past, this was different, you could file what they called an Informal Claim on
a scrap piece of paper or a cocktail napkin, or whatever, and send it in to the VA.
However, now they require you to use specific forms for your application.
Generally if you're filing for disability compensation, that's going to be a 21-526
application, or a lot of people use the 21-526EZ, which is essentially a shorter version of
the same application.
If you are a survivor of a veteran who has died and you're filing for DIC benefits, you
would want to file a 21535 form.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that sometimes you need to file additional forms
in addition to the application itself.
For instance, if you're filing for TDIU, or Total Disability for Individual Unemployability,
there's an additional form you need to file there, a 21-8940 form, which will get some
more information about your employment history and reasons why you're unable to work.
After you've filed your application and received a decision, you may be like a lot of other
veterans who disagree with the decision reached by VA.
In that situation, it's up to you to file what's called a NOD or Notice of Disagreement.
That's a form where you essentially are telling the VA that you disagree with the decision
they reached, and that you want to appeal it.
That will start the appeals process within the regional office, and someone else will
reconsider your claim.
If you file that form, you have to do that Notice of Disagreement within one year of
the ratings decision date of issue.
If you are going to do that, be sure you get it in within that one year, or your claim
will stand denied.
That brings me to the fourth point that I want to discuss that you need to know about
filing.
If you applied in the past and were denied and you did not appeal, you still can bring
that claim once again through what's called a reopened claim.
A denial may not stand forever, you can produce what's called new and material evidence and
reopen that claim.
The important distinction is, your claim will only be eligible from the date that you file
to reopen.
In other words, you won't be able to get retroactive benefits back to that original application
that was denied, and not appealed.
We'll talk again in another video about what exactly is new and material evidence that
is required to reopen your claim.
I hope you found this helpful, if so, I would ask that you give it a thumbs up on YouTube,
and look for our other videos talking about Veterans Disability Compensation.
If you want to be notified of those, you can subscribe on our YouTube page, Perkins Law
Firm.
You can also go to our website WinYourVetClaim.com where we have other articles and videos and
other helpful information for you.
You can also use our need help function there to get a free consultation from us.
Or, you can give us a call at 770-214-8885.
Thanks for watching.