Did you serve in the military?
Do you suffer from medical or psychological problems as a result of your service?
Are you unable to work as a result of these problems?
If you answered yes to these questions, you may be eligible for TDIU payments from the
VA.
Hi, my name is Zack Evans.
I'm a disability benefits attorney with Woods and Woods Attorneys in Evansville, Indiana.
Also known as IU, this program is designed to help veterans who are unable to work as
a result of service-connected conditions.
Some of our other videos cover specifics of the TDIU process and the topics that are encompassed
within the TDIU process.
I would encourage you to look at those videos as well as there's a lot of helpful information.
The TDIU process is a pretty sprawling undertaking in trying to understand it.
But this video is intended to be essentially a bird's eye view of what it takes to get
to IU.
We have some questions that we see from clients pretty commonly.
Some of the most common ones are how much are TDIU payments.
The reason TDIU is such a big deal is that you're paid out the same as a 100% disability
rating.
If all of your conditions add up to a 70% and you're at a 50% for mental health, but
you just can't seem to bump that rating any higher, proving that you're unemployable due
to your service-connected conditions can help you jump the gap and get to a 100% rating.
I would say overwhelmingly, the most commonly asked question is how long will it take to
get my IU payments.
I generally don't like giving this lawyerly answer but the truth is it depends.
It could be very quickly.
If you're already rated pretty high, let's say you have a combined rating of 90 and you've
been fighting the VA for a while.
Let's say, you've had some conditions that had been on appeal for a pretty good period
of time, maybe it's just a couple of pieces of expert evidence that will get you there,
a couple of expert reports and a really well-crafted brief.
And maybe a few months after your lawyer gets involved, the TDIU issue can be wrapped up
and you'll see a grant.
However, if none of your conditions are service-connected yet or if you just filed for IU for the first
time, your battle will likely be measured in years, not months.
Beware any representative that gives you a time frame.
If they tell you that they don't know, they're telling you the truth.
Honestly, it's impossible to predict.
Every case is completely different and that's why it's really important that whatever representative
you choose, that it's someone who's focused on your specific facts bringing your story
out and discussing why your unemployability actually flows from your time in service.
Focusing on how to best develop your evidence and tell your story is going to be much more
productive in the end as opposed to someone trying to give you some, "Ah, it'd be a couple
of months.
Just fill out this paperwork here.
Sign here that says that I'm going to represent you and we'll wrap this thing up."
Honestly, it's impossible to know how long it will take.
I know that's not a great answer but that's the truth.
The general steps to get to IU payments, there's three of them essentially.
Generally, number one, you need to win service connection on your conditions that are related
to service.
Secondly, you need to win your increased rating fights on conditions that are rated unfairly.
If your back condition and the radiculopathy that you experience in your legs puts you
down for half the day at a time, and they're low-balling you with a very low rating that's
not consistent with someone who is unable to get up and move around for much of the
day, that is right for an increased rating fight and there are several ways that we can
develop that evidence to bring that out and win an increased rating.
We do discuss that in some of our other videos.
Thirdly, and this is really important.
You'll need to prove that you're unemployable due to your service-connected conditions.
You have to win the link to service, then you have to win the proper rating, and then
you have to prove that the things that are service-connected are independently a reason
why you cannot work.
If you retired from the coal mines after 30 years and you left because you were done working,
you were retired or let's say, you left because your spouse was making pretty good money at
that time and you didn't need two incomes.
Regardless of what your reason was for leaving the workplace, if the medical evidence shows
that your current service-connected conditions, what impairments they're at leaves you unemployable
and let's say, your financial circumstance has changed and you're not really in need
of the VA support, you could potentially win a TDIU claim.
Each of these steps that I've outlined the three basic kind of catch-all steps there,
they can take months and years.
Sometimes each step requires an appeal all the way up the chain to the Board of Veterans
Appeals and that's where administrative law judges can correct what regional offices get
wrong.
If you're looking for a representative that's in it for the long haul and is in it to finish
the fight, you need Woods and Woods.
Call us or visit our website.