- After your discharge from service
you may have some questions about
when to claim disability compensation,
what to claim, and how to claim it.
This segment is how do I apply for VA disability claims
and my name is Lori Underwood, with Woods & Woods.
You can file for a disability claim for service connection
or a claim for increase at any time
after your discharge from service.
The date you file your claim
is likely to become your effective date
for a service connection or for an increase.
The effective date is the date which you can
calculate any back pay that may be owed to you
from your increase or from your service-connected rating.
I say that is, likely, to become your effective date.
But there are other factors that affect the effective date
of your service connection or your claim for increase.
Any claim for a disability service connection
or any claim for an increase
must be submitted on a formal claim form.
That is a form that is provided by the VA
that you must fill out and submit to your regional office
to initiate a claim.
There is such a thing, called an informal claim,
which would, be as an example,
you send a letter to your regional office
not on the formal claim form
asserting that you would like to make a claim
for a service connection or a claim for an increased rating.
That letter would be considered an informal claim.
There are other examples of informal claims.
But the point is, any informal claim must be followed up
with the formal claim within one year
for that claim to be initiated
and for that effective date to take place.
What if your claim is denied?
If your claim is denied, you must appeal it.
And you're going to have to appeal it
on a formal claim form as well.
If you're denied in a rating decision,
you have one year from the date of that decision
to appeal your claim.
And you need to appeal that
on the VA Notice of Disagreement form.
If this claim is not appealed,
then it will die and you will have to restart
and reopen with a new claim form.
We have a segment on how to reopen claims.
Refer to that segment if you have any questions
about reopening.
If your claim is denied
and you have appealed it with a Notice of Disagreement
and you receive yet another denial
on a statement of the case,
then you also must appeal that
to preserve your effective date, with a Form 9.
You do not have one year to appeal a statement of the case.
You only have 60 days from the date of the decision.
So make sure you submit your formal appeals
within the time frames that have been prescribed
for that appeal.
Again, if you do not appeal the statement of the case
within 60 days, that claim will die
and you will have to file a new claim and reopen it.
How long does it take to get a rating for a claim?
Either for service connection or for increased rating?
That question cannot be answered, really,
with any certainty.
It could take a matter of weeks to months,
to a matter of years.
It really depends on how the VA reviews your claim,
the evidence in your file,
and if they think that the evidence meets all of the
necessary requirements to give you service connection
or an increased rating.
That is why you need to keep your claim under appeal
if it is being denied.
And definitely reach out to a VA representative for help
if you are having difficulty with service connection
or an increased rating.
Denials can go all the way up to
the Board of Veterans appeals or even
the federal court in the appellate process.
And so they can be quite lengthy
but hopefully yours will not take quite as long.
Veterans disability claim tips.
Are there any tips that may be able to help you
in filing for your VA disability claim?
Just a few tips that I have written down that I would share,
is that I would make the claim for service connection
or an increased rating as soon as possible.
And the reason you want to do that is you wanna lock in
the potential earliest effective date that you can.
That is the date that will, hopefully, be the initiator
for any back pay that you may be owed
when your claim is finally granted.
And so, it is important to lock in
the earliest effective date.
Be clear in what conditions your claiming for
on your application.
Be clear if your claiming for service connection,
if your claiming for an increased rating,
and also what diagnosis or medical conditions
you may be claiming for as well.
If you have any records, medical records, lay statements,
any kind of records that pertain to your claim,
either for service connection or an increased rating,
it may be helpful to the Regional office for you
to submit those with your claim for review.
Remember that you do have to submit a claim
for disability compensation, either for service connection
or increased rating, on the formal claim form.
And do not rely on an informal claim.
Once you have submitted your claim,
be on the lookout for any decisions.
Make sure that if the decision does not grant your condition
that you appeal it as soon as possible.
Also be aware that the VA does not use simple math
when calculating your combined rating.
They do not just add 10 and 10 up to equal 20 necessarily.
On our website, we do have a
VA disabilities ratings calculator
which you can refer to to plug in your
service connected conditions and their current ratings,
and our calculator will help you
in calculating your combined rating.
This could be a very helpful tool if you're wondering
how an increased rating may affect
your overall combined rating,
and how to calculate any disability compensation
that you may be owed.
If you have any other questions, or concerns,
or you need assistance with your service connection
or increase rating claim, give us a call
at the number listed below.
We'll be happy to help you answer questions
or get your increase or service connection.