When can I hire an attorney to help me with my claim?

You can call us at any stage of your appeal for help. Even if you have not filed a claim yet, feel free to call us for some free advice as to how to go about filing.

How do I know if I deserve benefits?

The best way to determine eligibility for benefits is to contact your local regional office and request a copy of your service medical records. If you haven't filed a claim before, it will probably take them a while to get the records to you, as they would probably be in storage at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Once you obtain your records, the best advice widely available at the local level is the national service organizations. If you are a member of The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, or another service organization, contact their local offices and they will be able to offer you advice on your specific claim.

Alternatively, if you have questions of a general nature, please feel free to contact our law offices directly. At the very least, we should be able to point you in the right direction and give you the help you need as you proceed through the complicated claims process.

I've been turned down by the VA. What should I do?

Once you are denied benefits at any level of the VA claims process the clock starts ticking on your time to appeal. If you have recently been denied benefits at any level of the VA claims process, you should call our office immediately. This is especially true for those who have complicated psychiatric claims or those whose claims have been denied by the BVA in Washington, D.C.

What will I have to do to appeal a claim? Is it hard and/or time consuming?

Until a claim is denied by the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA), the claims process is considered non-adversarial by the VA. What that means is that they are not supposed to be fighting your claim, just doing research to see if you deserve the benefits you seek.

If you submit a claim to the VA, the VA has a legal duty to research your claim carefully and apply the law to it thoroughly. If you appeal a denial, you might be asked to provide more information or corroborating evidence concerning your claim, but you won't be forced to do anything. The duty is on the VA to make sure your claim was properly denied.

The claims process can be stressful for many veterans. Many feel they are getting the runaround from the VA or that their sacrifices for their country aren't being appreciated. So an appeal is never fun. But the process itself is not a difficult one, and should certainly be considered by every veteran who feels he or she has been denied a benefit they deserve.

Will I have to testify in court if I appeal my claim?

You have a right to a hearing if you want one, but you can't be compelled to go to a hearing if you don't want one. The VA won't even schedule a hearing for you unless you ask them to.

Can I hurt my chances to eventually win on a claim if I appeal it now and it is denied by the BVA or by the Court?

No. It is generally much easier to win a claim by appealing it than it is to let the claim lapse then try to reopen it. Every valid claim should be pursued at least to the Court. If you start a claim now, stop pursuing it, and then try to pick it up again later, you could lose out on thousands of dollars in past-due benefits that you otherwise would have received. If you have any questions about appealing and/or reopening claims, just give us a call: 877/838-2889.