Become Knowledgeable BEFORE Filing Your Initial Veterans Disability Benefits Claim

While we only handle Veterans Disability Benefits claims that have been denied, we want to share valuable tips for how to properly file your initial Veterans Disability Benefits Claim. Veterans must file VA Form 21-526, the Veteran’s Application for Compensation and/or Pension to obtain veterans disability compensation. You can call Gabe Griffith at 717.656.5000 if you have questions about filing your initial VA benefits claim.  Hopefully, you will be granted VA disability benefits from your initial claim after just 90 days, but often veterans must appeal to the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA)

2. If you are denied benefits or if you disagree with your low VA disability rating, you have the right to appeal the VA’s decision. You have one year to file an appeal from the date on your initial rating decision.

It is best to document your illnesses or injuries while you are still serving in the military. If you believe you are experiencing any symptoms of a medical problem, you need speak up and report them. This documentation will help you  if you need to obtain disability benefits later.

We can become formally engaged to help only after you’ve received your Veterans Disability Denial Letter or the evaluation of your benefits claim with a low disability rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Initial claims for veterans disability benefits are often denied. We can help you with your appeal by filing a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

That said, we encourage you to review our VA Disability Compensation Claim Recommendations below before you file a claim for your Veterans Disability Benefits.

1. 1. 1. First, if you are currently serving, report and get documentation for any medical issues that you are having.
         • Time and time again, veterans encounter a dilemma with their claims because their superiors encouraged them not to report any medical issues that they were having. This understandably frustrates veterans when they are later denied benefits by Veterans Affairs (VA) for the reason that there was no recorded injury/symptom while serving.
         • An important element of proving your VA disability claim is to show that your injury stems from your time in-service
         • If you are reading this as a veteran who has not documented illnesses and injuries while still in service, fear not. Although you are now out of the service, there are still ways to go about establishing an injury or event in-service that will help you with your claim for service-connection.
           
      2. Second, when you file an initial claim, be sure to make and retain copies of anything that you submit to the VA. While the VA has improved its record-keeping in recent history, loss of records by the VA still unfortunately happens. If records you have submitted are misplaced by the VA down the road, you still have the copies you made. Unfortunately, if you fail to make copies of what you submit and the VA loses your records, you will unlikely be provided with any presumptions as to what those records contained.
         
      3. Third, try to keep in regular contact with the individuals with whom you served. With our busy lives, maintaining an active contact list for your military colleagues is not always easy. You may need to call on allies who can corroborate your service-connected disability claims so we advise you to keep an up-to-date contact list. Sometimes, the easiest way to prove a VA disability claim is to have witnesses who can attest to and corroborate your story. These are sometimes referred to as “buddy statements” and, when medical documentation is missing, can help validate how your physical or mental disabilities began or worsened following your active duty service.

If you are reading this as a veteran who has not documented illnesses and injuries while still in-service, fear not.

If you have applied for a VA disability claim and have been DENIED,  contact us and we’ll talk with you in a free consultation. At Rankin & Gregory, we want our clients who are veterans to receive the maximum disability benefits that they deserve. As veterans, you offered to sacrifice everything for us, now let us fight for you.

It is wise to have a Veterans Disability Benefits attorney review your claim after you have been denied service-connection or have received a lower disability rating that awarded fewer benefits than you need and deserve.

If you have been denied VA benefits or assigned veterans disability compensation with a lower VA disability rating than you believe is accurate, talk with our veterans benefits attorneys who know how to file and manage veterans disability appeals at no cost. We will help you gather and assemble the evidence (including any secondary service-connected conditions) you will need to support your appeal. We never pressure people to become clients, treat veterans and their families with reverence, respect and compassion you’ve earned, and charge nothing to consult with our experienced attorneys. Veterans get our highest attention and quick responses throughout their cases and pay no fee unless we win the appeal. Call Gabe Griffith at 717.656.5000 as soon as possible after your disability claim is denied or underrated to ensure the highest compensation possible.