If you claim veterans disability benefits and your claim is denied, you are grated one year in which to decide if you will appeal. You need to know that you are not alone, even the DVA admits that they make far too many errors while evaluating claims, this being the case it makes a great deal of sense to hire a VA disability claim attorney and appeal the initial decision to deny benefits. The error rate is very high; recently a report was generated that found that BVA (Board of Veterans Appeals) found errors in over 70 percent of the cases they reviewed.
What can be appealed?
An appeal, according to the DVA is a request for the BVA to review an adverse decision made by a local VA office. If your claim is denied you can appeal for any reason, perhaps you received only a partial denial and the rest of the claim was approved. If this was to be the case, you can appeal that part of the decision that went against you. If your claim was denied but you feel the level of benefits is incorrect, you can appeal.
Of all the reasons given for appealing, there are two that are very common:
- The disability claim was denied even though the claimant believes it began while serving in the military, and
- The claimant thinks the disability is more severe than the rating given by the VA
You should consider getting assistance:
The majority of veterans that were denied benefits will hire a VA disability claim attorney to help with the appeal. Although there are numerous veterans service groups such as the American Legion that offer limited assistance, the better choice is a seasoned attorney that focuses exclusively on veterans disability cases.
If you claimed veterans disability benefits only to be denied, you should hire a skilled VA disability claim attorney to help with your appeal. You are invited to discuss your claim with Jackson & MacNichol, Attorneys at Law.
