Here’s an example: The attorney gets paid $5,000 by the EAJA for winning the appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The attorney then gets the case sent back to the Board where he wins the claim. The veteran eventually receives $100,000 in past due benefits.
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If the agreement between the veteran and his attorney charges a fee of more than 20 percent, then the VA will not split the check and the veteran will pay his attorney directly himself. Usually, this means that once the veteran receives his back-pay check, he will then write a check to his attorney for the contingency fee plus any expenses.
Here’s an example: The attorney gets paid $5,000 by the EAJA for winning the appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The attorney then gets the case sent back to the Board where he wins the claim.
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The Court is the first level of the process where someone who is not paid by the VA looks at your case. But, the Court is limited in terms of what it can look at, and what conclusions it can make. Some cases are decided by a single judge, and others by a panel.
As noted above, for representation at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, there is no risk of owing an attorney fee. If a veteran hires the lawyer to represent him at the BVA or Regional Office level, there is no EAJA to pay the fee.
To compensate for the months or years veterans must go without compensation, the VA grants retroactive awards. Generally, you are eligible for back pay from the first day of the month following your “effective date” for benefits. In most cases, your effective date is when the VA received your disability application.
Without representation, veterans have a roughly one in four chance of receiving benefits on appeal: 2017 - 24.42% of appeals were approved with no representative. 2018 - 27.22% of appeals were approved with no representative. 2019 - 26.18% of appeals were approved with no representative.
When the BVA overturns a decision, the veteran will be granted their request for benefits. This is a final decision on the matter, and benefits may no longer be denied. Often the decision is a remand by the BVA.
The Veterans Benefits Administration usually takes 12-18 months to review new appeals and decide whether to grant some or all of the appeal. When you request a review from a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans' Appeals, it could take 5-7 years for you to get a decision.
According to the VA, on either a supplemental claim or higher-level review process, a decision should be made within 4-5 months (their goal is within 125 days).
Veterans can expect to receive a decision within 68 and 82 days for the first or second appeal options, respectively. Veterans can pursue a third option by appealing directly to the Board of Veterans Appeals.
You can call us at 800-827-1000.
three to 12 monthsSo, for how long this process takes, once your claim arrives at the Regional Office, it should be given expeditious treatment. But depending on the remand instructions, it can take anywhere from three to 12 months or sometimes longer before the Regional Office issues any decision.
To deal with this VA supplemental claim compensation issue, the VA grants a lump sum benefit to the claimant if/when their case is approved. If a veteran preserves the effective date from their original claim, they will receive benefits from that time.
The VA calculates VA disability back pay based on your disability effective date, not on your application or approval date. You may also receive back pay if the VA approves your previously denied claim after a review or an appeal.
If you file a VA disability application and are denied or given a low rating, you have one year to appeal that decision. If you wait longer than a year, you can file a new application. If that application is also denied, you can appeal. There is no limit to how many times you can appeal different applications.
After you submit your VA Form 9 appealing the RO's second decision or SOC, the RO will issue you a 90 day letter stating that the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) has received your case. With the 90 day letter, you have 90 days to submit any additional evidence for the BVA to consider in reviewing your claim.
If an attorney secures your application or wins your appeal in which you are owed backpay benefits or past due benefits from the Social Security Administration, the attorney receives the lesser of 25% or $6,000 of the backpay benefits. If the appeals process progresses to the Appeals Council or Federal Court before the case is won, the attorney is paid a flat 25% fee of the past due benefits. If no backpay is awarded, the attorney does not collect a fee for the services rendered.
The lawyer’s fee is contingent on you winning your social security disability claim. If the lawyer can not secure your benefits, then he or she does not collect a penny. If the attorney does help you win your case, the Social Security Administration will facilitate the payment of the fee to the lawyer.
Many disabled veterans are in need of Social Security disability benefits, but the process for receiving those benefits can be complex, stressful, and confusing if they try to do it alone. A social security disability lawyer can help make the process faster, easier, and will effectively represent a veteran’s best interests to the Social Security Administration. However, many veterans do not utilize an attorney because they feel that they do not have the money to pay for one or they do not understand how a social security disability attorney is paid.
A number of veterans attorneys at the CAVC are representing a veteran because they represented the veteran at the BVA and/or VARO. In other words, the same veterans attorney advocates for the veterans throughout the appellate process. I handle a lot of cases like this, so there is nothing bad about it.
The reason it is important to have a veterans lawyer on your side at the CAVC is that the VA is going to have a lawyer on their side, and their lawyers (while mostly decent professionals) have been known to play “lawyer-ball” just to win their appeal.
Ask them for a referral to another veterans attorney that might handle this type of appeal if they reject you. Or check out the list of veterans attorneys on the NOVA website.
Fact 1: About 70-80% of BVA decisions denying a veteran or survivor benefits get reversed or remanded by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for legal or factual error.
The word adversarial does not mean angry, and it does mean antagonistic….although some of the attorneys and leadership at the VA’s Office of General Counsel (VA OGC) have a gift of making CAVC appeals antagonistic and angry.
As a result, it is not unusual for a competent appellate brief to take 30-80 hours to research, draft and write briefs, prepare and conduct oral argument (where appropriate) and secure a (hopefully) favorable outcome of the veteran.
The problem is that most cases at the CAVC aren’t won or lost based on the facts – they are won or lost on the law.
Typically, accredited veterans’ advocates charge a contingency fee based on retroactive benefits recovered. This means that if a claimant is awarded retroactive benefits, based on eligibility stemming from a previous date in time, then the veteran’s advocate would receive a percentage of those retroactive benefits, according to the agreement entered into between the claimant and the representative.
If a person is charging a percentage of benefits the claimant is going to receive over a certain period of time, they are charging fees unethically and illegally. They have minimal professional experience in VA disability law – Veterans disability law is complex.
Accredited representatives are recognized by VA as being legally authorized and capable of assisting claimants in the pursuit of benefits before the Department of Veterans Affairs. In order to become accredited, individuals must participate in the accreditation program.
Lawyers or Agents must be accredited in order to represent claimants before the Department of Veterans Affairs. The accreditation process exists to ensure that veterans and their family members receive skilled and informed representation throughout the VA claims and appeals process.
Organizations like these can be very beneficial to veterans because of their experience and their services are free of charge. VA-accredited attorneys and claims agents typically represent claimants once VA has issued a rating decision on the veteran’s initial claim.
VA-accredited individuals shall NOT: Evade a rule of conduct “through the actions of another;”. Engage in deceitful, fraudulent, misrepresentative, or dishonest conduct; Violate any provisions included in Title 38 United States Code, or Title 38, Code of Federal Regulations; Charge, solicit, or enter an agreement for unreasonable or unlawful fees;
March 14 , 2021. While legal process for VA benefits can be confusing, it is important that veterans and claimants know their rights when it comes to their representation, whether that be lawyers, agents, or VSOs. VA regulates who may represent claimants in VA benefits cases, and how much they may be paid, under 38 CFR § 14.636.
The Office of General Counsel (OGC) is responsible for accrediting attorneys and agents. E-mail questions regarding accreditation to the OGC at erick.winford@va.gov
Unauthorized representation of claimants and unlawful solicitation of fees is a serious matter and should be reported to the Outreach Staff Mailbox (
Do not accept a NOD signed by an attorney or agent without a
When Woods & Woods wins your veteran’s disability claim, our fee is 20% of your back pay. Woods and Woods Veterans Disability Benefits Lawyers will never touch your future benefits. VA law allows lawyers to take up to 30% of your back pay. We take less from you so you have more in your pocket. Our clients send us the best letters of how they paid off debt, roofed their house, or even bought a new truck once they won their claim.
These are for things like doctors reports, expert testimony, or vocational experts. If you lose your VA Disability Benefits claim, you don’t have to pay case expenses.
Not sure where to start applying for Veterans Disability Benefits? We can help. There is never a fee for helping a veteran or their family through the application process.
No Recovery, No Fee. Woods & Woods never charges a fee unless we win your veterans disability benefits claim. If you lose your claim, you don’t owe us anything. There is never a charge for the application process.
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The Court is the first level of the process where someone who is not paid by the VA looks at your case. But, the Court is limited in terms of what it can look at, and what conclusions it can make. Some cases are decided by a single judge, and others by a panel. A lot of Veterans think ...
Knowing what actually happens at each level of the VA Claims Process can allow the Veteran to choose the battlefield where their claim will be fought.
Some cases are decided by a single judge, and others by a panel. A lot of Veterans think that they are going to get to argue their case to a Judge or a Jury when they get to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. This simply is not always true. Most cases are decided by an agreement with the VA’s attorney that the BVA erred so badly ...
Ingram is one of the most under-utilized tools in a Veteran’s arsenal.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals is a very sophisticated federal appellate Court. The Court reviews patent cases, and a whole host of complex federal appeals cases, and judges appointed to this court are some of the smartest and most intellectually studied judges in the federal appellate court system.
The Court said that unless a medical condition is on the list of chronic conditions at 38 CFR § 3.309, the Veteran cannot use a “Continuity of Symptomatology ” theory to make the bridge to service-connection.
Getting a seat on this Bench is a pretty hard gig to pull…. not only do you have to have pretty substantial legal credentials, but you also have to have an uber-analytical mind.
If a VA disability lawyer tells you their win rate, they could be breaking ethics rules. That should be a red flag that maybe this lawyer isn’t to be trusted. You want a VA-accredited disability lawyer that is ethical and honest with you.
That is not the best strategy. Think like a veterans disability benefits lawyer. Have the main argument in your appeal and keep hammering at your main point. Remember, you want to argue why a condition is service-connected and explain the severity of your condition.
This happens to a very large number of VA disability appeals because new evidence is generally submitted on an appeal . The final reason the BVA may remand a VA disability appeal is if the VARO did not process the claim correctly. This scenario happens a lot.
Use Doctors Reports: You can drastically improve your VA disability appeal success rate by using relevant medical evidence and reports from medical professionals. Veterans should use reports from vocational experts, doctors, and psychologists.
Other times the VA denies a condition because the C-file did not link the condition to service. You can use medical reports to link conditions to your time in the service. Focus on Your Central Arguments: Too often we see veterans throw everything at the VA and hope something will stick. That is not the best strategy.
The Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) has the option to remand your claim. That means your claim will go back to the VA Regional Office (VARO). A remand happens for several different reasons. First, if there was a change in the law, your claim may be remanded for reconsideration under the new law.
The numbers below come from the VA’s 2020 annual report. You may notice that the BVA approval and denial rates do not equal 100%. That is because the rest of the claims are remanded for further consideration, which is explained in the next section. Many VA disability appeals are approved after the BVA remands the claim.