Legal Help for Veterans blog.
Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Kristina Derro A recent decision by the Court, on one of our client’s claims, stressed the importance that VA must get a medical opinion before it summarily declined to refer an issue for extraschedular consideration for unemployability. Our client worked as an accountant, handling his clients’ taxes. He was forced to stop working because […]
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Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone VA announced that on November 1st it has finally started making payments under the new AO rules. Providing initial payments – or increases to existing payments – to the 200,000 Veterans who now qualify for disability compensation is expected to take several months. The three new presumptive diseases which have been in the press all year are: […]
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Claims Processing, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone VA has begun releasing forms on specific disabilities for use by its physicians. This initiative marks the beginning of a major reform of the physicians’ guides and automated routines that will streamline the claims process for injured or ill Veterans. 79 different disabilities are to get the new forms. This initiative will […]
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Mental Health, PTSD, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone The story is not that unusual – a service member suffering from psychological problems starts to self medicate, gets kicked out of the service and loses access to VA benefits. Veterans advocates see cynical forces at play in the use of administrative discharges for reasons including misconduct, personality disorder and adjustment disorder — defined as […]
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Claims Processing, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone We get asked all the time – “can you make VA move faster on my claim?” My answer is “No one can make VA move fast”. The US Supreme Court just agreed with me. On Monday the Supreme Court announced it will not hear a case challenging a lack of speed by the government. The Vietnam […]
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Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Kristina Derro The VA has recently agreed to review the cases of nearly 17,000 “Brown Water” Vietnam Era veterans who have claimed disabilities related to Agent Orange exposure. VA previously denied a number of these claims without properly determining whether they served in Vietnam’s inland waterways (“Brown Water”) or in other locations where they […]
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Claims Processing, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone Time is running out to apply for retroactive bonus pay for 145,000 military personnel who were forced to remain on duty beyond their original discharge date, following the September 11th attacks. Congress has approved back pay of $500 for each month of involuntary service; the average lump-sum due is between $3,500 […]
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Claims Processing, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone Upon the death of a service member, his or her family is entitled to death benefits from service life insurance. The financial press recently broke the story that Prudential Financial did not pay the lump sum to the families as expected. Instead, Prudential Financial Inc. would withhold lump-sum payments of life insurance benefits […]
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Claims Processing, PTSD, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone As many VA watchers know, VA adopted a new law “Relaxation of Evidentiary Standard for Establishing In Service Stressors in Claims for PTSD” dated July 13, 2010. We at Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC have received the first rating decision taking this law into account. The VA conceded the Vietnam Vet’s stressor […]
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Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, Veterans Law
By Jim Fausone If you have a disability rating from VA, the first step is done. But you will want to get rated at 100% permanently disabled if appropriate. It is just one way that a disabled vet can take care of his family now and in the future. Without that designation, the vet’s family […]
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