Informal Conference

If you would like to plead your case to the person doing your appeal you may request an informal conference (Section IV of the form).

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• If the rater CAN make a POSITIVE decision based upon the evidence of record the rater CAN decide that an informal conference is unnecessary! So do not feel bad if one is NOT scheduled!

• You can ONLY talk about errors of fact or law as it relates to your appeal during this call.

  • This would include things such as, the VA missing or not considering evidence that was originally submitted with your claim.

  • Ideally, you would have this planned out so you can point out specifically where evidence is: 'Evidence that I had an in-service event can be found on page x of my service treatment records'.

• Choosing to have an informal conference may result in your appeal taking longer to process.

Alternative to Informal Conference

Instead of requesting an informal conference you may submit a Personal statement with your HLR.

Again, you can ONLY write about errors of fact or law as it relates to your appeal. Remember, you CANNOT use this statement as a means to add new evidence to your appeal!

Submitting an HLR

There are several options to submit your HLR to the VA:

• Online

  • Click HERE.

• Via your VSO

• In-person

  • Click HERE to locate your nearest Regional Office.

• Snail Mail

Department of Veterans Affairs Claims Intake Center PO Box 4444 Janesville, WI 53547-4444

!!WARNING!!

• The VA will NOT go by the postmark! The VA will go off the date the appeal is initially processed by the VA's intake center. As such, if your appeal is processed AFTER the one year deadline your appeal will be refused and you WILL lose your effective date (back pay)!

Supplemental Claim (20-0995)

An opportunity to submit NEW AND RELEVANT evidence.

• New: The VA did not previously have/consider it.

• Relevant: Directly addresses the rationale for the denial.

  • For example: If you were denied for having no diagnosis, you need to supply evidence of a diagnosis.

New and relevant evidence can take the form of:

• Being seen by your doctor for the claimed issue(s);

• New theory of service connection (claiming your condition was caused by another service connected disability);

  • This does include Presumptive conditions be they old or recently passed presumptives;

• Independent medical opinion (IMO)/Nexus letter;

• DBQ;

• Personal statements; or

• Buddy statements.

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

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• Remember you have one year from the claim's decision to file an appeal (if you want to keep your back pay). Which means one year to develop additional evidence for your claim. We recommend waiting until you have enough evidence to be successful before filing - your VSO or lawyer can advise you on this. Don't file appeals with insufficient evidence, this just gums up the system for you and other Veterans!

  • Do know you CAN extend this window for by filing an Intent to file! The intent to file will give you a year (from the intent to file) to gather evidence. While allowing you to keep back pay.

• If the VA grants an increased rating based upon a supplemental claim, the Effective date does NOT automatically go back to the original claim!

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For example: If the VA grants an increased rating based upon the evidence of a new C&P exam; the effective date will be the that of the supplemental claim and NOT the original claim! This is due to the 'date entitlement arose' principle.

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NOTES:

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• Veterans CAN file a supplemental claim ANYTIME after their denial. However, to get back pay from the start, they must file within a year of the last decision.

• Veterans CAN submit a supplemental claim over and over again. So long as, there is new and relevant evidence being submitted every time.

• If you need the VA to get non-federal medical records or Vet Center records for you, then you will need to also submit a VA Form 21-4142/21-4142a.

?Supplemental Claim

Should I choose this?If your appeal requires new evidence.

What will happen?A decision will be made looking at the new and previous evidence.

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Submitting a Supplemental Claim

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There are several options to submit your supplemental claim to the VA:

• Online

  • Click HERE.

• Via your VSO or lawyer

• In-person

  • Click HERE to locate your nearest Regional Office.

• Snail Mail

• ​

Department of Veterans Affairs Claims Intake Center PO Box 4444 Janesville, WI 53547-4444

!!WARNING!!

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• The VA will NOT go by the postmark! The VA will go off the date the appeal is initially processed by the VA's intake center. As such, if your appeal is processed AFTER the one year deadline your appeal will be refused and you WILL lose your effective date (back pay)!

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Supplemental Claim Status

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Currently claim trackers will either show your claims status as:

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• "We don't know your status"; or

• "A reviewer is examining your new evidence".

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Either of these statuses will remain till the claim is actually closed out.

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Board Veterans' Appeals (BVA) AKA, Notice of Disagreement (NOD), AKA 10182

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Review by a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

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• Due to the time this takes to complete a BVA appeal (years) it is commonly only chosen once the other appeal options (Supplemental Claim and/or Higher Level Review) have been exhausted.

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NOTES:

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• The Veteran can MUST submit their appeal to the BVA within a year of their claim's decision. Veterans are NOT allowed to request a BVA after this time frame.

• Veterans are NOT allowed to request a BVA appeal after receiving a BVA decision for the same claimed item.

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Choosing an appeal docket:

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There are three lanes in which the Veteran can choose when going through the BVA:

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1. Direct Review

2. Evidence Submission

3. Hearing

4. ​

Direct Review

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In essence an HLR. However, instead of a senior rater a judge reviews your claim. Due to there be far fewer judges than senior raters, this WILL take much longer than an HLR.

NOTE:

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• You CANNOT submit new evidence.

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Evidence Submission

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In essence a supplemental claim. However instead of a rater a judge reviews your claim. Due to there be far fewer judges than raters, this WILL take much longer than an supplemental claim.

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NOTE:

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• You CAN submit new evidence. If you do not submit all the evidence with your claim you have 90 days from the day VA receives your NOD.

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Hearing

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Your chance to plead your case before a judge by videoconference (or in-person in DC). After your hearing you will have 90 days to submit new evidence. The Judge will make a decision considering the hearing and the evidence you provide.

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Researching Previous Cases

The BVA decision Search engine is your best friend to see how other cases similar to yours have been decided. Plug in keywords for your claim/appeal and search away!

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

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• BVA does NOT establish case law! But the decisions can help you.

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Submitting to BVA

There are several options to submit your appeal to the BVA:

• Via your VSO or lawyer

• Fax

844-678-8979

• Snail Mail

Board of Veterans' Appeals P.O. Box 27063 Washington, DC 20038

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What do I do if I Disagree with the BVA's Decision?

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U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC)

These judges can really do whatever they want in terms of interpreting the laws that bind the VBA. As such, decisions made by the CAVC create case law that does change how the VBA operates!

Veterans have 120 days after their BVA decision in which to have their appeal in the hands of the CAVC. This appeal MUST be made to the CAVC itself and NOT the VA!

While the Veteran is allowed to represent themselves it is STRONGLY recommended that they seek out a lawyer at this stage.

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Researching Previous Cases

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Click HERE to see past cases decided by the CAVC.

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What do I do if I Disagree with the CAVC's Decision?

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)

Veterans MUST submit a Notice of Appeal (NOA) to the CAFC through the CAVC, within 60 days after the judgment is issued.

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What do I do if I Disagree with the CAFC's Decision?

The last and highest court you can go to is the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Clear and Unmistakable Error (CUE)

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Oh no, it has been over a year but I still want all my back pay! If your claim has a CUE it is possible to still get that back pay.

CUEs are EXTREMELY fact specific as such it is STRONGLY advised that the Veteran seek out an experienced VSO or lawyer to help them! If the Veteran makes an error in their filing the VA does NOT have a duty to assist them in the cases of CUEs. As such the CUE may be wasted.

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You only get ONE shot at a CUE per issue. That's it. If you pick something that isn't a CUE and you look back and 'gosh, oh shoot this other thing is the CUE!' That is it. Thanks for playing!

CUEs are NOT a matter of a difference in opinion. CUEs involve errors that cannot be debated and must be such, that a reasonable person would agree that the VA messed up.

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CUEs must be based upon evidence that was available to the VA at the time the decision was made. The Veteran cannot assert that later evidence or evidence that was not given to the VA proved that the Veteran should have been given a favorable decision!

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Further, CUEs must be considered in the realm of what the laws/regulations/policies were at the time they were decided. Veterans CANNOT try to apply current laws/regulations/policies to decisions that were made prior to them!

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In order to invoke a CUE the Veteran MUST state a CUE has occurred AND MUST specify the factual or legal error(s) at issue.

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Seriously, get help!

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

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• Forgotten claims (conditions not rated) are NOT CUEs! While they are certainly errors, they are not CUEs because the VA has not erred in making a decision one way or the other.

• The VA does not have a form for forgotten claims or CUES; So you can file via a Personal statement or on a (20-0995).

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Priority Processing

Certain factors can make a Veteran eligible for priority process.

Click HERE to learn more.

Accredited Agent and Attorneys

For Veterans who have a claim that has a certain legal angle or issue(s). Obtaining the services of an accredited agent or attorney may be beneficial.

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

• Most appeals do NOT require legal assistance!

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In order for an accredited agent or attorney to represent the Veteran. Both parties must sign a VA Form 21-22a.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

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• Pay attention to Block 23! If you are only interested in having representation for a specific claim you MUST write this interest in this block! Failure to do so allows them to file additional appeals without additional consent!

 

Fees

By Law the Veteran CANNOT be charged more than 33.3% of any back pay the Veteran receives from the VA.

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

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• If the Veteran feels their agent/attorney did not earn their fee. Due to perceptions of poor communication with the Veteran, lack of action, etc. The Veteran CAN file a motion to have the fee reduced OR removed.

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For more information on the process click HERE.

 

See Also

• Becoming an Accredited Agent/Attorney

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FAQ

How do I check the status of my appeal?

• You can check the status of your appeals on VA.gov,by calling 1 (800) 827-1000, or making a VERA appointment.

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I filed my HLR/Supplemental claim via QuickSubmit and it has not shown up online yet?

• It can take a week or two before it will show up online.

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My appeal shows closed but my conditions are still unchanged. Have I been denied?

• It is possible, however the VA websites often do not update everything at the same time. So give it another day.

  • Alternatively, if you filed an HLR. If an error was found that required the VA to obtain new evidence then your HLR will be administratively closed and re-opened as a supplemental claim.

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During my HLR the VA found a duty to assist error and are sending me to another C&P exam. Can I now submit additional evidence, if I have some?

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• Yes, your appeal has now become a supplemental claim. So you are free to Submit any new and relevant evidence to your claim.

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How do I change review options at the Board?

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• Fill out a new Board Appeal form. Make sure you check the box for the new review option, and list all of the issues.

  • IMPORTANT: You have one year from the date on the decision, or 60 days from the date that you submitted your Board Appeal, whichever is later to make this change!

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How do I request different Board review options for different issues?

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• You can submit one Board Appeal form and attach additional pages to explain how you want your issues reviewed, or you can submit multiple Board Appeal forms – one for each review option.

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I lost my BVA appeal, what can I do now?

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• If you disagree with the Board’s decision and have new and relevant evidence that supports your case, you can file a Supplemental Claim. You can also appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

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How do I change my appeal from a Board Appeal to Supplemental Claim or Higher-Level Review?

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• Tell the Board in writing that you wish to withdraw your Board Appeal. Then you can file a Supplemental Claim or Higher-Level Review.

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Should I hire an attorney/claims agent?

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• That is a personal decision. However, unless your appeal hangs on a certain legal issue/angle then the benefit they provide may not be there.

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Can I file an appeal a specific condition decision, or do I have to appeal the entire claim?

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• You can appeal a single decision, two, all of them, etc. Do know you CANNOT appeal the same condition via multiple appeal types at the same time!

 

On the supplemental claim form, what does "Check this box if any issue listed below is being withdrawn from the legacy appeals process. OPT-IN from SOC/SSOC"?

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• This box only applies to Veterans who are wanting to convert their 'legacy appeal' to the modern appeal processes. In short, unless you have been in a continuous appeal since circa 2017, this box does NOT apply to you and CAN be ignored.

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References

• 38 CFR § 3.103 - Procedural due process and other rights

• 38 CFR § 3.105 - Revision of decisions

• 38 CFR § 3.156 - New evidence

• 38 CFR § 3.159 - Department of Veterans Affairs assistance in developing claims

• 38 CFR § 3.2501 - Supplemental claims

• 38 CFR § 3.2601 - Higher-level review

• 38 CFR § 14.636 - Payment of fees for representation by agents and attorneys in proceedings before Agencies of Original Jurisdiction and before the Board of Veterans' Appeals

• 38 CFR § 20.202 - Rule 202. Notice of Disagreement

• 38 U.S. Code § 5904 - Recognition of agents and attorneys generally

• 38 U.S. Code Chapter 71 - BOARD OF VETERANS’ APPEALS

• 38 U.S. Code Chapter 72 - UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS

• M21-5, Chapter 7, Section C - Decision Review Officer (DRO) Process