broncovet

Clown man You are probably right if the VA told me that I had to fill in another form to get retroactive dependents compensation. However, this smells like an "automatic denial" of dependents compensation benefits. That is, the Veteran applies for benefits, including dependent compensation, and when the award is approved, the dependent compensation is automatically denied with the award being for a single Veteran only. The VA says there is no "automatic denial" of benefits, however, that is exactly what this is.

Commander Bob: You are correct in your assumptions, with the exception that I did not incude my dependents birth certificates. If my claim for increased compensation due to dependents was deficient due to me not including the birth certificates, the VA is required under VCAA to tell me what is necessary to complete my claim, that is, I am required to submit birth certificates. If they dont do their "duty to assist", how am I supposed to know that birth certificates. or a second application for dependents compensation is required (if that is the case)? I want to thank everyone who posted..even if you took the opposite position I have taken, because I know the VA is going to hit me with everything..even the legal "kitchen sink"..to try to deny my claim. Even the "naysayers" are helping me to try to anticipate and counter the VA's long "excuse list to deny".

Those July cases remind us: If you have multiple pending claims, and you get a denial on one, the others are "secretly denied" (what the court calls "deemed denied") and the clock starts ticking on a one year time limit on appeal. Where are our legislators? Why cant we introduce and pass legislation that the VA has to give a Veteran a decision on his claim? Secret denials dont count..the Veteran is entiltled to a decision on his claim and also reasons and basis for its denial. This would be akin to a court putting a person in jail, and then never charging him with a crime, then later determining since he was found guilty of a lesser offense, he was "deemed guilty" of the second offense because he did not appeal a conviction to which he was never charged. So much for the "favor the Veteran" rule.

Magician... I dont think we need to put "pig covers" over jet engines to keep the flying pigs from entering the engine during flight just yet. More likely, your VSO looked over your file and filed those claims for you, or, maybe even your wife...there is even a possibility that YOU filed for those extra claims and forgot you did so. It wont be the first time a Veteran, especially under economic distress, signed some papers his wife or VSO put under him and then forgot about it. The closest I have been to seeing pigs fly or rating specialists add a claim to your awards is bacon or sausage on board an airliner.

Skunk.. If you go back on that website, ask him a question on the particulars of your case. I seem to remember him mentioning tatoos, but, again ask him..he knows some details on that, too..you know..when you got the tatoos, how many tatoos, etc. etc. I strongly suggest you ask NOD..on that site. He will help you.

Carlie It would seem relevant that the Veteran had sought the MAXIMUM benefit, which would incude dependents benefits, if applicable, because the effective date would be which ever was the later of the application date, or the date the benefit arose. The "application date" of dependent benefits would be the same date as the application, if the Veteran listed his dependents, because he was seeking the max benefit including compensation for dependents. That is, since the Veteran was seeking the max benefit, and the max benefit includes compensation for dependents, his initial application for benefits would also be an application for dependent compensation. I think the VA tries hard to chop up the Veterans claim into small pieces..one claim for dependents, another for depression, another for arthritis, another for SMC, etc. However, the Veteran was applying for VA benefits...the max benefit, and the VA has a duty to assist the Veteran in obtaining the max benefit the law will allow..to which he is entitled. The Veteran is required to specify the benefit sought, however, the Veteran is not required to know what TDIU is, what SMC is, etc. etc. If the Veteran tells his VA doc that he is depressed and unemployed due to PTSD the courts have regarded this as an informal claim for increase. The VA is then required to assist the Veteran with his TDIU, PTSD and depression claims, explaining to the Veteran if/what other documentation is required to "perfect" his claim for benefits. I am going to look at my 2004 decision..because, if they told me that I had to send a 21-526, birth cert, etc, in order to collect dependents benefits, and I did not do so within a year, then I am probaly out of luck and would have to file a CUE claim, contending that the decision had CUE in that my dependents were inadvertently left off of the decision. I dont know if anyone has "Cue'd" a decision because it failed to include dependent benefits when the VEteran told the VA he had dependents when he applied, but that would seem to be a clear unmistakable error if the VA had the incorrect dependents on the decision. I was hoping to avoid a cue claim, since the standard is stiff. In my case, I have in my possesion the application which includes my dependents listed. If my application for dependents benefits was incomplete, such as needing birth certs, 21-526,s etc, then the VA is required to assist me by telling me what is necessary to make my claim complete. If they did NOT do this, then the monkey is on their back. If they told me what was required, and I failed to send it in, then its my fault.

Larry... Lets send your claim to the Guiness Book of World Records...this is probably the first time the VA ever processed things the way they are supposed to. I am sure, however, the VA must have messed at least part of your claim up or you would not be here on hadit..so..there goes your world record. If any one else, however, had their claim by the VA done right the first time, surely Guiness will want to hear from you.

Carlie Not trying to be argumentative, however, when a Veteran asks for benefits, he is assumed to be seeking the MAXIMUM benefit allowed by law. This would include things like dependents benefits, SMC, Aid and attendance, etc., if it was determined he was entitled to those benefits. This would make sense..can you imagine someone applying for benefits and telling the Va he is seeking the lowest benefit possible? Even tho this seems ridiculious, the VA often assumes the Veteran is seeking ONLY one benefit he may be eligible for, and blowing off the others, that is, assuming the Veteran is seeking the lowest benefit possible. It is just another trap to catch the Veteran unaware and reduce/deny/delay his benefits. Oh, and yes, it may have already been decided by the higher courts..I need to research it much more and see if the Va can, in fact, get away with "putting it to" Veterans in still another way. The only thing I am getting at is just because the VA has gotten away with this is the past, does not necessarily mean that they can get away with it now or in the future. For example, for years the VA got away with denying Vets claims for years because they "were not well grounded" but they can no longer do that because someone "tested" this in a higher court and won. Vets no longer have to prove their claim is "well grounded".

Delta Sorry the links did not work..I am not sure why..they did work before when I posted them. Thanks for posting the case numbers. Testvet My 2 cents worth: I recommend you appeal. If you have a copy of that letter that surely it would be considered an informal claim for benefits. Reason: Altho an appeal could take years and years, this money could ultimately eventually become a "college fund" for your grandchildren. Go for it.

Testvet It is up to the individual college to decide if students are allowed to delay paying their tuition while the VA "processes" their paper work. At at least ONE college, they dont trust the VA because they have been burned before. The college will let students delay their tuition while waiting on student loans and pell grants, however this particular college will not let Va students do this. In the past the VA has taken so long to procces the paperwork, that the college gets "burned" for tuition as the student often drops out eventually when the money fails to arrive. Unlike the VA, the student loans/pell grants happens fairly quickly, but the VA can take months and months. So, this college quit allowing Veteran/CH. 35 students to do this, because they could not afford to get burned again and again. At least one college does not trust the VA, and I cant blame em. These students just can not hang on forever waiting on the VA to pay employees bonuses for delaying claims. There is a good part to all of this! I think the VA is going to tick off the wrong people. I think the VA will tick off, for example Harvard Law Students, who are also Veterans/dependents waiting on benefits. Then, these gifted students are going to use their legal knowledge to sue the VA. I know it will take years, but I am looking forward to the day when one or more of these gifted law Students takes the VA to court and wins big time.

Yes, purple, this is very bad and is making the VA look even worse, since just a few months ago the VA said they would be ready for this. They are not. It is going to make lots of people mad..this time, not just Veterans, but colleges and dependents as well. Students will be forced out of school for not paying tuition and fees..compliments of the Department of Veterans Affairs inefficiency/negligence. I am hopefull the media will get hold of this..and pressure the VA to do what they should have been doing for Veterans AND dependents all along, and that is not delay these claims forever. Colleges are going to be mad because they are going to get cheated out of tuition and fees...because when they let them attend classes, and the student eventually drops out because no VA money for months and months, the college will never get paid. I am hoping the VA will tick off the wrong people this time. I hope there are some very smart professors that figure out how to do what Veterans have not been able to do: MAKE THE VA pay PROMPTLY. Story here: http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfaug09/nf082809-1.htm I think the VA is pretty stupid doing things like ticking off Harvard law school students. They might want to rethink this!

Carlie and Delta.. Thank you for looking up these BVA cases for me. They are quite helpful, and probably mean that I will have to appeal beyond the BVA. You correctly pointed out, frankly, that the BVA is kind of like the VA in that they are going to keep making legal errors until one of the higher courts stops them. There is not much doubt in my mind that the VA and BVA are committing legal errors in requiring the Veteran to submit MULTIPLE requests for dependents..one at application and another request after the VA err's and only awards the Veteran benefits as a single person. The BVA and VA has, as you pointed out, gotten away with this so far. I think this legal issue needs to be "tested" by the higher courts to see if the higher courts simply allow the VA to "blow off" the Veterans initial dependent application, and make it final when the VA "overlooks" the dependents on the decision. Its another clever way the VA tries to rob Veterans of his benefits, but, if I can, I am going to close this loophole for myself and other Veterans by appealing it to the CAVC/federal courts if necessary. I really do not think the BVA decision will stick. The VA is required, by congress, to give a sympathetic reading of all the Veterans filings, and I plan on arguing that requiring a Veteran to file for dependent benefits TWICE fails to comply with this congressional mandate. One filing should be sufficient. I need to do lots more research on this, and thank you for your help.

You will have a better chance at the lottery than you will at expecting a rater to add something to your claim. The mega millions is one in 175,000,000 and the odds of the VA processing your claim fairly and quickly are much less than that.

Any Veteran with Hep. B, Hep C, or aids needs to visit this website. He is an expert on winning Hep. claims. Dont walk, run to this website to get help with your claim: hepcwebsite or try cut and paste this: http://hcvets.com/AskNOD/index.html Yes, the VA is going to try to blame the Veteran every time..they will blame tatoos, drug use, claiming you got infected with dirty needles there and it was not the VA's fault, with their jetguns. Which do you think is more likely to spread disease..a jetgun which is reused tens of thousands of times, or a needle, which will become dull and discarded after a few sticks? Those jetguns are like sharing drug IV needles on steroids because they are reused thousands of times. Those jetguns really are a Weapon of Mass destruction..it just takes many years for hep to kill you. Please dont accept my take on this, but instead read what "ask NOD" has to say..he has much more knowledge and experience with Hep and the military jetguns has to say about it. He also has references to multiple court cases, explaining what you need to do to win your hep claim.

Delta pointed out the good part of the decision..here is the bad part: Altho the Veteran "won" his point that the VA has to consider all the medical records, his case was remanded (back on the hampster wheel). The net effect of this is as follows: When the VA does not follow regulations, the Veteran bears the burden with additional delays. There is simply no penalty for the Va to fail to follow its own regulations, and there is no reason to see them start doing that anytime soon. This is a terrible injustice. Even when the Veteran wins, he looses, and is subject to even more delays. Even if the Veteran ultimately wins his case, he still winds up being forced to make an interest free loan to the VA of money that is rightfully his.

Caution: Whenever someone tells you they are with the government and they are here to help Veterans, be extra cautious. They probably want you in the study to deny or reduce your benefits. The VA is uninterested in helping Veterans..just go to the vawatchdog.org site and there will be dozens of articles where the VA is shafting Veterans. What we used to call "Veterans paranoia", we now refer to it as "Veterans being well informed".

I have dealt with Voc Rehab. It is just like other parts of the VA. Bottom line is they apply the rules inconsistently. VA regional Offices are famous for this..why do you think the average rate of disability compensation is higher in some states than others? Although this is not fair, its the VA way. If you dont think so, read this: http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/04/...k_vasil_of.html Time after time, when dealing with the government, I have found that if you call and talk to a government worker, and he says no, call back another day, and you will get another government worker who will tell you yes. So, try applying online with Vonap..you will get another government worker and he will likely give you a different answer than the first one.

In Dayton, I got my CPAP by prescription order from the sleep doc, who sent me to respiratory therapy, at the hospital where I got my CPAP. I have been using it for over a year, and almost never go without it. If I do sleep without it, I pay the price. If you need a CPAP, tho they are a pain to get used to, they are definately worth the trouble.

Carlie Thank you for your response. Altho I can see your point, I am hopefull that a Vets advocate I talked to a few years ago is right: You dont have to file your documents on a particular form number to be valid. He said you could file a claim on a napkin, and if it contained all the evidence, your claim would have to be awarded by law. While there is no doubt in my mind the VA uses all excuses to deny, and especially invalid excuses like, "you sent the correct information in on the wrong form". I do know that a claim has to be signed by a Veteran to be valid. But, I am guessing you could sign a napkin that says, "I certify that everything written on this napkin is true to the best of my knowledge". The case in point is Moody vs Prinipii, which states, in pertinent part: "The VA regulation governing informal claims provides that: Any communication or action, indicating an intent to apply for one or more benefits under the laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, from a claimant, his or her duly authorized representative, a Member of Congress, or some person acting as next friend of a claimant who is not sui juris may be considered an informal claim. Such informal claim must identify the benefit sought." I think this is, in part, what Alex was talking about when he said to the effect that when a Veteran tells his VA doc he is unemployed, that constitutes an informal claim for TDIU. (I am pretty sure the Veteran would have already applied for benefits, and this statement would constittue an INCREASE in benefits. However, that is not clear to me) The way I interpret this is that any communication or action is acceptable, and that there is no requirement of any particular form number to establish an informal claim. Yes, I do think the Vetran will need to follow up, with a formal claim on the right form, with all i's dotted and t's crossed, which I have done, but the informal claim, even if it is on a napkin, establishes the effective date. I hope I am right about this.

When in doubt, Get the NOD out!

Carlie I did not know that you can pick and choose which information to send to the VA from the Vet Center. Can this also be done at the VA hospital?

I agree, and think the moderators have done a great job..and had to make some very difficult calls. Altho I may not always agree with each and every time the moderator called a play, I think they have helped to contribute to growing this board and helping more Veterans. If hadit becomes large enough, we could be making history to help cause the Va to make some neccessary changes that would benefit all Veterans. I would like to see hadit become as powerfull as say, the AARP. Politicians know they can not TOUCH the AARP. AARP is a well organized, well funded, politically well connected lobbying organization that no politician DARE try to go against. If a politician recommend, say, cuts to social security payments, that politician would be trounced by the AARP and his political carreer would be Dead on Arrival. I think we need to model the AARP's success in order to make real headway for Veterans. WE do have a large group, 25 million Veterans strong, altho the AARP numbers are probably more. The VA works very hard at keeping Veterans groups from making progress to the level of AARP. One example of this is the VA pitting one generation of Veteran against another by giving priority claims processing to Iraq/OIF Vets, while putting Nam Vets at the bottom of the pile. Nam Vets resent this. Another way the Va keeps Veterans groups at bay is by giving the VSO's "free" office space at the Regional Offices. Most people are smart enough to know "there is no such thing as free rent". The VA asks for, and gets certain benefits for providing "free" office space to VSO's. I would much rather pay more for being a member of DAV, VFW, etc, etc, than to have my VSO do special favors for the VA in exchange for this "free rent". Many times these special favors involve looking the other way when the VA pulls its scandals. I think this one demonstrates how the VA employees and VSO's work together at the detriment of Veterans. No, I dont think this is an isolated example, rather, these individuals were merely ones that got caught. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/115706

Last week it was $70 million in fraud in the VA IT department. This week it is $2 million in VA employee/VSO frauds. No wonder the VA denies legitimate claims..they need the money for their fraud schemes! Story is here. Of course, the Va will say that they have taken "corrective action" so that employees wont get caught again. This means the frauds that are still at the Va will be better at covering it up. This fraud went on undetected for years. Are we to believe that management did not know about this? $72 million disappears and the VA management/accounting does not even notice it? Here is the story: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/115706

Larry... Yep..I agree you are entitled to an EED and should go for it. Leave your hat on at the hearing, and use it as evidence you are depressed. (Aw cmon..its been a while since I said anything about the 'copter) Do also consider this: You may be another victim of shredded evidence. Why did the VA not consider your evidence of an EED? One possible reason is that they shredded that evidence. Yes, if you are afraid of the VA cheating you, you are not paranoid..you are well-read and educated. Dont forget to file a "Special Handling Request" (SHR) before NOV. 1. Cite that your evidence was not considered or else you would have been awarded benefits effective in 2006, so it must have been shredded or mishandled by the VA. Cite regulation. VA HATES SHR's...but has to act on them..if they dont, complain to the VAOIG. I finally got put to the top of the pile by filing a SHR..and by complaining to the VAOIG that my SHR was shredded also! They now know the VAOIG is following my claim, and they desperately want to make that problem (that is, me) go away.

Thank you pete and delta..I agree with both of you. The VA's "position" is that I got a RO decision that listed me as a single person which became final after a year. I think that means that I have to meet the "CUE" standard, fortunately, whether or not I have children/dependents or not should be easy to prove. I am frustrated that the Va just wont pay me for this..why do they make me go to court to prove the obvious? I know the answer..they know that many Veterans will lack the knowledge/persistance to appeal this, and will just give up and they will win again.