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Who's Familiar With Form 646 Cert Of Appeal Bva ?

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halos2

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Not familiar with Form 646 Certification of Appeals to BVA. Do VSO's complete these with all appeals, and do they advise vets of information or not? Will check to see if VSO submitted this with my VA 9 and if so, will get copies to see if all info has been stated. Any others familiar with the info to be sent/validated on this form please advise.

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The topic is a little long but the information is must read when sending appeal to BVA.

Topic covers Form-9, Certification of Appeal by VARO, and Form 646.

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Just to add, in my opinion the 646 is one of the biggest time wasters we have to deal with.

Unless a vet rep is willing to support the claim further than just a ball park statement of agreeing with the veteran's contentions, as in this BVA decision:

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp02/files02/0208508.txt

and there are some more 646s that also did support the claim well at the BVA, but other than that, it is just usually a form that will be handled with a rep not familiar with your claim and will do nothing to advance the claim (except make it take longer.)

If veterans with POAs could waive this form, it would be great.And if you dont have a POA then no 646 sits around waiting for anyone to prepare it.

On the other hand the 646 is a right we have and I have read a few over the last 20 years that strongly advanced the veteran's claim.

This stuff makes me sick: after a past the VARO still didnt give the rep the opportunity to file a 646.

"As noted in the remand section below, the Veteran and his representative were not provided the opportunity to submit a VA Form 646 after completion of the development directed in the August 2011 Board remand.  However, as the claim for service connection for sleep apnea and fatigue is granted herein, there is no prejudice to the Veteran for continuing with the adjudication of each of those issues." 

 

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp12/Files4/1226659.txt

The 646 can be a 2 edged sword.

 

 

 

 

 

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Not familiar with Form 646 Certification of Appeals to BVA. Do VSO's complete these with all appeals, and do they advise vets of information or not? Will check to see if VSO submitted this with my VA 9 and if so, will get copies to see if all info has been stated. Any others familiar with the info to be sent/validated on this form please advise.

Can't say I ever heard of this form, but it is my opinion that no VSO should submit anything without first telling the veteran what he is doing, or what he thinks should be done.....

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http://www.va.gov/vaforms/va/pdf/VA646.pdf

Statement of Accredited Representative in Appealed Case

This is a VA form that your VSO completes prior to your appeal being sent to the Board, but after having responded to the Statement of the Case or Supplemental Statement of the Case after the veteran has had the claim denied.

Your VSO can either rest on the response to the SOC/SSOC and let the appeal go to the Board as is, or the VSO can make additional statements and/or provide additional evidence to support your claim, after which all is sent to the Board.

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If the VA decides to transfer your claim to the BVA- the POA of record completes a 646-

In my case it took 6 months from the beginning of the BVA transfer process (Jan 2006) to July 2006 for my POA to file out this short form-

all he said on it was that he agreed with my contentions- that was about it-then the claim went to the BVA-

the transfer of my claim was not in compliance with the regs and I got it remanded in weeks from the BVA-a remand that my state POA refused to support.

(my support came from NVLSP)

Last year when my POA got a response from me to the first complaint VCAA letter I had received since early 2003- he revoked my POA.

The regs are quite clear that-once a 646 has been completed and filed by a POA- they cannot revoke the claimant's POA unless they file a Motion of Good Cause with the BVA-certified -with a copy to the claimant-

something I never got-

This is what makes the 646 a critical document-

There is a little more to it-will find copy of my 646 and add to this later if there is anything else there to know-

Some reps-as the BVA web site reveals- take the opportunity on the 646 to enhance the veteran's argument and support their evidence again.

Some reps just give a generic statement and probably dont even look at the C file when they write the 646 up.The fact that they can take so long to even write it-means the claim sits idly for months at the RO waiting for the 646.

My POA at first said they did not have a copy of a 646 on me but somehow I got a copy of it.

The first charge in my complaint to the OGC on 4 reps was that the revocation of my POA was illegal because the 646 had been filed and I have never gotten a copy of the BVA Motion for Good Cause.

The OGC has already tentatively agreed with that charge.

The POA has had almost a year to comply with the Motion and never did.

They didnt have good cause.

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Forgot to add-the VA must prepare a Certificate of Appeal Worksheet as well-

This is how they can violate our VCAA rights-

I will post copy of the worksheet later-

It can take the POA and the RO months to file out these forms- stringing us along- and these are additional opportunites for the claim to be considered and resolved- but as I mentioned- once they decide to transfer a cklaim to the BVA after recipt of the I-9 I didnt think they even read it anymore.

Years ago this was all different-

not only did the ROs read responses to SOCs andf SSOCs, they also carefully read the I-9 that the claimant had prepared and more claims used to be awarded at the RO level.

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