Oh! No! I Forgot And Never Noticed Line 23B On My 534 Form

[mrs rockman (widow of vet)]

As I have posted before, Milwaukee received my 534 form on 11/02/12. I knew that I would have to wait a long while before I heard anything at all- even a small peep. So far I have not even received the VCAA letter telling me if there was any additional information that they might need.

When I called the 800# about two weeks ago, she did an IRIS inquiry. Okay, I know now it takes some time before you get a response.

Well, yesterday Milwaukee called and said they had a question for me that I had left one question blank. I listed how many times David had been married and also me. The part that had date marriage ended-I put 09/02/12. Then where it had how marriage ended-I put Death.

I never saw where it asked if I had remarried since the death of the veteran ( and neither did the VSO). I thought that after age 57 or maybe 59, that it had no bearing on things. So since they saw (no, they probably never read all of the 534 form) our marriage ended in death and that was my last marriage, they cannot do anything with the one line blank.

I told her that we had done an IRIS and she basically said that had her look at my file. I wonder how long my file would have sat there in their "waiting trash bin" before someone would have decided to look at it!!! I did ask her about the approximate wait time and she said I would get a letter in 2-3 weeks. Another Waiting Game they play with us!

Celia, Mrs. R

[john999]

I remember my first NOD/DRO request sat for months at my VARO before I went to the VARO to view my file. I found out that my claim was being routed to the BVA even though I had not filed a Form 9. I got that fixed and got my DRO Review and got TDIU within a few months. I often wonder how long it would have taken if my claim had gone to the BVA? You just cannot trust the VA. When I have a claim at the VARO I check frequently just to see if they need something or are waiting for something. They held up one of my claims waiting for my DD214. They already had it in my C-File, but were too lazy to get it. I supplied it myself, but they were willing to wait months for St. Louis to send them one. Same with SSA and my SSD file. I supplied it because I knew they would wait on SSA for up to a year. Stay hands on with your claim as much as you can.

John

[mrs rockman (widow of vet)]

John,as much as I looked over the form, I never noticed anything missing. I know it is my big boo boo. I know I should have checked on it more. I called back at the end of the year; I think, but nothing was said about something missing. I know from now on, do an IRIS and maybe just maybe it will end up on someone's desk that will actually look at the file. You are fortunate you went in to view your file, otherwise you may still be waiting and waiting. You almost have to be standing directly in front of the person with big flash cards of your info and maybe they will look up at it. She said she was sending my file to the raters to see if I qualify. I told her that the 100% P&T letter was in with the claim and she said she knew about it. It is now a wait and see. I will be checking on it from time to time-trying to balance from not being too often to piss them off, but often enough to let them know that HEY, I AM STILL HERE"!

Celia