Form 526Ez To File For Smc-S?

[retroman]

Hi, Just got off the phone with VA and asked if I am qualified for SMC-S under Bradley V Peake and the lady told me to file EZ form 526. I told her it’s the statutory and I don’t need to file the form and she told me that’s the only way for rater to look at. What do you think? Below is my disabilities and I need you to tell me if it’s a shot or not.

Thoracic 40%

Right lower extremity(secondary) 10%

Left lower extremity(secondary) 10%

Cervical spine 20%

Right dominant upper(secondary) 20%

Headaches 30%

Scares on face 30%

Allergic rhinitis 10%

ED(secondary) 0%

IU approved on all above affective date of 1 Jun 2011

Depression (secondary)70% affective date of 2 Apr 2012.

So is this what Bradley V Peake calles 100%+60%?

[Leanne]

IF they used all his disability's for IU that would not be a fair assessment to the veteran,

This is actually how most veteran's get SMC (With different disability's)

I was thinking bout filing a secondary disability to my current disability for depression...but I am currently on depression meds &see MH.

So I want to see if they help me first??....I am currently rated for TDIU for my current disability...but I'd rather not have depression as a disability.... & not just wanting the $$$ for the SMC

In my opinion the SMC is for the veterans that need it worse than me.

........................Buck

Just wanted to make a suggestion about the notion of feeling guilty for taking from a vet that needs it worse than you. Perhaps, if you maximize your *earned* benefits, you could consider donating a specific portion (half, or a quarter) to a homeless vet in a city near you. You'll probably be giving that vet more than (s)he'll get from the VA directly, and you can directly improve his or her life more than you could probably imagine. Or, maybe you take that $150 (or so?) and buy $35 worth of food a week and go distribute that.

As always, you can find better ways to utilize YOUR money than the government ever could.

[FormerMember]

Leanne has a wonderful point. I grow a huge garden every year-far more than Cupcake and I can eat. Much ends up in the hands of those in need. Many Vets come to me with problems filing their Hepatitis C/AO claims and are often a stone's throw away from homelessness. I get in deep trouble with the better half over my propensity to cut checks for them to survive. Funny thing is that when these folks win, they insist on paying me back with interest. I tell them up front to pay it forward but it falls on deaf ears. There can be no higher calling than to help your fellow Vets (with no expectation of remuneration) in my book. This is the essence of what Theresa created here for you many, many years ago. It is the reason I've never given up in all my 26 years of litigation. It's the reason I squandered $6 K writing my book. Every win, every success and every victory emboldens other Vets to go forth and do so as well. How many times have I heard the "My VSO says I should shut up and take the 10% or they may try to take it back." If I had obeyed that advice in 1992, I'd still be at 0%. The truth is you only get your due if you are willing to fight for it. If I only inspire one Vet to seek that which is is his due, then I won. As of today, the number stands closer to 200 + who went on to 100% and more. SMC is probably the least understood and least awarded compensation VA offers simply because no one understands its intricacies. Believe me. It took me several years of parsing the semantics to comprehend it. Even now, there are unfought battles over SMC definitions that are still arriving at the CAVC each year. Law is an unsettled business that constantly metamorphoses based on interpretation. Bradley and Buie jurisprudence are classic, recent examples that illustrate my point. If someone tells you you can't get there from here, ask them why. Don't just blindly accept it.

[broncovet]

I think I can summarize Howell vs Nicholson for simplicity, but you should read ASK nods post for more details:

SMC S (housebound) does not require that you never leave your home or are "bedridden". Instead, Howell Points out that "congress intended" for this to be a benefit for Veterans who can not leave their home FOR WORK.

The courts have ruled that "congress's intent" is the "seal-a-meal" done deal. However, expect VA to fight you and "hope" you dont ever read "Asknod or hadit", and they want you to think Howell is the rich guy on Gilligan's Island.

The VA wants you to forget about those two underlined words and give up on your claim, and would much rather you believe you have to be in bed 24/7 under a doctors orders to get housebound.

[Buck52]

I think everyone took what I said wrong...I need the $$ like everyone else its just that if I don't think I deserve it is my choice.

100% P&T so for feeds my family,& great benefits, if my depression gets worse and the Dr's state so sure I will file a claim for it due to my SC Disability's

Every veteran has a right for ''earned'' benefits and its up to them to fight for them just like the rest of us has to.

I help my fellow veterans glad to in anyway I can..... in my opinion homeless veterans are homeless because they choose to be, I would help any veteran homeless or not with food and a place to sleep but they should ask for help from the VA and if they have a disability claim they should file for it, but who is to say what the do with the $?? ......this is a debatable subject.....homeless veterans should seek help from the VA& SSA

JMO

.................Buck

Edited May 7, 2015 by Buck52

[Leanne]

I think everyone took what I said wrong...I need the $$ like everyone else its just that if I don't think I deserve it is my choice.

100% P&T so for feeds my family,& great benefits, if my depression gets worse and the Dr's state so sure I will file a claim for it due to my SC Disability's

Every veteran has a right for ''earned'' benefits and its up to them to fight for them just like the rest of us has to.

I help my fellow veterans glad to in anyway I can..... in my opinion homeless veterans are homeless because they choose to be, I would help any veteran homeless or not with food and a place to sleep but they should ask for help from the VA and if they have a disability claim they should file for it, but who is to say what the do with the $?? ......this is a debatable subject.....homeless veterans should seek help from the VA& SSA

JMO

.................Buck

I honestly was not intending to imply that you should give more or help more. I was referencing your statement that you wanted to leave benefits on the table for someone whom you believed needed it more than you. You are right that everyone needs to tend to their own well being and try to obtain their own earned benefits. My point was solely that you leaving something on the table will not go to the guy who needs it more. It's a shame, but that isn't how it works. My statement was that if you really wanted to see it go to that cause, you would be more likely to do a better job at that than the VA will. No offense intended there, my apologies if an offense was taken.

[Berta]

Just to add:

"ok, I guess I will not file for it. one, My Iu is made of many of my disabilities. Two, my 70% MDD is secondary. Three, If I did qualify for SMC S, Va would more likely contacted me." Definitey not necessarily so.

SMC is a statuatory mandate.

If the veteran's award reveals they should be considered for SMC and the VA fails to conisder them, that is basis for a CUE claim.

I Cued them on their violation of the Statute of SMC and won the CUE in 2012.

The CUE was in a 1998 decision.

I filed due to their lack of

consideration' because the decision showed that my deceased husband was clearly 100% SC and separately 100% under 1151.

They awarded posthumously SMC S.

I think you should file a CUE on their last decision, unless I am getting this all wrong....

The MDD alone would garner TDIU and I am seeing it all as Buck's way of looking at it.

Can you scan and attach here the last decision?

(Cover C file number, name, address prior to scanning it.)

Has any doctor documented in your VA records that you are Housebound due to these SCs?

I need to make this point again....SMC regs are confusing.....the regulation I charged them with violating was their lack of proper SMC 'consideration' because that was the legal error they made with obvious proof on the 1998 rating sheets that they should have considered SMC.

The VA awarded this claim in 2012 (I had to CUE the CUE award ) and part of it is still pending.....the new cue was awarded in April but it still is not correct.I filed 4 CUEs on that.

When VA acknowledged their "lack of consideration", in my SMC CUE , then they had to 'consider' the deceased veteran for SMC.

The proper wording of CUE claims is critical..and the violation cannot be a DTA (Duty to Assist) violation.It must be a legal violation of basic VA case law, based on all evidence of record at time of the alleded CUEd decision and have a monetary gain that the legal error prevented the claimant from getting.

I wish their could be an independent team of people who could seek CUEs in RO decisions and then help those claimants file the CUE.The ROs make far more CUEs than the BVA does.

The independent people would have job security for the rest of their lives.

I bet they would find plenty of CUEs in RO decisions.

(Just my opinion.... I am dreaming of the impossible......VA saves lots of dough with CUEs no one ever catches)

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