Get SC backdated to onset of condition?

[Christheexplorer]

 Good Morning community- 

Earlier this month I recieved 100% service connection, a surprizing 2 1/2 months after submitting my claim on e-benefits. After living off of a few hundred bucks a month for the past 3 years I woke up to $6k in my bank account, so life feels great right now.

 

A friend of mine is telling me to file my NOD anyways, for the other disabilities  they didn't connect, and also to get my SC backdated to the onset of condition - which would be considered starting in the last 2 months of service before recieving my honorable discharge, 9 years ago.

 

Who has experience with this? Is there a legitimate route I can take to get my 100% backdated to the diagnosis of my PTSD, and without a lawyer?

Thanks and happy Sunday.

[King156]

On 8/15/2016 at 4:50 PM, Vync said:

And then there are VSO's who helped veterans file their claims. The veteran comes back later with another issue and is told not to file anything else because it "might slow down" their pending claims.

Wait. I remember someone on here said that if you file 2 claims at once, then it slows it down because your file gets pulled off of 1 rater's desk & then has to go to another rater's desk & they end up playing tug-of-war with your claim.

Can someone verify which is the correct situation, since I have 3 more claims that I want to put in but I thought that it's better to wait.

 

[Vync]

On 9/11/2016 at 6:55 PM, King156 said:

Wait. I remember someone on here said that if you file 2 claims at once, then it slows it down because your file gets pulled off of 1 rater's desk & then has to go to another rater's desk & they end up playing tug-of-war with your claim.

Can someone verify which is the correct situation, since I have 3 more claims that I want to put in but I thought that it's better to wait.

I have personally filed new claims while the VA was processing existing claims. The VA was able to complete some claims while deferring others (gathering evidence from non-VA docs, C&P exams, etc...). The VA did not just place me in limbo until all claims were completed.

I did this because there is no way to anticipate when the VA will actually finish a claim with a correct rating (I had to NOD many of mine due to VA errors). In addition, I wanted the earliest possible effective dates. I could not see myself waiting for one claim to finish before opening a new one.

Of course, this is just me, my opinion, and what happened in my case.

You could always do an intent to file for your three additional claims to preserve your effective date, but don't forget to act on them before the time limit runs out.

[King156]

4 hours ago, Vync said:

I have personally filed new claims while the VA was processing existing claims. The VA was able to complete some claims while deferring others (gathering evidence from non-VA docs, C&P exams, etc...). The VA did not just place me in limbo until all claims were completed.

I did this because there is no way to anticipate when the VA will actually finish a claim with a correct rating (I had to NOD many of mine due to VA errors). In addition, I wanted the earliest possible effective dates. I could not see myself waiting for one claim to finish before opening a new one.

Of course, this is just me, my opinion, and what happened in my case.

You could always do an intent to file for your three additional claims to preserve your effective date, but don't forget to act on them before the time limit runs out.

Thanks for clarifying. And it wouldn't be the only thing that a VSO believes is true, but isn't...sadly, I ended up helping a local DAV rep with getting their own personal claim moving; the rep had been "helping" other veterans with their claims for year, yet didn't even know how to "unstuck" their own claim. Yikes! 

[ArNG11]

On 8/20/2016 at 8:51 PM, 63SIERRA said:

the aspect of aggravation of an unknown in service existing condition can also come into play, as well as the VA s failure to properly process the claim, consider all evidence of record, and apply the 38 CFR laws accordingly.

One question you may ask yourself is are the disabilites that you are rated for likely to improve in the near or far future?

Just a small reduction of one contention can lower your rating signifigantly.

If you dont do a notice of disagreement to the ligitimate claims that were denied, your basically agreeing with the VA at this time that they dont warrant service connec tion.

The VA seems to despise service connecting lumbar or cervical spinal problems, because they rarely get better, are risky and expensive to treat, and garner lifetime compensation in many instances.

In my particular case, I had a claim that could have likely been won, dating back to 1995, but it may have been a 5 year battle, or longer, so I weighed the options, and determined my time and well being are more valuable than a larger sum of money, so I didnt  pursue the claim, but I can if I wanted by just submitting new evidence (any specialsts opinion), then the VA would have to consider all past evidence as well, just as they do when attempting to deny a claim.

As long as im left alone, the VA will never hear from me again, but if not, I will dig in, regroup, get back into my warrior mindset, put in my mouthpiece, and go hold the line again. Sometimes having the potential to use leverage, can be more effective than actually using it.

 

Heh Sierra, I can see why you don't pursue your claims any further.  For me, most of the time I want to be left alone.  The VA had ample opportunity to do what was right on the medical side of the house.  The same goes for the claims side.  It, at least for me, got very tiring.  My family still does not understand why I don't leave well enough alone.  Only folks in our shoes can understand why we choose not to.  Why we choose to help others along the long road of successful VA disability claims. Pity all the time an energy that I decided to place in these long drawn out claims could have been spent on more fullfiling endeavors.  

[Buck52]

I would think that some  or matter fact a lot of veterans that is due a lot of retro$$  call up an attorney and let them take on the VA and just wait sit back to see what happens.

but you better hope you have a sharp experience attorney that will fight tooth& nail for ya.

I would not  mind paying a good experience VA attorney 20% if he could get me 80% of a large award.

and he do all the work  eh!

[ArNG11]

14 hours ago, Buck52 said:

I would think that some  or matter fact a lot of veterans that is due a lot of retro$$  call up an attorney and let them take on the VA and just wait sit back to see what happens.

but you better hope you have a sharp experience attorney that will fight tooth& nail for ya.

I would not  mind paying a good experience VA attorney 20% if he could get me 80% of a large award.

and he do all the work  eh!

You got that right Buck, though sometimes the 20% cut is not enough.  Had I given in and not pursued what I could prove I was entitled to I'd still be at 60%. Generally speaking though most attorneys have enough of a vested interest to hang in there for the long haul but there are some which just don't believe your claim is worth their effort.  Sad but true.  Don't ever give up on what you can prove!