Help with Effective Date of Disability Appeal-related Back Pay

[prophetmom]

Hi to All, 

In full disclosure, let me begin by saying that I am not the veteran in question...I am the 22-year wife of a veteran with Schizoeffective disorder. He served his country with distinction in both he Army and the Air Force. To make a long story short (I hope), he was so traumatized when he left the military (they gave him a psych discharge; he served in Desert Storm and had a breakdown over there) until he did not want to deal with anything military or veteran related for a long time. I bring this up because he waited until 2008 (when his condition had gotten unbearable, we were in financial dire straights, etc.) to even begin to look at getting benefits again. As luck would have it, at that time, the VA had just finished deducting from the benefits they WOULD HAVE given him had he been receiving a month check to pay them back for a large lump sum ($20,000 or so, I think) when he separated from the military (My apologies; I am a civilian; I do not know all the formal terms, etc.). Prior to 2008,they awarded him only 10%. In May 2008, that was increased to 30%. Ladies and gentlemen, this is where it gets all fuzzy for me...I had cancer during this time, we had a son with autism, my husband had highs and lows...I really do not remember all of what transpired because it took so long for anything to happen. The bottom line is we got a thick court case-looking document in the mail last month saying in the Conclusion of Law section the following: "For the entire period on appeal, the criteria for a disability rating of 70 percent, but no higher, for schizoaffective disorder are met." My question (finally) is...What is "the entire period on appeal"? I see a line in here that says, "In the June 2010 substantive appeal..." Is this the appeal on which this ruling is based? Then there were 2014 dates, too. It is all so confusing. Any help  you can give will be greatly appreciated.

[prophetmom]

1 minute ago, paulcolrain said:

im not a legal guy but,,, from what i read the top states that you appealed a 30% increase. so then when ever you filed for increase of the 10% is what the date of this appeal awarded you. another words... the day the VA received your request for increase. thats my opinion 

@paulcolrain, thank you so much! I am not a legal gal :D , but I am an English professor...and a journalist...and an author....and I have to say...these VA documents are some of the most weirdly-written documents I have ever seen! It seems to me that they leave out big chunks of information (which, in one part, they do quote law that states that they only have to list the "important stuff" [I am paraphrasing]). However, speaking as a person who has also been a technical writer ("Point here, click there" for software, etc.), I can say that their writing for understanding leaves much to be desired.

You know, this entire episode has really opened my eyes to how many veterans there are who need help getting their just due from the VA. Truthfully, after about a year's waiting following the 30% appeal, our lives got so busy and tumultuous until we really forgot about it. In hindsight, I think that worked best for us....otherwise, I don't know if we would had peace knowing/remembering that there was money owed to my husband but held up by bureaucracy. Ever since we got this packet, I have begun to pray every night for us and other vets whose benefits are being denied or held up. I also want to see what else I can do to help. I am going back to school for a Masters and eventually a Ph.D. (both in English; I was going before we got the packet...this money will make it much easier). I want to see how I can use any of my writing skills (and advocate skills) to help.

[prophetmom]

11 minutes ago, Berta said:

The VA obviously owes you some cash...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This is quite a win! It is hard for me to determine how much because of whatever they deducted already due to his separation payments.

"the VARO dispute the finding/ruling of the Board and not give us the retropay or the increase? "

No they cant but sometimes they try to pull crap like that.

"so, what do we do if that happens? I sure hope it doesn't. We really need this money."

That can be fought with a CUE claim...or even a call to the White House Veterans Hot line:

1-855-948-2311

But I don't think the VARO  will mess around with this award. We can help if they do.

Thanks for posting this Prophetmom- I am sure this will inspire others who have inservice mental health disabilities.

I was going to ask you just for the Decision # and Citation #...but you posted the whole thing and it is quite a good read.

Just to add to what Broncovet said.....and that is a Great list he gave us......

I lost 2 disabled vet husbands and did a lot of worrying about them when they were sick until I realized I could ask God to worry for me , maybe just for an hour day, to get it off my mind and it helped a lot.

This is a great decision!!!!!! I need to read it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Thank you, @Berta! I was writing a response to paulcorain when yours came through. Please read it; I respect you personally greatly (I have been admiring you from afar via your posts :D ). Please let me know anything I can do to help other vets.

As for the separation payments, my husband said he got somewhere betwee $16,000 and $20,000 in 1992 or so (I think; we were not married then and he blocked all of it out). He would not even go to the VA or have anything to do with them until 2008 when we were in dire straights and, quite frankly, I was at my wits end with him and gave him an ultimatum (sorry, but this is true). As luck would have it, the VA was still "giving him" ( civilian here; don't know the proper verbiage) 10%, but they never sent any check because they were recouping the separation payments. Literally, when we filed, the recoupment had been "met." Being a worrier (I am following your advice, @broncovet, but old habits die hard :D ), I called the DAV the other day to see what would happen if they "forgot" he paid all of this off by 2008. His DAV office said the file shows no balance due.

Edited July 6, 2017 by prophetmom

[paulcolrain]

i too had a strange thing with VA. i was Discharged in 2004. i did apply for Comp but was denied due to no medical records found in my service files. i didnt appeal because i figured they Knew Best and i must Be Wrong,,, i was still in be a great soldier mode..... all of a sudden in november of 2010 someone in the VA found my service records and gave me 10% i was totally stunned. i asked for answers and was told that the army lost my service records and then found them and sent 6 years later... so then i finally realized i needed to get informed about what the heck really goes on . it is sad to know how many Vets have Benefits and dont know because they got told no.

Edited July 6, 2017 by paulcolrain

[Berta]

My whole reply just  went out in hyperspace........it involved this I think ...They owe comp that includes all of your husband';s dependents- the children and you----and it looks to me like 2008 is the retro date for the 70% and dependents allowance. The pay charts on here at hadit.

They should send you an audit statement but it has to be carefully assessed. They made errors of 40 thousand bucks in one audit I got and then forgot an entire year of DIC in another audit I got.

VA very seldom overpays- they usually figure out how to under pay and make it look kosher.

My husband's gaf was 26 to 34 and I know you sure deal with a lot.

If your husband ever becomes unemployed he should file forTDIU (paid at 100% rate) and also apply for SSDI.

Paul is right. VA has made countless errors on vet claims and ,like my daughter said when she got a ridiculous award from VA EDU under Chapter 35 (which  they fixed  right away due to the scathing NOD/CUE I wrote for her) that it looked so "official" she thought maybe the VA letter was correct.But after reading the regu8lations right on her Chap 35 application, she said "How could they be so stupid to ignore my 7 years USAF on my DD 214 they also had with my Chap 35 app?"

I just said ":Welcome to my World!~" It was really the first time my daughter, as a veteran had any contact with them and they couldn't even handle a simple Chap 35 Educational app correctly.

VA Educational dept is sometimes an oxymoron.

[prophetmom]

18 minutes ago, paulcolrain said:

i too had a strange thing with VA. i was Discharged in 2004. i did apply for Comp but was denied due to no medical records found in my service files. i didnt appeal because i figured they Knew Best and i must Be Wrong,,, i was still in be a great soldier mode..... all of a sudden in november of 2010 someone in the VA found my service records and gave me 10% i was totally stunned. i asked for answers and was told that the army lost my service records and then found them and sent 6 years later... so then i finally realized i needed to get informed about what the heck really goes on . it is sad to know how many Vets have Benefits and dont know because they got told no.

This is true! Yes, my husband had no idea, I don't think, that he could get anything from the VA after he left. He felt so cast down and "unworthy" because of having to leave due to mental illness.I am glad that someone found your service records!

[broncovet]

Remember, the VA will deduct any/all monies you have already received.  Its actually quite complicated to figure out how much retro you will get EVEN WHEN you have a disability percentage and effective date.  

You can not just multiply the 70 percent rate times the number of months.   You see, the pay was lower earlier, and we did get raises, in all years except 3, I think, during the Obama administration when we got zero raises.  So, you have to figure it out each year, using the "old" 70 percent pay scale, adding your dependents.  Then you subtract monies you received from VA that year.  

If you were receiveing 30 percent prior to the decision, married, with no children at home, then you probably got or get around $456.97 and your new pay at 70 percent will be $1451.71.  If you subtract these, you get  about 994 per month.  So, since this is the 7th month, you should get almost 7000 additional retro for 2017.   For 2016, our raise was so small it was almost pennies, so you should get about 993 times 12 or about 11,916 for year 2016.  

You can repeat this every year back to your effective date, if you want to get a precise amount of retro.  Or, you could "guestimate" 11,000 per year times 7 years, if that is how long ago your actual effective date is, which would be "about" 77,000 in retro.  This assumes you dont owe VA any money, however and I do not know that!  Do not hold me to that number, I used as a guess your suggestion of about 7 years ago.  Your VARO decision will have the actual effective date, and that will be the number they use, not my guestimate.  

Better is to figure out your own, using these tables:

http://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/resources_comp01.asp