CUE & SMC questions as surviving spouse

[Persistant]

I uploaded (last week) some of the decisions my late husband had gotten and Berta spotted a couple CUEs and gave me some help in drafting them.  Berta if you are able to help with a few more questions Please?  

I have only 2 more days till my year is up from the DIC/Accrued benefits claim where DIC was awarded and Accrued denied saying there aren't any.  At that time also, I intended Substitution but the VA form got separated (my fault) and didn't get submitted. I, however, wrote it into the 21-534EZ form and checked it. I also included a cover letter that said explicitly I was substituting for any and all accrued benefits...  They didn't address substitution in their decision.  Now with the CUEs which aren't an accrued yet, do I need to address those 2 forms immediately before the deadline?

Here are some questions I still have if you could clarify these for me please:

A.      Is a NOD for accrued benefits claimed with DIC a year ago needed – to appeal their conclusion that there are no accrued benefits? Would any backpay from these CUEs be considered accrued benefits that I would have to NOD the decision now for?

B.      Is Substitution needed to do CUE claims or to receive any backpay on them?

C.      What happens when future presumptions of ao are added to the list going forward (as a surviving spouse) does it affect anything I can act on?

      1.        Conditions claimed before – either rated or denied sc          

      2.       Would conditions listed in the C-File but never claimed come into play ever as a presumptive?

D.      If CUE is successful:

     1.       then qualifying for housebound or A&A will need to be judged and evidence has never been presented before…

          a.       does the judgement come only from the C-File?  And if so, should I include printouts from C-File to bring attention to issues pertaining to them? 

          b.      Can any evidence be added (from that date and before) since it was never considered before?  And if so, do I include it with the CUE claim?

E.       IHD was first decided as 30% and went back to one year prior to our first claim – effective 2004…the bump up to 60% was effective   .  But the 100% was effective 2006…Should any of those effective dates be different because:

     1.       SSDI was in place for IHD qualification date of 12/2000  

     2.       TDIU decision being effective 2006 (but he was unemployable per SSDI in 2000?) 

     3.        100% decision?   

     4.       100% effective date adjusted back due to Nehmer 2010 addition listing it as a presumptive

     5.       Combination of all the above?

F.       Many of the evidence documents we submitted are not in the C-File and none of the forms we submitted are there to prove what we submitted or said.  Is that normal?

G.     Also, the only SS docs in the C-File are the ones where I outline his conditions and behaviors in answer to the many questions on the intake paperwork for that SS claim.  There’s 4 pages of handwritten (including along margins due to space shortage)  that I doubt anyone is going to wade through but it’s filled with problems he was having.  Should I type it all out and attach it to the handwritten forms?

H.      We submitted the whole SS file but can’t prove it.  We even wrote a letter to our Congressman to help us get a particular letter sent to us by SS along with their decision listing a myriad of restrictions to employment they concluded for him.  I couldn’t find it and neither could SS but the Congressman did try for us. I have those communications too, but don’t want to drown them in paperwork with this claim.  Any thoughts?

Again, thank you Berta. I did try the other people you suggested without success.   

And thank you to everyone here who has helped  me or does going forward!  

[Berta]

I suggest you ask a few vet lawyers to look over the CUE claim I wrote for you on page 4 of that thread and ask if they will represent you. Do it in email- too much gets lost in phone calls.

Just copy it into Word and then into your email to them.

It changed the draft I wrote for you when you attached the rating info in the last 2 scans.0020 and 0021 I think.

When they paid me for my SMC CUE, since my accrued claim was filed within one year of my husband's death- as yours was) the payment was a retroactive accrued award.

Any new AO presumptives might impact on you. But  I have no idea what will go onto the presumptive list---if anything new will---

You can certainly file an appeal if you want to on their decision as to the fact that there are no accrued benefits due to you. But their own regulations prohibit payment for accrued when there were no pending claims at time of his death.You have no VA case law to back up the appeal.

There is no time limit on filing CUE claims.

Email a few vet lawyers- try Chris Attig, Bob Walsh, Doug Rosinski, and Matt Hill-they are all members here.

Their email might even be in their profile page.

They all have had my email addy in the past ,I think, but if they don't have it now, they can contact me here on the thread,if needed.

They should know who I am..... Berta Simmons at hadit.

Keep the email Very short and base it Solely on the CUE. Attach the last 2 scans I based the CUE on.

I saw no other potentials for CUE in the downloads.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by Berta
added something

[Berta]

to add, make sure if they want to see the link ,that you give them the actual thread link that the CUE claim is in.

[broncovet]

I agree with Berta.  I will add this, tho.  If "unsure" whether you must get the substitution or nod in "on time", then by all means get 'er done, and worry about whether or not it is "for sure" necessary later.  The VA LOOOOOOVESS to deny claims that are filed untimely, because those are no brainers.  They can stack all claims that have been filed 365 days and one second  or more after the decision, into a pile, then hire a team of chimpanzees  with rubber stamps that say, "Denied claim, untimely filed" on them all.  

Dont let this happen to you, get it in on time.  VA is ANAL about its one year period even tho VA seems to think its quite okay for them to take 10 years to process your claim and they still self proclaim themselves as "claimant friendly and non adversarial".  

[broncovet]

I agree with Berta.  I will add this, tho.  If "unsure" whether you must get the substitution or nod in "on time", then by all means get 'er done, and worry about whether or not it is "for sure" necessary later.  The VA LOOOOOOVESS to deny claims that are filed untimely, because those are no brainers.  They can stack all claims that have been filed 365 days and one second  or more after the decision, into a pile, then hire a team of chimpanzees  with rubber stamps that say, "Denied claim, untimely filed" on them all.  

Dont let this happen to you, get it in on time.  VA is ANAL about its one year period even tho VA seems to think its quite okay for them to take 10 years to process your claim and they still self proclaim themselves as "claimant friendly and non adversarial".  

 

An attorney wont likely be able to fix a late filed appeal or substitution.  File them, and then if the attorney must amend them, then he may be able to do that.  

[Berta]

 

I think Matt Hill is the best bet to possibly represent you. He is familar with CUE claims and in the accrued post I recently bumped up in the DIC forum, the link on accrued is from his law firm. It clearly  states that accrued benefits are derived from claims pending at death.

However the only way around that is with a CUE. 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by Berta

[Persistant]

Thank you Berta and Broncovet for your comments and help!