Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 250 (2011) SMC

[pacmanx1]

Filed: March 23rd, 2011

Precedential Status: Precedential

Buie v. Shinseki – CourtListener.com

The Court has held that the order in which disabilities are service connected is not relevant to VA's determination of a claimant's eligibility for special monthly compensation under 38 U.S.C. section 1114(s).  Whenever a veteran has a total disability rating, schedular or extra-schedular, based on multiple disabilities and the veteran is subsequently awarded service connection for any additional disability or disabilities, VA's duty to maximize benefits requires VA to assess all of the claimant's disabilities without regard to the order in which they were service connected to determine whether any combination of the disabilities establishes entitlement to special monthly compensation under section 1114(s).  If, after such an assessment, VA determines that the claimant is entitled to special monthly compensation, the effective date of the award of special monthly compensation will be the effective date assigned for the award of benefits for the final disability that forms the relevant combination of disabilities.  Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 250-51 (2010), as amended (Apr. 21, 2011).

Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) (vetsfirst.org)

 

[broncovet]

Correct...thanks for this information!  

[Vync]

This actually happened to me. After being P&T for 10+ years, after my 2019 heart attack the VA correctly went ahead and processed me for SMC-S housebound. It's a shame the criteria 100% + 60% for schedular vs. TDIU requirement is so convoluted, but I was happy to get it for the three months while recovering, but lost it after I "returned to work" (and later became a full-time telecommuter).

[pacmanx1]

Bump

Since more veterans are having questions about SMC, I decided to bump this post. SMC is quite tricky and hard to understand and follow. I suggest that all veterans should seek out an accredited attorney for assistance. 

Quote

VA's duty to maximize benefits requires VA to assess all of the claimant's disabilities without regard to the order in which they were service connected to determine whether any combination of the disabilities establishes entitlement to special monthly compensation under section 1114(s).  If, after such an assessment, VA determines that the claimant is entitled to special monthly compensation, the effective date of the award of special monthly compensation will be the effective date assigned for the award of benefits for the final disability that forms the relevant combination of disabilities.  Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 250-51 (2010), as amended (Apr. 21, 2011).