The VA Disability Five-Year Rule: What Veterans Need to Know
38CFR3.957 Service connection Ten-Year Rule.
Service connection for any disability or death granted or continued under title 38 U.S.C., which has been in effect for 10 or more years will not be severed except upon a showing that the original grant was based on fraud or it is clearly shown from military records that the person concerned did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. The 10 years will be computed from the effective date of the Department of Veterans Affairs finding of service connection to the effective date of the rating decision severing service connection, after compliance with § 3.105(d). The protection afforded in this section extends to claims for dependency and indemnity compensation or death compensation.
38CFR3.951 Preservation of disability ratings Twenty-Year Rule.
(a) A readjustment to the Schedule for Rating Disabilities shall not be grounds for reduction of a disability rating in effect on the date of the readjustment unless medical evidence establishes that the disability to be evaluated has improved.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)
(b) A disability that has been continuously rated at or above any evaluation of disability for 20 or more years for compensation purposes under laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs will not be reduced to less than such evaluation except upon a showing that such rating was based on fraud. Likewise, a rating of permanent total disability for pension purposes that has been in force for 20 or more years will not be reduced except upon a showing that the rating was based on fraud. The 20 years will be computed from the effective date of the evaluation to the effective date of reduction of evaluation.
Protection when veteran reaches 55:
VA M-21 IV.ii.1.A.1.e. As is discussed in M21-1, Part IV, Subpart ii, 1.A.1.d, and with only rare exceptions, Veterans over the age of 55 must not be routinely recalled for reexamination. Whether a case is found to involve the “unusual circumstances” described above and in 38 CFR 3.327(b)(2)(iv) is an individual, fact-specific determination left to the discretion of the rating activity.
Reference:
For more information on protection resulting from retroactive increases, see VAOPGCPREC 68-1991.
Quote38 CFR 3.951 Preservation of disability ratings.
(a) A readjustment to the Schedule for Rating Disabilities shall not be grounds for reduction of a disability rating in effect on the date of the readjustment unless medical evidence establishes that the disability to be evaluated has actually improved.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)
(b) A disability which has been continuously rated at or above any evaluation of disability for 20 or more years for compensation purposes under laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs will not be reduced to less than such evaluation except upon a showing that such rating was based on fraud. Likewise, a rating of permanent total disability for pension purposes which has been in force for 20 or more years will not be reduced except upon a showing that the rating was based on fraud. The 20-year period will be computed from the effective date of the evaluation to the effective date of reduction of evaluation.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 110)
[34 FR 11970, July 16, 1969, as amended at 57 FR 10426, Mar. 26, 1992]
Further Reading: