Pressing a claim for VA benefits is often a complicated process which can take years to complete. Win or lose. Many VA claimants experience considerable frustration whether they handle their own claims or do it with the help of a veterans’ service officer (VSO). Most of the veterans organizations, like VFW, DAV and the American Legion, have VSOs. These VSOs are there to represent veterans, free of charge, before the VA. You don’t even have to be a member of the organization to qualify for assistance.
Most VSOs are overworked and underpaid. Many are veterans themselves. At any given time, a VSO may represent 100 to 200 or more VA claimants with many of the claims involving complex fact patterns, sticky legal issues and complicated medical questions. Since there are only so many hours in a workday, the amount of individual attention a VSO may be able to give any one claim can be limited. Add into this mix such factors as experience levels, amounts of training and other variables, and it’s easy to see that some claimants may prefer to hire an attorney to assist with their VA claims. But, by law, attorneys are kept out of the VA adjudication process until the very late stages. Put another way, veterans are virtually prohibited from getting a lawyer. Here’s what I mean by "virtually prohibited".
Every VA claim for disability, pension, survivor’s benefits, educational assistance, and the like, is first filed at a VA regional office (RO). By law, VA is required to assist claimants in developing or proving claims. Congress has decreed that the VA benefits scheme be claimant-friendly and nonadversarial. VA employees at the RO are required to help you with your claim. Add to this the fact that VSOs are available at no cost to you to help with your claim. And finally, decades ago some lawyers took advantage of disabled vets and ended up with huge chunks of their VA compensation. So, against this backdrop, Congress decided that VA claimants did not need legal representation and mandated that you cannot pay, nor may a lawyer accept, a fee for representation until your claim has been denied in a final decision by the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA). The BVA is your appeal step after the RO turns you down.
You cannot pay a lawyer at the RO level. If the RO denies your claim, you have the right to appeal to the BVA, but you cannot pay a lawyer to go to the BVA. You are not prohibited from having a lawyer--only from paying one. That is what I mean by "virtually prohibited, from getting a lawyer.
If the BVA turns down your appeal, the next step is a federal court in Washington, DC You can pay, or agree to pay on victory, a lawyer at that stage. Not before. No lawyers allowed.
Clark Evans is an attorney who handles veterans disability
and pension claims on appeal. His articles generally discuss the
VA compensation process and should not be construed as legal
advice. Your specific circumstances should be discussed with
a qualified veterans advocate to determine how the generic VA
benefits awards scheme may affect you and your claim.Clark Evans
Attorney at Law
609 River Road
Judsonia, AR 72081
(501) 729-4044
http://www.vetslaw.com
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