Legal Fees and Services

The cost of this service is contingent upon the outcome of the appeal. The award must result in a cash benefit to you and be over and above what you may already be receiving. Our fees are solely a 20% withholding from the retroactive cash award to you.  For example, if you are getting $300 per month now and we are able to get that increased to $800 per month for the past 10 months (difference of $500 for 10 months), the retro award is $5000.  Our fee would be $1000 and you would receive $4000 plus an ongoing new compensation rate of $800 per month.  If we are able to win subsequent appeals, we can earn an additional fee award for each cash retro-award we win for you.  In other words, you don’t pay any of our fees if we put money in your pocket!  NO results! NO cost!

If the appeals team decides to grant any aspect of your appeal, they will issue a new decision to award the benefit.  The decision will inform you on what was granted and how much compensation you are due as a result of the decision.  It will indicate whether the grant of that issue is considered a full grant of the benefit sought on appeal or it is considered only a partial grant of the benefit sought on appeal.  A partial grant of the benefit would mean that the new partially allowed issue will be listed in a statement of the case or subsequent supplemental statement of the case to continue through the appeals process.  You will be paid the newly awarded compensation whether you continue your appeal or not.

If it is considered a full grant and you disagree with the decision, you will be required to initiate a new appeal by submitting a notice of disagreement.  For example, if the appeal was whether service connection is warranted for a right knee disability.  A fully favorable appeal decision would grant service connection for the right knee disability and award an evaluation of 10% with an effective date of January 10, 2012.   It is fully favorable, because the issue was whether service connection is warranted.  If you disagree with the effective date or the evaluation, you must submit a new notice of disagreement.

An appeal decision may be awarded at any stage of the appeal process prior to the case being certified to the Board of Veterans Appeals.  It is quite possible that you can receive multiple appeal decisions awarding various aspects of your appeal through the course of an appeal.

Each time we can put money in your pocket by getting the VA to render an appeal decision, we earn 20% of the retro as our fee for our assistance in your appeal.  The new level of compensation from that point forward is yours.  As such, we will pay close attention to the effective dates and evaluations assigned for you, because the more we can win for you, the more we can earn for our effort. We consider our fees to be very reasonable especially since they’re retroactive.

The objective of this legal service is to get results for veterans seeking compensation from the VA for disabilities related to their military service especially those who served in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan and are unable to work due to service related disabilities.

This service guides the VA claimant through the complex appeal process.  We identify the path of least resistance to secure the benefits in the quickest amount of time.  Veterans have come to us concerned after being told that their appeal was going to BVA and they would be waiting for at least 2 to 3 years for a decision.  After working with us, while no one can make the VA move faster, we were able to take advantage of due process and appeal rights to get them a favorable decision within 12-18 months.

We draw from our experience to develop a unique strategy for each claimant. Identifying the development steps necessary to position your appeal for a favorable outcome.  Leveraging our understanding of the appeals process to get your case before an adjudicator who has the authority to grant your appeal.  We have leveraged our extensive experience for countless veterans and their families with many types of claims to include:

• Mental illness originating during service or related to military service.
• Post traumatic stress disorder
• Psychological illness due to sexual or personal assault during military service.
• Heart attack or stroke occurring during active duty or active duty for training.
• Traumatic brain injury from explosive device or head injury during service.
• Agent Orange disabilities
• Traumatic injuries from an in-service accident
• Chronic disease or disability diagnosed during service.
• Disease or disability secondary to a service related disability.
• Disability aggravated by military service.
• Individual unemployability
• Dependency indemnity compensation for surviving spouse for service related death

If you have received a Statement of the Case, it is strongly recommended that you have a skilled advocate to help you navigate the appeals process.

After you file an NOD, the appeals team will process through either the DRO or the traditional process as per your election.  If the appeals team decides to deny any issue of your appeal, they will issue a Statement of Case (SOC) that explains the decision. It usually takes, on average, twelve months from the submittal of the Notice of Disagreement for the appeals team to issue an SOC. The statement will provide pertinent regulations to the issues you raised in the NOD and the reasons why your appeal was denied.  Attached to the SOC, the VA will provide a VA Form 9 for you to complete if you wish to perfect your appeal.

We strongly encourage you to submit that VA Form 9 as soon as possible to protect your appeal.  The law says that the VA Form 9 must be submitted within 60 days of the SOC or within 1 year from the rating decision, whichever is later.

Given the time sensitive nature of your appeal, please do not hesitate to contact us right away for help in your appeal.