I'm soooo out of the loop! They say you get smarter as you age, but I swear I've forgotten most of the VA stuff I knew.

Can anyone bring me up to speed? Since MT got his 100% back in early 2000. (I used the "3rd Party lawyer" thing back then.)

What has changed?

Thanks a bunch!
Kim

Veterans can hire a Lawyer on new claim on contingency. All else about the same except I don't think they allow 3rd Party anymore. After MT dinged them I guess they patched that hole

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Kim and MT ;-) Good to se you! We go back about 8 years!

I'm right with you: have been mostly off-line for about a year or two.

Not sure how much as changed with the DEPARTMENT lol!

Imagine it's all about the same: delay and deny.

Hope you guys are getting on well in Montana. How's your new house?

Weather here in N. California is as hot as a pistol.

Stick around!!

Silver Wings

A veteran can only hire a lawyer under the new regs if the NOD was filed on or after June 20, 2007.The lawyer must pass a test from the VA to show they know VA case law.
(There is some movement in the vets community to require vet reps and SOs to pass the same test)

The lawyers fee comes out of the retro and I understand that the VA itself handles that payment.

Here is the new reg (which is unfair to THOUSANDS and THOUSANDs )of claimants whose NOD was filed prior to June 20, 2007.

http://www.veteransdisabilitylawyersite.co...ans_lawyer.html

Berta:

Thanks for clearing that up. Its the NOD that triggers whether or not you can hire a lawyer. Amazing how they can always find a way to shaft a lot of Veterans that they have already been hosing. I guess that would include the mysterious never shrinking hundreds of thousands of claims stacked up waiting to go to the BVA. Would that be a Form 9 NOD or just the intention to file a NOD?

The regional denial has to be on or after June 20, 2007 if you had one issued before say Jan 2007 and waited until June 21 to file the NOD you are not allowed to hire an attorney to represent you, I know because I tried, the lawyer is not allowed to represent me for a fee, pro bono yes, fee no. WTF any way I took in my NOD yesterday and got it date stamped to meet their 60 day deadline asked for a DRO Hearing again lol here we go again. I refuse to give up I have a case that is case book study of DR Boscarino's heart disease secondary to PTSD after 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass 2 failed stents, and a stroke I have nothing but time to play their games......

This is what the lawyer site link says and what I understand as to the NOD:

"The way it stands now is if a notice of disagreement is submitted before June 20, 2007 then you can hire an attorney after the first final decision by the BVA or Board of Veterans Appeals, if you hire them within one year. If notice of disagreement is submitted after June 20, 2007 you can hire a lawyer after the filing of that notice of disagreement. You can also hire a lawyer if you have a case in federal court."

That is why I filed a NOD on June 21, 2007.
The denied decision was dated June 30,2006 and I also had filed reconsideration request-on that denial-which they have been working on- but I wasn't taking any chances.
My personal lawyer, a disabled vet, said he would rep me if needed but he is kind of POed that the VA requires him to take a test.
He learned lots of case law just to finally get a SC award from them.

I griped to Bradley Mayes at the VACO about the fact that the published proposed new regs in the Federal Register did NOT tell us of this crappy June 21, 2007 criteria.
No one commented about the regs because there was nothing to comment about-until the regs were published and we found out thousands of vets got screwed.

I am surprised that vet lawyers have not sqwuacked-(maybe they have)
They could have made real money if the regs had benefitted ALL VA claimants who already filed NOds long ago and are on remand (or will be) at the RO again.

Congress could clear it up easy enough allow the lawyers to represent the 800,000 claims now on appeal to the BVA I imagine they could clear a lot of them up by having DRO hearings where they point out the incorrect actions of the RO and they could cut the backlog in half within 6 months and get them all cleared up within a year, then veterans and their families would stand a chance of gettin new claims worked thru to appeals within 12-18 months bad but not as bad as it has been for the last 3 decades.....