Original Legacy Appeals ADP: The average days pending for original appeals is calculated from the date the appeal is certified to the Board by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) and any given date for appeals currently awaiting a Board decision. What is the VA Disability Appeal Success Rate for Veterans? The hearing is an opportunity for you to tell your story to the judge. But depending on the remand instructions, it can take anywhere from three to 12 months or sometimes longer before the Regional Office issues any decision. Is it even worth it? Four months after a BVA decision is not really "expiditious treatment". Potential BVA Remanded Decision: Wait times will vary greatly. How Long Does It Take to Get VA Unemployability? - Woods and Woods, LLC What did the Court say about the BVA direct review lane under AMA? 38 CFR 20.1104. d. Ensuring Appellant Received Decision The VBA and BVA reports use different metrics and different time periods. Since I don't know anything at all about your case, that's the best I can tell you. If you want to learn how to implement these strategies to get the VA benefits you deserve, click here to speak with a VA claim expert for free. The Board of Veterans Appeals is an entity that conducts hearings and decides claims for veterans benefits once they have been appealed from the agency of original jurisdiction, usually a VA Regional Office. If the judge finds deficiencies in . PDF Board of Veterans' Appeals Appeals Modernization It depends. Part Two: The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC): The Form-9 and SSOC phase takes an average of 644 days. Most veterans are underrated for their disabilities and therefore not getting the compensation theyre due. Manage A Legacy VA Appeal | Veterans Affairs Is there any way to speed up the VA appeals process? Copyright 2023 VA Claims Insider, LLC. However, the second graph demonstrates how diligently the Board has been working to resolve the backlog of these older legacy system appeals during the past 5 years. months for a decision on your initial claim, A Guide to the VA Disability Appeal Process, VA-certified disability benefits lawyer Neil Woods, Articles Explaining the VA Disability Application Process, Woods and Woods made the whole process easy. The time it takes to complete the Board review process will vary . You may be owed compensation. It can take anywhere from three weeks to three months or more. P.O. How Long After a Board (BVA) Hearing Will I Get a Decision? CUE in very favorable decision, Mtn for Reconsideration, How much Delay {38 U.S.C. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. What if a Claimant Dies before a VA Compensation Decision is made? It was a great piece of mind knowing they where in my corner to deal with VA. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. What is the average wait time for a VA appeal? Appeals at the Board can take a long time to be resolved even without a hearing. A Veteran can now request review of an unfavorable decision through three different review options, or lanes: Higher-Level Review, Supplemental Claim, or appeal to the Board. The timeframe listed above existed in the Legacy Appeals system (i.e., the old appeals system); however, wait times for decisions following Board hearings have not improved much under AMA. As the AMA emphasized, Veteran choice is an important factor in how long it will take to resolve an appeal. Hopefully my next decision will get me to 100%. To access the combo box on this page please perform the following steps. Learning that the VA denied your initial claim for benefits is disheartening. If the RO denies your claim, it is returned to the Board. When choosing the hearing docket, veterans will be able to discuss their claim at the Board and present new evidence for their case. The following chart shows the average number of days for NOD/BVA appeals in the most recent fiscal years. Weve seen drastic changes in the amount of time a hearing takes to get scheduled based on the boards caseload. Its important to keep in mind there are only so many Veterans Law Judges at the Board and judges are the only ones who can both hold hearings and decide cases. A hearing docket appeal typically takes the longest of all the VA Board of Appeal options. The staff would respond promptly any questions and concerns. Click Go Elite Now below to get started today and a member of our team will be in touch within minutes. This may include additional VA medical exams or tests. I would recommend them for any Veteran Going through the claims possess. Specifically, the Board sends surveys to all Veterans to seek their feedback at three stages during the appeal: 1) When the appeal is first docketed at the Board; 2) Immediately after their hearings, if requested; and 3) After they receive the Boards written decision on their appeals. Youll receive a notice in the mail at least 30 days before your hearing is scheduled. Dont give up! Initially, VA estimated veterans could wait from 3-5 years for a hearing under AMA. If you experience a physical or mental health condition connected to your military service and the VA denies your claim, contact Woods and Woods to appeal the decision. Where can I find the Board of Veterans Appeals decision? Fill out the short form below to contact us. What to do after a grant of service connection from the BVA AMA ADP: The average days pending for AMA appeals is calculated from the date the NOD is received by the Board and any given date for appeals currently awaiting a Board decision. It required the veterans law judges at the BVA to develop new evidence, re-consider the duty to assist, reweigh the evidence, etc. The Board will ask the veteran if they would like a copy of the transcript for their personal records. As noted above, legacy appeals have older docket dates than many AMA appeals, so these cases are prioritized consistent with VAs goal to draw down the number of legacy cases and decide cases in docket order. Weve supported more than 15,000 veterans to win their claims and increase their ratings. Will a Decision Be Made at My Board Hearing? If you cant make it, you can reschedule up to two weeks before the hearing date. 7107 The Board of Veterans' Appeals ( BVA ), is a decision-making body within the VA. When you request a review from a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans' Appeals, it could take 5 to 7 years for you to get a decision. You can hire an attorney to represent you, or you can represent yourself. You can find a tracker of the BVA backlog here and wait times other Veterans are experiencing here. It is worth noting that contributing to the time it takes for the Board to adjudicate appeals, many legacy cases have been remanded to the Board from the Court or returned to the Board by the initial adjudicating Agency after previous remands from the Board. Therefore, requesting a hearing does significantly increase the amount of time a veteran will wait for a decision. During the first year after AMA implementation, relatively few AMA cases were decided. Use the up and down arrows to navigate this combo box. The following chart shows the average number of days for NOD/BVA appeals in the most recent fiscal years. You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links. There is no accurate data to explain the VA decision-review process success rate since the full implementation of AMA in 2019. Its important to make sure youre there! This information is made available for educational purposes only and to provide general information and a general understanding of the law. Take a break when necessary but pull up 38 CFR Section 4 on Google and just start reading. The chart below illustrates the ratio of hearings held versus hearings scheduled and highlights the challenge to ensure judge availability is maximized. Once the 90 day period has passed, the Board can make a new decision on the veteran's case. This new law offers Veterans more choices regarding the type of review they select when they disagree with a VA decision denying a benefit. An in-person hearing at the Board in Washington, DC, thats less than 2 weeks away. Worse, the Boards judges spent precious time reviewing case files and preparing for hearings that were not held. Our team of experts can help you appeal the decision to get you the benefits you deserve. NOTE: CAVC decisions are not those "long winded" decisions like BVA decisions. 1. Send a written request to cancel your hearing at least 2 weeks before your scheduled hearing. So the BVA has authority to do 3 things - and 3 things only - when it decides an appeal. Any potential issues or errors found during the review process are called to the attention of the Veteran Law Judge who signed the decision so the judge has the opportunity to revise or improve their decisions. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertisements on other websites. Virtually all errors the Board discovers during its own quality reviews are process or procedural errors. The decision is either: Overturned, or granted Remanded Upheld, or denied Overturned Decisions When the BVA overturns a decision, the veteran will be granted their request for benefits. A person who files an appeal at the Court is called an "appellant." Just to get to a BVA decision a veteran would have had to already appeal the claim twice through the VA Regional Office (RO). The backlog is growing.. If your hearing is held prior to your case being ready to decide based on the docket order, you may have to wait several months before you get a decision. If VA can reschedule your hearing, youll receive a notice at least 30 days before the new hearing date. CAVC remands are not represented/included in this calculation. However, the Board is committed to ensuring every appeal is decided as efficiently as possible, with a high degree of confidence that the Boards judges are appropriately resolving appeals in accordance with the law. If a Veteran or appellant would like to request that their appeal be advanced on the docket, the instructions are located on our Customer Service page. If your lawyer is familiar with the judge, he or she may have an idea of how long that judge is known to take to issue a decision. There is almost always a number of weeks or months between the effective date of the claim and the date of death of the claimant. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. These improvements allowed the Board to provide hearings despite the public health restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial Application. Do You Qualify for Long Term Disability Benefits? You can't request 2 Board Appeals in a row for the same claim. Reply. The Board will create a transcript of your hearing and add this to your appeal file. You feel like you've been kicked in the gut. The . The evidence of record at the time of the agency of original jurisdiction decision on the issue or issues on appeal; The evidence submitted by the claimant and/or their representative at the hearing, to include testimony at the hearing; and, The evidence submitted by the claimant and/or their representative within, However, the Board will NOT consider evidence submitted by the claimant. have hearing loss. Its FREE to get started, so click Go Elite Now below to complete our 3-step intake process. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) provides judicial review of final decisions by the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board). Cookies help us deliver the best experience on our website. You can read the full Public Law. You only pay us if we win.