Disability attorney

For those that serve their country, the Department of Veteran Affairs provides a wide range of disability benefits. But not all VA benefits are created equal– the benefits you receive for your disability claim will vary from person to person. The Department of Veteran Affairs has 8 “priority groups” which they use to decide which types of benefits a veteran will receive; “1″ is the highest and “8″ (which as of 2003 is no longer assigned to new veterans) is the lowest. Your priority group depends entirely on your disability and how it first occurred (service-connected or non-service-connected), your financial situation, and your current level of disability.

Since whether or not a disability is service-connected or non-service-connected can have a great effect on the benefits you will receive, it’s important to have a good understanding of the specific requirements for each of these two types of benefits.

The Requirements for Non-service-Connected Benefits

Veterans who suffer from complete and permanent disability are eligible for non-service-connected benefits. Qualifiying for non-service-connected benefits can also be dependant on a few other issues:

• Income- Eligibility is based on a veteran having both a limited income and a net worth that does not provide sufficient maintenance. For more information please see 38 U.S.C.S. §§1521-22.

• Service - To reach eligibility for a non-service-connected pension, a veteran must have one day or more of active duty in a “period of war”, with at least 90 days total active duty. However, for a veteran who entered military service after 1980, the service requirement is simply to have completed a full period of active duty. Specifically, an individual who enlisted for the first time on or after September 8, 1980, is required to complete a minimum period of service, either twenty-four months of continuous active duty or the full period for which the veteran was called to active duty. In addition, the active service of the eligible veteran needs to include 90 total days during a period of war or one day of service during a period of war which ended in discharge due to a service-connected disability.

• Discharge- To qualify for VA benefits, you must have been discharged from military duty under non-dishonorable circumstances.

The Requirements for Service Connected Benefits

Eligibility for service-connected benefits, differently from non-service-connected benefits, is not dependant on a veteran having done wartime service or meeting a net worth or income level. Instead, you need to be able to prove the source and current status of your disability with:

• Evidence of current disability- Because benefits for a service-connected disability are awarded only to those with a current disability, an applicant for these benefits must provide recent medical records diagnosing the current state of their disability.

• Evidence of the occurrence of disability or injury- Veterans applying for service-connected benefits must next provide evidence that their current disability was either incurred during or worsened by military service. It’s important to know, however, that “in-service” is a broad term, and can include injury incurred even during leave.

• Support of the connection between the current disability and the service-connected injury- This requires that applicants give evidence of a connection between the injury incurred in service and the current disability.