VA Disability Law

VA Disability Law — Promises Made to Veterans Like You

We can help make the VA do what’s right by you

Your serviced-connected disability entitles you to compensation from the federal government as long as you were not dishonorably discharged from the service. But the high caseload and ingrained bureaucracy at the VA can easily get in the way of you getting what you are due.

George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers will work to clear the way for you to get the VA benefits you are entitled to under the law. ALL of the benefits you deserve.

George Sink Sr. is a disabled Vietnam veteran and a disability lawyer who has worked for injured and disabled clients since 1977. He knows how to fight for you. He’s here to help you get all the VA benefits you deserve.

Good Results. Happy Clients.

Do You Qualify for Veterans’ Benefits? You Should Get Them Now

The law is clear: The VA is to compensate veterans who have service-connected disabilities as long as they have not been dishonorably discharged from any branch of the Armed Services.

Veterans qualify for Disability Compensation if their physical disability is:

• Due to a service-related injury or illness and rated at 10 percent or more.

Mental disabilities also qualify for veteran’s disability compensation, if:

• The veteran’s mental disorder is due to or began in service and is rated at 10% or more.

The veteran’s disability may have been sustained during active duty or active duty for training, or inactive duty training. If the veteran was on inactive duty for training, the disability must have been caused by a traumatic injury, heart attack or stroke.

Some of the evidentiary requirements are relaxed if the veteran meets certain service requirements and is a:

• Former prisoner of war (POW)
• Veteran who has certain chronic or tropical diseases that become evident within a specific period of time after discharge from service
• Veteran who was exposed to ionizing radiation, mustard gas, or Lewisite while in service
• Veteran who was exposed to certain herbicides, such as by serving in Vietnam (e.g., Agent Orange)
• Veteran who served in Southwest Asia during the Gulf War

Benefits may also be paid for disabilities that are considered related or secondary to disabilities that occurred while in the service, and/or for disabilities presumed to be related to circumstances of military service, even though they may arise after service.

VA Disability Payments

The disability benefit paid by the VA to qualifying veterans comes in the form of a tax-free monthly payment. The amount depends on the VA’s assessment of the veteran’s disability or disabilities, which are measured in 10% increments from 0% to 100%.

A veteran’s disability rating may be based on a single injury or illness, or on multiple disabilities. The degrees of disability specified are generally designed to represent the average impairment in earning capacity resulting from service-connected conditions in civil occupations.

Disabled Veterans’ Responsibility for Obtaining Benefits

Despite all the records kept and issued to you during service, the VA looks to the disabled veteran to apply for and submit evidence as part of a disability claim. By law, the veteran is to submit all relevant evidence in his or her possession and provide information sufficient to enable the VA to obtain all relevant evidence the vet does not have, as well as authorization to obtain and use these records.

All veterans discharged from the Army between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960, or veterans discharged from the Air Force between September 25, 1947, and January 1, 1964, who have the surname Hubbard or one that follows through the end of the alphabet, your military records may have been destroyed in a 1973 fire. Your claim requires a specific request to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis to alert workers there to search for any additional service records applicable to you.

A veteran who can submit all required documents enters into the Fully Developed Claim Program, which is meant to expedite your claim. A veteran who would like the VA’s assistance with obtaining documents necessary for their claim submits a Standard Claim. In a Standard Claim, the vet is still expected to adequately identify and authorize VA to obtain the required records.

A claim may require records from:

• VA Medical Centers (including private facilities where VA authorized treatment is provided)
• Private doctors and hospitals
• Current or former employers
• Social Security Administration, if the vet has already obtained Social Security and/or Social Security Disability benefits

The VA may also require the veteran to attend to a medical examination if the VA feels it is necessary to make a decision.

We recognize that for some disabled vets, or loved ones assisting disabled veterans, it may be difficult to recall or identify and retrieve military records, or even to provide the information required for the VA to obtain records.

George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers can help you obtain records and other evidence faster and with far less burden on you. The simple fact is that we regularly do this work, as opposed to most disabled veterans and/or their families who for the first time, face VA rules and bureaucracy for benefit claims at a bad time in their lives.

George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers is a law firm headed by a disabled military veteran, and can assist with:

• An already pending appealed claim, which is pursued via a complex, multi-step adjudication process that allows the veteran to submit medical and lay evidence.
• Filing an appeal of an adverse decision from the VA Regional Office.

We’ll Navigate the VA Benefits Bureaucracy for You

Like most governmental programs, obtaining veterans’ disability benefits can be complex and time consuming, and can easily go wrong. You do not have to go it alone. The experienced and caring legal assistance from George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers takes the burden from your shoulders and gets benefits to you as FAST as possible.

George Sink Sr. and his associates have helped many disabled veterans obtain the disability benefits they deserve. We know what you are going through and we know what the VA requires of you.

We can help you prepare a complete and accurate appeal for benefits. We can assist you with obtaining the evidence you need and the documentation required by the VA system to determine disability. Find out how we can help today!

Don’t go it alone. Call George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers today.