| Get an insider's
view of the Department of Veterans Affairs! Written by
practicing attorneys at the National Veterans Legal Services
Program, this manual contains valuable insight and analysis from a
team of experts at the forefront of veterans law. Use their
first-hand experience fighting for veterans' rights and their
insider's view of the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain the
benefits your client earned.
User-friendly, well-indexed, and packed with practical information,
it includes sample forms and briefs, flowcharts, checklists,
citations to legal authorities, and other documents designed to
streamline the claims process and save you and your veteran client
valuable time.
The Veterans Benefits Manual contains dozens of effective,
battle-tested advocacy tips for veterans and advocates, along with
all the latest developments in veterans law.
What's New In the 2011 Edition
A new section explaining how veterans who served in Iraq or
Afghanistan can become entitled to disability compensation for
undiagnosed illnesses, without the need to prove that the illnesses
are related to service;
A new section explaining the criteria and new VA procedures by
which caregivers of veterans injured after September 11, 2001 can
now receive monthly monetary payments and health care from the VA;
An explanation of the recent Court of Appeals for Veterans
Claims decision making it easier for veterans to reopen a previously
denied claim with new and material evidence;
An expanded set of advocacy tactics to use before the VA
regional offices and the Board of Veterans' Appeals;
New information regarding how a survivor can step into the shoes
of a veteran to pursue the veteran's claim if the veteran dies while
the claim is pending before VA or the Court;
Advice regarding disability benefits for the diseases newly
linked to Agent Orange (ischemic heart disease, Parkinson's disease,
and chronic B-cell leukemias), including the errors VA is commonly
making in assigning effective dates for these awards;
An expanded analysis of the eligibility requirements for Combat
Related Special Compensation (CRSC) - the program that provides
additional monthly benefits to veterans entitled to both military
disability retirement payments and VA disability compensation;
A reorganized and expanded section identifying the most common
VA errors that can be corrected by appealing to the Court of Appeals
for Veterans Claims; and
A detailed discussion of the circumstances under which a veteran
can appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims despite
missing the 120-day period for filing an appeal.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Barton F. Stichman, Co-Director of and lead litigator for NVLSP, has earned
hundreds of millions of dollars in VA benefits for his
clients over the last 30 years.
Ronald B. Abrams, Co-Director of NVLSP and a 17-year VA insider.
Over the past 20 years he has trained thousands of veterans’
advocates.
Meg Bartley,
Editor of The Veterans Advocate:
A Veterans Law and Advocacy Journal and Director of
Outreach & Education for the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program.
Louis J. George,
senior litigation staff attorney at NVLSP, where he represents
veterans and dependents before the U.S. Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims and other courts and mentors lawyers participating
in the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program and other pro bono
programs.
SELECTED CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Introduction and how to use
this manual
Part I: Disability Benefits for Veterans
Chapter 2: Veterans basic eligibility for VA disability benefits
Chapter 3: Compensation for veterans with service-connected
disabilities
Chapter 4: Compensation for injury or death caused by VA health care
or other specified activities
Chapter 5: Setting, increasing, or reducing a veteran's
service-connected disability rating
Chapter 6: Pension for veterans with non-service-connected
disabilities
Part II: VA Benefits For Non-Veterans
Chapter 7: Benefits available to family members of living or deceased
veterans
Part III: Rules Affecting the Amount of Benefits Paid
Chapter 8: Effective dates for awards of benefits
Chapter 9: Special issues for disability and death benefits
Part IV: VA Health Care and Other Benefits
Chapter 10: VA health care
Chapter 11: Other VA benefits
Part V: The VA Claims Adjudication Process
Chapter 12: Adjudication of original and reopened claims by VA
Regional Offices
Chapter 13: Board of Veterans' Appeals
Chapter 14: Common errors in final VA decisions denying benefits and
the avenues available to correct them
Chapter 15: Court review of VA decision making
Part VI: Advocacy on Behalf of VA Claimants
Chapter 16: Reviewing VA Claims Files
Chapter 17: Effective advocacy before the VA and researching
veterans law
Chapter 18: Obtaining military records and information to help
substantiate a claim
Chapter 19: Attorney's or agent's fees paid by VA claimants or by
the VA
Part VII: Correction of Military Records
Chapter 20: Military records correction issues
Chapter 21: Upgrading less than fully honorable discharges
This book has everything you need to prepare for practice at the VA
Regional Office, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and the Court of
Appeals for Veterans’ Claims.
Go from zero to a high-level of
competency with this complete practice guide. Click the Details
button below and you will be taken directly to the Lexis-Nexis site
for purchase and additional information. 
Add these to your working library, too -- and check out the
discounts for multi-resource purchases.
|
