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“I highly recommend that all advocates obtain a copy of the revised Veterans Benefits Manual, especially our nation’s county veterans’ service officers who serve their veterans in the trenches.
—THOMAS E. MARTIN (Peoria, IL), President, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers


“It is a MUST HAVE for any veterans advocate, including the novice as well as the already trained professional.”
—COLONEL GENE "STONEY" WAGES, Past President, National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (Topeka, KS)

“If you’ve ever been interested in helping veterans get their benefits and developing a potentially strong new practice area, the revised Veterans Benefits Manual is for you. The authors have covered every aspect, practical and legal, of pursuing veterans’ rights.”
—MAJOR GENERAL HUGH R. OVERHOLD (USA RET.), Ward & Smith, PA (New Bern, NC), Former Judge Advocate General of the Army

Veterans benefits manual 2011

This exhaustive manual is an indispensable guide for advocates
who help veterans and their families obtain benefits from the
Department of Veterans Affairs.

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.
     

    Federal Veterans Laws, Rules & Regulations

    Veterans Benefits Manual & Related Laws & Regulations on CD-ROM

    LexisNexis™ Automated Veterans Benefits Forms on CD-ROM

    NOTE: Click the DETAILS button and you will be taken directly to the Lexis-Nexis site for purchase and additional information. All other NVLSP veterans resources may be ordered at the NVLSP Bookstore.
      Bulk rate information here