KNOWLEDGE BASE
Practical guides and updates from a veterans attorney who has been on both sides of the VA system.
The most common secondary denial says the apnea is from weight, not from service. VA's General Counsel addressed that in an opinion binding on every adjudicator. The four routes to a sleep apnea grant, and what each one requires.
Read More →VA routinely adjudicates secondary claims under the direct service connection framework and denies them for things 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 never asked about. How to find it in your own decision, and what to do about it.
Read More →38 C.F.R. § 3.310(b) service connects the worsening of a condition that has nothing to do with your service. What aggravation requires, how the baseline deduction works, and why these claims are so rarely filed.
Read More →Secondary service connection under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 covers conditions caused or made worse by a disability VA already service connected. What the rule requires, what it does not, and where these claims get denied.
Read More →38 C.F.R. § 4.130 measures occupational and social impairment, not a symptom count. What each level actually requires, where the 50 and 70 percent line gets drawn, and the checklist error that keeps ratings low.
Read More →MST is rarely in a service record, and VA regulation accounts for that. What a marker is, where markers actually live, and the notice VA owes you before it denies.
Read More →An August 2026 VA OIG report estimates claims processors wrongly assigned 0 percent ratings for painful joints in 32,000 of 64,000 decisions, underpaying veterans at least $45 million. What 38 C.F.R. § 4.59 requires and what to check in your own decision.
Read More →What a VA medical opinion is, why your claim usually cannot be granted without one, how examiners actually write them, and the defects that make most of them legally inadequate.
Read More →Most of the work that decides a C&P exam happens before you walk in. What to prepare, what the examiner is actually measuring, and what an accredited attorney or agent does that you cannot easily do alone.
Read More →VA routinely dates a TDIU grant to the day it received the 21-8940. When unemployability was already raised in a pending claim, that date can be years too late.
Read More →When a service-connected condition gets worse, VA can pay you from up to one year before you filed. Here is what that rule covers, what it does not, and why waiting costs money.
Read More →The three VA protection rules get repeated constantly and understood rarely. Here is what each one covers, what it does not, and when the clock starts.
Read More →A VA claim stays pending until decided or withdrawn. If yours was never adjudicated, the original filing date is still alive, no error required.
Read More →What clear and unmistakable error means in a VA claim, what qualifies as CUE, what doesn't, and how a CUE claim can move your effective date back decades.
Read More →When service records surface that existed all along, 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c) makes VA reconsider the old claim, and your effective date can go back to it.
Read More →No entry in your service records isn't a bar to service connection. What the law actually requires, and how veterans prove an in-service injury without one.
Read More →VA recouped $2.44 billion in separation pay from 112,000+ veterans in a decade. How recoupment works, why the letters arrive late, and what's before Congress.
Read More →Sometimes VA can decide a claim without a C&P exam, sometimes it can't. The four-part test that separates a lawful denial from a remand.
Read More →A VA claim marked closed with no decision letter isn't a denial. What it usually means and how to get it moving without losing your effective date.
Read More →Your C&P exam isn't a formality, it's your evidence. How to prepare, what examiners look for, and what to do when the report gets something wrong.
Read More →Five common reasons VA ratings come in lower than the evidence supports, and the practical steps that get an under-rated condition re-evaluated.
Read More →TDIU pays at the 100% rate with a lower combined rating. Who qualifies under each path, what proves unemployability, and why claims get denied.
Read More →Your options after a VA denial: the three AMA lanes, the Board, the federal court above it, and the deadlines that protect your effective date.
Read More →How VA ratings actually work, why combining 40 + 20 + 10 doesn't give you 70, and what to do when the number doesn't match your condition.
Read More →Articles provide general information. For advice on your specific claim, schedule a free consultation.
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