Veterans are often shocked when the claim they made for disability benefits is denied. Not having done this before the question often arises, what next? Is the best approach just to reopen a new claim? Knowing that the length of time to get a satisfactory ruling from an appeal can take a great deal of time, this might appear to be a better solution; however, before doing this there are things that must be taken into account.
- If you reopen rather than appeal your claim and you eventually are granted an award, the back pay will only go back as far as the date you reopened the claim, if you appeal the decision and win, the back pay goes back to the date of the original claim. This can mean a significant amount of money is put at risk.
- To reopen a claim you must support it with new and material evidence, evidence that was not part of your initial claim. If you have nothing new to offer in the way of evidence you only have one option; appeal.
It is not always an easy decision to make, one thing that you must bear in mind is the fact that you can hire lawyers for VA claims if you appeal; you cannot if you reopen a new claim.
Final decisions:
Once the DVA have made their decision on your claim, if it is unfavorable, you have one year in which you can decide what action to take. If you fail to appeal within a year the decision is final unless you can show clear proof that a mistake was made or to reopen a claim, supporting it with new evidence.
