Those new to the VA claims process may come to believe that the VA is “pro claimant” or will, without a doubt, provide every possible assistance to support your disability claim. This belief is a dangerous pitfall based upon Congressional mandates and case law which is often ignored by a bureaucracy that is understaffed, undertrained, and underpaid for the processing of disability claims. <\/p>\n
The Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (VCAA) reaffirmed that the VA benefits and disability claims process up to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) process must be non-adversarial. See, 38 C.F.R. \u00a7\u00a7 3.102, 3.103, 3.105, 20.700 (2007). Also, the VCAA reasserted the VA’s duty to assist and eliminated a “well-grounded” claims requirement which was arbitrarily interpreted by the VA. Nevertheless, it is still up to the claimant and the attorney to develop the record because there is no “penalty” to the VA if it fails to assist. (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those new to the VA claims process may come to believe that the VA is “pro claimant” or will, without a doubt, provide every possible assistance to support your disability claim. This belief is a dangerous pitfall based upon Congressional…<\/span><\/p>\n