Today, we're going to talk about the VA Form 9. It is your formal appeal to the Board of Veterans Appeals for disability benefits claims in the VA system. My name is Zach Evans, I work at Woods and Woods attorneys in Evansville, Indiana, and I practice in the area of veterans benefits. The VA Form 9 is intended to escalate the matter from the regional office, which is a matter of service connection or the issue of the propriety of your rating, or the issue of even unemployability. So, it takes those issues and then elevates them to a body known as the Board of Veterans Appeals. The Board of Veterans Appeals is the decision-making body over the regional offices that reviews their decisions for adjudicative accuracy. Let's start off talking a little bit about the VA claims process. We do Veterans Benefits appeals and you've likely begun a new claim. After a period of time, the regional office will issue what's known as a rating decision. That is a quick look at your claim and your theory for how your conditions should be service-connected or why your rating should be higher than it already is. They will issue a decision on that. So, after the rating decision is sent to you, you have one year to submit your notice of disagreement, also colloquially known as an in OD. Once you file your in OD, which is your notice of disagreement with the rating decision, you say VA I deserve this benefit and the VA says no you don't deserve this benefit. You filed a notice of disagreement saying that's an incorrect decision. Then, the regional office is supposed to issue what is known as a statement of the case. We call that an SOC. At this stage is...
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Video instructions and help with filling out and completing Fill Form 5495 Veteran
