Federal statutes: 38 U.S.C.

38 U.S.C. 101(2)

Definitions

To count as a veteran for VA purposes, you need active service and a discharge that was not dishonorable. The test in the statute is "other than dishonorable," so a discharge below honorable does not by itself end the question.

"The term “veteran” means a person who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1110

Basic entitlement

This is the basic promise for wartime service: if an injury or disease from service, or service that made an existing condition worse, disables you, VA pays compensation. It does not pay when the disability comes from your own willful misconduct or from abuse of alcohol or drugs.

"the United States will pay to any veteran thus disabled and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable from the period of service in which said injury or disease was incurred"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1131

Basic entitlement

The same basic promise as section 1110, for service outside a period of war. The two sections are worded almost identically; the difference is the period of service.

"during other than a period of war, the United States will pay to any veteran thus disabled"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1151

Benefits for persons disabled by treatment or vocational rehabilitation

If VA medical care, a VA exam, or VA vocational rehab leaves you with an added disability, VA can compensate you as if it were service connected. For medical care, you generally need to show VA fault, such as negligence, or an event that was not reasonably foreseeable, and a court judgment or settlement for the same injury is offset against these benefits.

"carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment, or similar instance of fault on the part of the Department in furnishing the hospital care, medical or surgical treatment, or examination;"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1154(b)

Consideration to be accorded time, place, and circumstances of service

If you engaged in combat with the enemy, your own credible account of an injury or disease from combat can prove it happened, even with no official record, as long as it fits the circumstances of that service. It helps prove what happened in service; you still need evidence of a current condition and, usually, a medical link to it.

"the Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of service-connection of any disease or injury alleged to have been incurred in or aggravated by such service satisfactory lay or other evidence of service incurrence or aggravation of such injury or disease,"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5100

Definitions

This short section defines two words used throughout the claims chapter: a claimant is anyone applying for a VA benefit, and notice is a communication sent by means VA prescribes, which can be electronic.

"The term “claimant” means any individual applying for, or submitting a claim for, any benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1112(a)

Presumptions relating to certain diseases and disabilities

Some conditions are presumed to be service connected if they show up soon enough after discharge, without proof of a link. For chronic diseases the window is generally one year at a 10 percent level, with longer windows for a few conditions, such as seven years for multiple sclerosis.

"a chronic disease becoming manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year from the date of separation from such service;"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1137

Wartime presumptions for certain veterans

The presumptions in section 1112 are written for wartime veterans, but this section extends them to anyone who served after December 31, 1946. The other conditions in section 1112, such as 90 days of service, still apply.

"the provisions of sections 1111, 1112, and 1113 of this chapter shall be applicable in the case of any veteran who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service after December 31, 1946."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1116

Presumptions of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents; presumption of exposure for veterans who served in certain locations

If you served in a covered place and time, such as Vietnam from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975, or a U.S. or Royal Thai base in Thailand through June 30, 1976, VA presumes you were exposed to herbicides like Agent Orange. Listed diseases that later appear are then presumed service connected.

"shall be presumed to have been exposed during such service to an herbicide agent containing dioxin or 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1117(a)

Compensation for disabilities occurring in Persian Gulf War veterans

Gulf War veterans who served in the Southwest Asia theater and certain nearby countries can be compensated for chronic undiagnosed illnesses and for medically unexplained multisymptom illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome. The statute itself says the illness can appear to any degree at any time.

"The Secretary may pay compensation under this subchapter to a Persian Gulf veteran with a qualifying chronic disability that became manifest to any degree at any time."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1119

Presumptions of toxic exposure

This is the PACT Act's exposure presumption. If you served in listed locations, such as Iraq or Kuwait on or after August 2, 1990, or Afghanistan on or after September 11, 2001, VA presumes you were exposed to burn pits and other listed hazards unless there is affirmative evidence you were not.

"presume that any covered veteran was exposed to the substances, chemicals, and airborne hazards identified in the list under paragraph (2) during the service of the covered veteran specified in subsection (c)(1),"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1120

Presumption of service connection for certain diseases associated with exposure to burn pits and other toxins

This is the PACT Act's disease list for covered veterans: conditions such as asthma diagnosed after service, COPD, chronic bronchitis, constrictive bronchiolitis, and many cancers are presumed service connected. You don't need a record of the disease during service.

"shall be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated during active military, naval, air, or space service, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease during"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1154(a)

Consideration to be accorded time, place, and circumstances of service

VA has to give real weight to where you served, what you did, and the conditions you served under. It looks at your service record, unit histories, medical records, and lay statements, including yours.

"due consideration shall be given to the places, types, and circumstances of such veteran’s service as shown by such veteran’s service record, the official history of each organization in which such veteran served,"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5103

Notice to claimants of required information and evidence

When you file, VA has to tell you what information and evidence is still missing, and which pieces it will try to get versus which you must send. You generally have one year from that notice to send what you were asked for, though VA can decide the claim sooner.

"notice of any information, and any medical or lay evidence, not previously provided to the Secretary that is necessary to substantiate the claim."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5103A

Duty to assist claimants

VA must make reasonable efforts to get the evidence you need, including your service records, VA treatment records, other federal records, and private records you identify, and it must give you an exam or opinion when the record shows a current condition, some sign it may be linked to service, and not enough medical evidence to decide. This duty runs until the decision; it doesn't apply in Higher-Level Review or at the Board, but a Higher-Level Review adjudicator who finds a duty-to-assist error made before the decision must send the claim back to be fixed.

"the assistance provided by the Secretary under subsection (a) shall include providing a medical examination or obtaining a medical opinion when such an examination or opinion is necessary to make a decision on the claim."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5104(b)

Decisions and notices of decisions

Every decision letter has to list the issues decided, summarize the evidence and the law, identify findings in your favor, and, in a denial, say which elements you didn't meet. It also has to explain how to get the decision reviewed.

"In the case of a denial, identification of elements not satisfied leading to the denial."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5104A

Binding nature of favorable findings

Once a decision letter lists a finding in your favor, such as a confirmed diagnosis or an in-service event, later VA decision makers are bound by it. It can only be overturned with clear and convincing evidence against it.

"Any finding favorable to the claimant as described in section 5104(b)(4) of this title shall be binding on all subsequent adjudicators within the Department, unless clear and convincing evidence is shown to the contrary to rebut such favorable finding."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5107(b)

Claimant responsibility; benefit of the doubt

If the evidence for and against you on a key question is roughly even, the tie goes to you. You don't have to prove your case beyond doubt, but VA can still deny if it finds the evidence weighs against you.

"When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, the Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 110

Preservation of disability ratings

A rating held continuously for 20 years or more can't be lowered below that level unless it was based on fraud. A total rating in force for 20 years gets the same protection.

"A disability which has been continuously rated at or above evaluation for twenty or more years for compensation purposes under laws administered by the Secretary shall not thereafter be rated at less than such evaluation,"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1114

Rates of wartime disability compensation

This section sets monthly pay for each rating from 10 to 100 percent, plus special monthly compensation (SMC) for things like loss of use of a hand or foot, needing aid and attendance, or being housebound. The dollar figures printed in the statute are out of date because Congress raises them every year by separate cost-of-living laws, so use VA's current rate tables for real numbers.

"If the veteran has a service-connected disability rated as total, and (1) has additional service-connected disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent or more, or, (2) by reason of such veteran’s service-connected disability or disabilities, is permanently housebound,"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1155

Authority for schedule for rating disabilities

VA rates disabilities with a schedule based on average loss of earning capacity, in 10 percent steps up to 100. When VA rewrites the schedule, it can't cut your existing rating because of the new rules alone; it has to show your condition actually improved.

"in no event shall such a readjustment in the rating schedule cause a veteran’s disability rating in effect on the effective date of the readjustment to be reduced unless an improvement in the veteran’s disability is shown to have occurred."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 1159

Protection of service connection

Once service connection has been in place for 10 years, VA can't take it away except for fraud or a clear showing from military records that you lacked the required service or discharge. This protects the service connection itself, not the percentage; the 20-year rule in section 110 covers the percentage.

"which has been in force for ten or more years shall not be severed on or after January 1, 1962, except upon a showing that the original grant of service connection was based on fraud"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5111(a)

Commencement of period of payment

Payment starts on the first day of the month after your effective date, so the first partial month isn't paid. A narrow exception covers veterans retired or separated for a catastrophic disability on an original claim.

"may not be made to an individual for any period before the first day of the calendar month following the month in which the award or increased award became effective"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5301(a)

Nonassignability and exempt status of benefits

VA benefits generally can't be signed over to someone else, aren't taxed, and can't be seized by private creditors, even after the money reaches you. Debts the United States claims under these laws are not covered, and property bought with the money isn't tax-exempt.

"shall be exempt from taxation, shall be exempt from the claim of creditors, and shall not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, either before or after receipt by the beneficiary."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

10 U.S.C. 1413a

Combat-related special compensation

Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) is a monthly payment from the military to retirees with disabilities tied to combat, such as a Purple Heart injury or harm from armed conflict, hazardous service, simulated war, or an instrumentality of war. It is not retired pay, and you can't receive it at the same time as CRDP; there is an annual open season to switch.

"the term “combat-related disability” means a disability that is compensable under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

10 U.S.C. 1414

Members eligible for retired pay who are also eligible for veterans’ disability compensation for disabilities rated 50 percent or higher: concurrent payment of retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation

Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) lets retirees with a VA rating of 50 percent or more receive both military retired pay and VA compensation without the usual offset. Chapter 61 disability retirees with fewer than 20 years of service are excluded.

"the term “qualifying service-connected disability” means a service-connected disability or combination of service-connected disabilities that is rated as not less than 50 percent disabling by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5110(a)

Effective dates of awards

The effective date generally can't be earlier than when VA received your claim. If you keep the claim alive by filing a review option within one year of each decision, you keep the original filing date.

"the date of application shall be considered the date of the filing of the initial application for a benefit if the claim is continuously pursued by filing any of the following, either alone or in succession:"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5110(b)(1)

Effective dates of awards

If VA receives your claim within one year after discharge, the award can start the day after you left service. Miss that year and the start date is generally tied to when the claim came in.

"The effective date of an award of disability compensation to a veteran shall be the day following the date of the veteran’s discharge or release if application therefor is received within one year from such date of discharge or release."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5110(b)(3)

Effective dates of awards

For an increase, VA can pay from the date the evidence shows your condition got worse, as long as the claim comes in within one year of that date.

"The effective date of an award of increased compensation shall be the earliest date as of which it is ascertainable that an increase in disability had occurred, if application is received within one year from such date."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5112(b)(6)

Effective dates of reductions and discontinuances

When VA lowers compensation because your condition or status changed, the cut takes effect at the end of the month after a 60-day period that starts when you're notified. This section sets the timing; the step-by-step notice and hearing rules are in VA's regulations.

"a change in service-connected or employability status or change in physical condition shall be the last day of the month following sixty days from the date of notice to the payee of the reduction or discontinuance;"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5104B

Higher-level review by the agency of original jurisdiction

You can ask a more senior VA reviewer to take a fresh look at a decision within one year, using only the evidence already in the file. The review is de novo, meaning the reviewer doesn't defer to the first decision, and you can ask for a reviewer at a different office.

"The evidentiary record before the higher-level adjudicator shall be limited to the evidence of record in the agency of original jurisdiction decision being reviewed."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5104C

Options following decision by agency of original jurisdiction

After a regional office decision you have one year to choose a review lane: Higher-Level Review, a Supplemental Claim, or a Board appeal. You can only run one lane at a time on the same issue, you can use them one after another, and once the year has passed a Supplemental Claim is still open to you.

"the claimant may take any of the following actions on or before the date that is one year after the date on which the agency of original jurisdiction issues a decision with respect to that claim:"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5108

Supplemental claims

A Supplemental Claim reopens a decision when you add new and relevant evidence, and VA then decides the claim again looking at everything in the file. VA also has to help you get records you reasonably identify for it.

"If new and relevant evidence is presented or secured with respect to a supplemental claim, the Secretary shall readjudicate the claim taking into consideration all of the evidence of record."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5109A

Revision of decisions on grounds of clear and unmistakable error

A decision can be revised at any time if it contains clear and unmistakable error, and a win is treated as if the decision had been made correctly on the original date. It's a very high bar: an undebatable error of fact or law, judged on the record at the time, that would have changed the outcome, not a disagreement over how the evidence was weighed.

"A decision by the Secretary under this chapter is subject to revision on the grounds of clear and unmistakable error. If evidence establishes the error, the prior decision shall be reversed or revised."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 7104

Jurisdiction of the Board; decisions; notice

The Board of Veterans' Appeals gives VA's final answer on an appeal, based on the whole record and the law. It must explain its reasons on every material issue, and it is bound by VA regulations, the Secretary's instructions, and VA General Counsel precedent opinions.

"The Board shall be bound in its decisions by the regulations of the Department, instructions of the Secretary, and the precedent opinions of the chief legal officer of the Department."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 7105

Filing of appeal

To appeal to the Board, you file a notice of disagreement within one year of the regional office decision and pick a docket: a hearing, adding evidence without a hearing, or direct review. If no review is filed in time, the decision becomes final, though a Supplemental Claim can still be filed later.

"Except in the case of simultaneously contested claims, a notice of disagreement shall be filed within one year from the date of the issuance of notice of the decision of the agency of original jurisdiction"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 7252

Jurisdiction; finality of decisions

The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is the only court that reviews Board decisions, and only the veteran's side can take a case there, not VA. The court works from the existing record and can't review the rating schedule itself.

"The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims shall have exclusive jurisdiction to review decisions of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. The Secretary may not seek review of any such decision."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 7266(a)

Notice of appeal

You have 120 days from the date the Board's decision notice is issued to appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. A mailed notice of appeal counts as received on its legible U.S. Postal Service postmark date.

"a person adversely affected by such decision shall file a notice of appeal with the Court within 120 days after the date on which notice of the decision is issued pursuant to section 7104(e) of this title."

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 7261

Scope of review

The court decides legal questions itself, but it sets aside the Board's factual findings against you only if they are clearly erroneous, and it must take due account of how VA applied the benefit of the doubt. In Bufkin v. Collins (2025), the Supreme Court held that VA's finding on whether the evidence is in approximate balance is mainly factual, so the court reviews it for clear error.

"take due account of the Secretary’s application of section 5107(b) of this title; and"

Read it in the U.S. Code →

38 U.S.C. 5904

Recognition of agents and attorneys generally

Accredited agents and attorneys can't charge you for work done before VA's initial decision on your claim. After that, a fee of 20 percent or less of past-due benefits is presumed reasonable, and VA can review a fee and cut it if it's excessive.

"a fee may not be charged, allowed, or paid for services of agents and attorneys with respect to services provided before the date on which a claimant is provided notice of the agency of original jurisdiction’s initial decision"

Read it in the U.S. Code →