The timeline for VA Disability claims can vary based on the unique aspects of your request for benefits. Typically, the entire process takes several months, with each stage taking at least a week.
You can get more information about the potential timeline for your claim from a Veterans Affairs Disability benefits claims lawyer. An attorney can also potentially expedite your claim, reducing the time you have to wait to get the benefits you deserve.
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What’s the Timeline for a VA Disability Claim?
The VA does not offer a specific timeline to handle disability claims. Instead, the time it takes to complete each step of the claims process can vary significantly, making it impossible to provide exact information about when to expect the completion of your claim.
However, information about the VA claim process after you file your claim indicates that the VA typically takes well over three months to process most claims. Outliers may take far longer to process, while some may take less time.
You can learn more about what the steps of the VA claims process are and how long they may take for you from your attorney.
For a free legal consultation, call (800) 562-9830
Timeline for Steps in the VA Disability Claim Process
Each stage of the VA disability claims process takes time. These stages include:
Receiving Your Claim
The VA will acknowledge the receipt of your claim before doing anything else. This process alone may take several weeks from the time that you submit your request for benefits.
Reviewing Your Claim
The VA will carry out an initial review of your claim. During this stage, the VA looks over the paperwork you submitted to ensure it has all the required information. The VA also gets familiar with your claim during this stage, which could take a month or longer.
Gathering Evidence
The VA will take the time to gather evidence that could support your claim. This step often represents the longest stage in the approval process, especially if the VA needs to reach out and request additional evidence. The stage could take two or more months.
Reviewing Evidence
After gathering evidence, the VA will review it all, assessing the extent of your disability and the validity of your claim. The review process may take several weeks to complete.
Determining a Rating
The VA will need to decide on a disability rating based on its review of the evidence. In some cases, the VA will decide it needs more evidence, returning your claim to an earlier stage of the process and increasing the time it takes to make a decision.
Preparing the Decision Letter
At this point, the VA creates a decision letter that will either deny your claim or contain an acceptance. If the VA accepts your claim, the letter will include information about:
- Your current disability rating
- The monthly payments you’ll receive
- The date you can expect to begin receiving payments
This process may take a significant amount of time.
Performing a Final Review
The VA will allow a senior reviewer to perform a final review, going over both the decision letter and your claim.
Deciding Your Claim
Once the senior reviewer finishes with your claim, the process officially ends. At this point, you can use the claim status tool to download and review the decision letter. The VA will also mail you a copy of the letter, which could take over 10 days to arrive, depending on the speed of the mail.
As you can see, each stage of the process can take a significant length of time. You can learn more about what the timeline is for VA disability claims from an attorney who puts you first.
Can You Speed Up the VA Disability Claims Process?
You should get a lawyer for VA Disability if you’re interested in potentially expediting the claims process. An attorney could reduce the time it takes to complete the process by reviewing your application and ensuring it includes all the correct information and enough evidence to back up your request for benefits.
An attorney can also help if the VA denies your initial application. You can rely on a lawyer to review the reason for the denial and to explain the steps you need to take to request an appeal of the decision.
Talk to Us About the VA Disability Claims Timeline
So, what is the timeline for VA Disability claims? In truth, the timeline varies significantly from one claim request to another. Each stage of the claim process may take weeks or even months to resolve, so your attorney cannot provide an exact timeline on how long it will take.
However, our team at Marc Whitehead & Associates can give you more information about your VA claim and stick by you throughout every step of the process.
Our firm has over 120 years of combined experience that we can turn to bringing you the benefits you deserve.