Georgia Veterans Disability Benefit Attorneys

The fastest way is online at VA.gov by submitting an application for disability compensation (VA Form 21-526EZ). VA recommends this option as an easy way to submit and track your claim, as well as submit evidence in support of your claim.

Alternatively, you can visit a VA Regional Office where staff can accept your application. You can locate your Regional Office here. Be sure to bring with you any supporting evidence for your claim to avoid any unnecessary delay. 

You can also complete the application and mail it in to the Claims Intake Center at the following address:

Claims Intake Center

PO Box 4444 Janesville, WI 53547-4444

Finally, VA still accepts applications by fax at (844)-531-7818 if inside the U.S. If outside the U.S.,fax your application to (248) 524-4260.

Each type of VA benefit has its own VA form to be used to apply. You can search and print

these from the VA website https://www.va.gov/vaforms/ or call your nearest VA Regional

Office and they can mail the forms to you. If filing online, you will find them on the application portal at www.va.gov.

Supporting evidence will of course vary depending on the type of benefit for which you are applying. Generally, though, you will at least need:

• Discharge or separation papers (DD214 or equivalent)
• Service Treatment Records if they are in your possession
• Medical evidence (doctor & hospital reports)
• Any supporting statements from other people, including family members, friends, clergy, or fellow service members detailing particular facts related to your claim
• Dependency records (marriage and/or children’s birth certificate) if applying for dependency benefits

Generally, there is no statute of limitations or other deadline to file a claim for benefits. Those who served in the Vietnam era can still apply for the first time now. However, generally you are only eligible for benefits from the date the VA receives the claim. This is important because it limits how much in retroactive benefits a veteran or dependent can receive. The longer you wait to apply, the more retroactive benefits you are potentially losing.

You must file an appeal with the VA to let them know that you dispute the decision they reached on all or part of your claim. Under the Appeals Modernization Act, you have three different appeal lanes from which to choose. Which one is best depends on the facts and circumstances of your particular situation. Regardless of which appeal option you choose, you have up to a year from the date of the VA’s decision, but it is recommended that you file as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary delay in the appeal of your claim. Once you receive a decision from the VA, Perkins Studdard LLC may be able to represent you in correcting the errors made in the initial decision so you get the VA benefits you deserve.

This is one of the trickiest steps in the VA claims process. Many veterans receive a decision approving them for benefits for only some of their claimed disabilities, or they receive a disability rating at a lower percentage than they feel is appropriate. Even if you “won” on some issues, you can still file an appeal to receive the full benefits you deserve. There may be other errors in the decision, such as a later effective date, meaning you will not receive all the retroactive benefits to which you are entitled. Perkins Studdard LLC is here to review those issues with you that are not as obvious to many veterans as an outright denial.

“Aid and Attendance” benefits provide additional monthly benefits to a qualifying veteran or spouse who is housebound, in a nursing home, or requires the assistance of another. Aid and Attendance can be in the form of either Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) for those receiving compensation for service-connected disabilities or Special Monthly Pension (SMP)
for wartime veterans and their spouses who are totally disabled. These benefits are paid in addition to the underlying compensation or pension and can be a tremendous help to veter-
ans and their dependents later in life.

Yes. Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) is a benefit under the VA’s disability compensation program that pays qualifying veterans at the 100% rate even though the VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at the 100% level. Generally, the veteran must have at least one service-connected disability rated at 60% or more OR, in the case of multiple disabilities, have one rated at least 40% with a combined rating of 70% or more. The service-connected disabilities must be sufficient to prevent the veteran from performing the mental or physical tasks required to obtain or keep employment.Our firm has a long history of helping veterans obtain TDIU benefits when they otherwise would not be able to achieve a 100 percent overall disability rating.

If your disease is on the list of diseases considered to be the result of Agent Orange, then you likely can receive monthly disability compensation. Or, if you are the dependent of a veteran who dies as the result of one of these diseases, you may be entitled to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). The following is the current list of diseases presumed to be caused by Agent Orange exposure (38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e)): 

• AL amyloidosis
• Bladder cancer
• Chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne (must be at least 10 percent disabling within 1 year of herbicide exposure)
• Type 2 diabetes (also known as Type II diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes)
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Hypothyroidism
• Hodgkin’s disease
• Ischemic heart disease (including, but not limited to, acute, subacute, and old myocardial infarction; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease including coronary artery disease (including coronary spasm) and coronary bypass surgery; and stable, unstable and Prinzmetal’s angina)NOTE : For purposes of this section, the term ischemic heart disease does not include hypertension or peripheral manifestations of arteriosclerosis such as peripheral vascular disease or stroke, or any other condition that does not qualify within the generally accepted medical definition of Ischemic heart disease.
• All chronic B-cell leukemias (including, but not limited to, hairy-cell leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia)
• Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Parkinson’s disease
• Parkinsonism
• Peripheral neuropathy, early onset (must be at least 10 percent disabling within 1 year of herbicide exposure)
• Porphyria cutanea tarda (must be at least 10 percent disabling within 1 year of herbicide exposure)
• Prostate cancer
• Respiratory cancers (cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx, or trachea)
• Soft-tissue sarcoma (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or mesothelioma)NOTE : The term “soft-tissue sarcoma” includes the following:Adult fibrosarcoma
  • Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans
  • Malignant fibrous histiocytoma
  • Liposarcoma
  • Leiomyosarcoma
  • Epithelioid leiomyosarcoma (malignant leiomyoblastoma)
  • Rhabdomyosarcoma
  • Ectomesenchymoma
  • Angiosarcoma (hemangiosarcoma and lymphangiosarcoma)
  • Proliferating (systemic) angioendotheliomatosis
  • Malignant glomus tumor
  • Malignant hemangiopericytoma
  • Synovial sarcoma (malignant synovioma)
  • Malignant giant cell tumor of tendon sheath
  • Malignant schwannoma, including malignant schwannoma with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation (malignant Triton tumor), glandular and epithelioid malignant schwannomas
  • Malignant mesenchymoma
  • Malignant granular cell tumor
  • Alveolar soft part sarcoma
  • Epithelioid sarcoma
  • Clear cell sarcoma of tendons and aponeuroses
  • Extraskeletal Ewing’s sarcoma
  • Congenital and infantile fibrosarcoma
  • Malignant ganglioneuroma

If you are not ready to submit for whatever reason, you can file a different form called an Intent to File. This notifies VA you plan to file a formal claim. You then have up to one year from the date of the Intent to File form to submit your completed application. If granted compensation, your effective date for entitlement of benefits should be retroactive to the date of the Intent to File as long as the application was within a year of the Intent to File.

Under the Appeals Modernization Act, you can file one of three types of decision review requests for an initial VA claims decision. Those are:

• Higher-Level Review 
• Supplemental Claim
• Board Appeal. At the Board of Veteran’s Appeals, you have three more choices of appeal lanes. You can have a direct review (no new evidence and no hearing), an evidence only review (new evidence within a specified time is allowed, but no hearing held with a judge), or a full review with a hearing (a hearing is held by a Veterans Law Judge with the opportunity to submit additional evidence within a specified time period).

If you believe the disability or disease was caused by your service, whether due to herbicide exposure or some other toxic exposure, you can still file a claim for VA disability benefits. But, you will need medical evidence supporting a connection between the disease or disability and your military service. VA will not presume a connection. We have handled a number of these types of cases successfully.

You have a presumption of exposure if you meet at least 1 of these service requirements.

Between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, you must have served for any length of time in at least 1 of these locations:

• In the Republic of Vietnam, or
• Aboard a U.S. military vessel that operated in the inland waterways of Vietnam, or
• On a vessel operating not more than 12 nautical miles seaward from the demarcation line of the waters of Vietnam and Cambodia

Or you must have served in at least 1 of these locations that we’ve added based on the PACT Act:

• Any U.S. or Royal Thai military base in Thailand from January 9, 1962, through June 30, 1976, or
• Laos from December 1, 1965, through September 30, 1969, or
• Cambodia at Mimot or Krek, Kampong Cham Province from April 16, 1969, through April 30, 1969, or
• Guam or American Samoa or in the territorial waters off Guam or American Samoa from January 9, 1962, through July 31, 1980, or
• Johnston Atoll or on a ship that called at Johnston Atoll from January 1, 1972, through September 30, 1977

Or at least 1 of these must be true for you:

• You served in or near the Korean DMZ for any length of time between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1971, or
• You served in an Air Force unit location where a C-123 aircraft with traces of Agent Orange was assigned, and had repeated contact with this aircraft due to your flight, ground, or medical duties, or
• You were involved in transporting, testing, storing, or other uses of Agent Orange during your military service

There are many different types of toxic exposures that service members encounter during their service. Many of these are known to cause various cancers, neurological disorders, and cardiovascular disabilities. Our firm routinely represents veterans to obtain disability benefits in these situations by developing persuasive medical evidence to support the claim.

Yes, if your spouse’s death is service-connected, you would be entitled to a monthly benefit from VA. This benefit is called Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). But, you must apply for it and establish your entitlement.

There is no requirement that your spouse be service-connected prior to death for you to receive DIC benefits. Even if your spouse never applied for any VA benefits, you can still do so after their death.

No. There is no time limit for a surviving spouse or other dependent to file a claim for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). Even decades later, a spouse can still apply. We have a long track record of helping surviving spouses win survivor benefits they are owed from VA as a result of their veteran spouse’s death. If you think that may be your situation, we encourage you to reach out to us.