INCOMPLETE APPLICATION SUBMITTED - EFFECTIVE DATE OF PENSION

[TOMBAY]

I submitted through the county Veteran Services Officer an A & A application before the end of August, however, since the doctor was on vacation it went to the Regional office with the medical form being included.  Once the doctor returned by mid-September, the medical form has been signed and submitted.  Assuming all the information was accurate, complete, acceptable, etc. and the application is approved, would the effective date be September 1 when MOST of the application was filed or October 1 when ALL the information reached the VA?  Will appreciate learning of any similar experiences.  Thanks.  Tom Bay, OH

[Fit2009]

Sept 1 should be the date.

[littlebit245]

Tombay, fit2009 is absolutely correct.  the effective date of your claim will be when you first filed it.  I would like to comment on a similar topic that is closely related to this one without starting a new forumn topic.  Many years ago I filed a claim with the VA for service connected compensation.  In doing so, instead of filing the claim on a standard VA form ( CANNOT RECALL FORM # ) I just wrote on a piece of paper the benefit I was seeking and at the top of the page I wrote, (APPLICATION FOR SERVICE CONNECTED COMPENSATION).  I stated the facts pertaining to my claim and included medical statements from treating physicians.  After thr typical long time in receiving an answer, I got a letter from them approximately 6-8 months later that stated that I had not filed a valid claim because because it was not on VA FORM 21-wahtever number it was.  They included the proper form and asked me to fill it out which I did, and submitted it.  Well after another long delay, I believe it was like 10 months later, I got a favorable decision with the effective date of the time when I filled out the appropriate VA Form.  I immediately filed a notice of disagreement arguing that the efffective date should have been when I first filed the claim on a hand written note.  After many years of fighting with the VA for benefits, I knew I had better get to work searching for some case law that would support my argument.  I was fortunate that at the time this incident occured, I was actually going to a Community College taking an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Paralegal Technology, ironically enough I was using the school benefits I was eligible for under chapter 31 vocaational rehabilitation.  Since I was on campus nearly everyday, I had acess to the School's law library.  Well if anyone has tried to find VA prior cases, at that time anyway, the only way to do it is to simply grab a Title 38 book of prior VA Appeallate Court Decisions and start searching, I mean just read different cases and hope you can find one that is on point with your case so that you can cite it in your appeallate brief.  Well lucky for me, after about a few weeks of skimming over decision BAMM HURRAY

[littlebit245]

This is a continuationn of a reply that i started and somehow it got submitted without me fishing.  I may have ran out of characters but I wanted to finis.  Anyway i found a case that was similar to mine where a veteran filed a claim on written paper instead of putting it on the VA Form.  Well the Judge ruled that as long as a veteran seeks a benefit even though it is written and not put on the correct VA Form, it is considered a valid claim so long as the writing is readable.  So when I submitted my brief, I cited that case and since it was now considered case law, my claim was granted and I was awardeed the effective date of when I filed the claim on written paper.  I just wanted to share this in case a veteran ever ran into a situation such as this.  thanks for letting me share

LITTLEBIT

[vetadmin]

Thanks for sharing your experience, and you never know if indeed this may prove helpful to someone.