Your Claim Was Denied. Now What?

Roughly one in three disability claims is denied, and a large share of those denials are wrong or incomplete rather than final. The single most expensive mistake veterans make is starting a brand new claim instead of appealing the old one — because a new claim resets your effective date and can throw away years of back pay.

Step one: find the actual reason

Your decision letter contains a section listing each claimed condition and the reason for the decision. Ignore the summary at the front and read that section. Nearly every denial reduces to one of four things:

1. No current diagnosis. VA found no diagnosed condition at the time of the decision.
2. No in-service event. VA found nothing in your service records connecting to the condition.
3. No nexus. VA accepted both the diagnosis and the service event but not the link between them. This is the most common denial by a wide margin.
4. Service-connected but rated 0%. Not a denial at all — a grant at a non-compensable level, and it is appealable as an under-rating.

If the language in your letter is unclear, work through what the denial language means.

Step two: request your C-file

Your claims file contains the examination report, the rater's code sheet, and every piece of evidence VA considered. You cannot argue effectively against a decision without seeing what the decision was based on. Request it with VA Form 20-10206. It takes time to arrive, so file the request early — you can start it in parallel with everything else.

Pay particular attention to the DBQ the examiner completed. It is common to find an examiner recorded findings that support a higher rating than the one assigned. See DBQs and why to always request yours.

Step three: pick the lane

The Appeals Modernization Act gives you three routes. They are not a ladder — you choose based on the problem.

The comparison most veterans need is set out in full at HLR vs Supplemental Claim.

The deadline

You generally have one year from the date on the decision notice to file and preserve your original effective date. A Supplemental Claim can technically be filed later, but filing after the year usually means a later effective date — and the difference is measured in back pay.

Denials worth a second look

• "At least as likely as not" and still denied. That is the favourable standard. If the examiner used it, the evidence supports a grant, and the denial is an adjudication error — a strong HLR.
• Favourable findings but denied. Favourable findings are binding on VA in later adjudications. They are a foundation to build on, not a consolation.
• Denied without an examination. Where the evidence indicates a possible link, VA generally owes you an examination. Denying without one is a duty-to-assist error. See duty-to-assist errors.
• Denied because there was no in-service complaint. Not fatal. Continuity of symptoms and lay evidence can establish service connection, and a secondary theory may avoid the issue entirely.
• Denied as direct when it should have been secondary. Very common, and often the whole answer. Secondary service connection.

What we do

We read the decision and the C-file, identify what VA actually got wrong, choose the lane that fits that error, and argue it. Under 38 CFR §14.636 we can only charge once a decision has been issued — which is exactly the point you are at now.