If you are a U.S. Veteran, and the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) has denied your claim for VA disability benefits, you might have the option to appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). There are four (4) things that should happen before a Veteran can appeal their denied VA benefits claim to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

1) The BVA must issue a Final decision. A Final Decision at the BVA is one where the BVA doesn’t remand the claim to the VA Regional Office or grant past-due benefits. Be cautious though, as many BVA Decisions include a combination of outcomes. If your BVA Decision only partially denies a part of your veterans disability benefits claim, you can appeal that portion to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

As always, there are exceptions – even if a claim is partially remanded and partially denied, the CAVC may refuse jurisdiction if the two parts of the claim are “inextricably intertwined”.

For example, when a Veteran’s survivor files for DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation) and Accrued Benefits, the court can refuse to exercise jurisdiction if the outcome of the Accrued Benefits claim would affect the DIC portion of the claim. In such situations, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims would remand the whole claim to the BVA for correction.

2) The Veteran must timely file an appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The deadline to file the appeal is currently 120 days from the date the BVA Decision was mailed (this is plainly marked on the BVA decision).

3) The Veteran must pay the filing fee and file a proper Notice of Appeal (NOA). The Notice of Appeal form is available on the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claim’s website, by clicking the “forms” tab.

4) Even if the Veteran performs all these steps, there still has to be a “case or controversy”. This is actually a requirement for every lawsuit in every Federal Court, and comes from the U.S. Constitution. As far as an appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is concerned, if the Veteran is appealing a final BVA decision and is not seeking what is called an “advisory opinion”, the Veteran is likely than not going to be able to meet this element.

A “case” is considered to be submitted once the Veteran files his or her reply brief (or if the deadline has passed with a submission). This is important for Step 4 – if a Veteran dies before his/her case is “submitted”, the CAVC might concluded that there is no case or controversy because the Veteran’s appeal is moot. In some of these cases, a Veteran’s survivor may be able to substitute into the deceased Veteran’s case. If this situation applies to you, it is crucial that you get in touch with an attorney that is familiar with the process of substitution of survivors into a deceased Veteran’s appeal at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

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