Tips For Choosing A TDIU Appeals Attorney
Are you considering a lawyer to help with your Individual Unemployability Denial? Here are some handy tips for choosing a TDIU Appeals Attorney.
Overall, the Veterans Administration’s benefits process is difficult to navigate. Eligibility for benefits is not enough. Applicants Veterans must also convince claims examiners that benefits are appropriate and necessary in a given situation. Otherwise, claims examiners almost always find a loophole and deny coverage allowing them to deny a claim.
The Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) process is even more cumbersome. TDIU benefits, which are full disability benefits, are available to people with less than a 100% disability rating, provided they qualify and provided that benefits are necessary and appropriate.
It is can be very difficult to present your claim to the VA in a persuasive and effective manner to prove both these things without the help of an experienced attorney. So, when you are look for a VA disability lawyer, here are some things to consider:
Experience
The Code of Federal Regulations is a confusing mess of Federal rules and regulations. An attorney must know them all. Additionally, attorneys must know all the unwritten procedural and evidentiary rules. These rules vary greatly among different VA offices, and even among individual administrative law judges and claims examiners.
No one can learn all these written and unwritten rules in school. This knowledge only comes from experience. Your TDIU claim is no time for on-the-job training.
Years of experience only tells part of the story. Your attorney should have substantial practical experience, as well. That means regular appearances before an administrative law judge or another judicial entity.
Location
If you are not working regularly, keeping daytime appointments with an attorney is usually not a problem. But when you are physically or mentally disabled, getting to these appointments can be a major chore. That is especially true if the meeting happens to fall on a bad day.
These meetings are often important. Attorneys can only convey so much information over the phone or via email. Without your full participation, your attorney is at a disadvantage.
Therefore, your attorney’s office should be relatively close to your home, church, doctor’s office, or other such location. Additionally, your lawyer should be willing to meet with you at a mutually convenient and private location.
Accessibility
Your lawyer should be available to meet with you, or at least talk to you, about your case. But on-demand availability may be a bad sign.
If you go to a new restaurant and there are no cars in the parking lot, you may want to keep driving. Many times, restaurants are unpopular for a good reason. At the opposite end of the scale, if there is an hour wait for a table, you may also want to keep driving. No one’s grilled chicken is worth that long a wait.
Similarly, your lawyer should be busy, but not overly busy. Lawyers with few clients are often inexperienced or worse. Lawyers with too many clients may treat you like a number.
Dedication
As previously mentioned, VA disability appeals are very complex matters. Yet many attorneys handle a few appeals on the side, mostly for family and friends, and claim they are experienced in these matters. In this context, part-time experience does not count.
At the same time, diversity usually means strength. If your lawyer also handles other matters, you know your attorney is not just a one-trick pony.
Generally, your lawyer should commit at least 50% of his or her practice to VA disability appeals. A quick look at the lawyer’s website should satisfy your inquiry.
Contact Assertive Attorneys
Choosing a VA disability appeals attorney may be one of the most important decisions you make. For a free consultation with an experienced Veterans disability lawyer, contact Cameron Firm, PC. at 800-861-7262 or fill out the contact box to your right. We are here to represent Veterans nationwide.
This article is for educational and marketing purposes only. It does not create an attorney-client relationship.
