This exhaustive manual is an indispensable guide for advocates who help veterans and their families obtain benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. User-friendly, well-indexed, and packed with practical information, it includes sample forms and briefs, flowcharts, checklists, citations to legal authorities, and other documents designed to streamline the claims process and save you and your veteran client valuable time. Written by practicing lawyers at the National Veterans Legal Services Program, this manual contains valuable insight and analysis from a team of experts on the front line of veterans law. Use their first-hand experience fighting for veterans' rights and their insider's view of the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain the benefits your client earned. The Veterans Benefits Manual contains dozens of effective, battle-tested advocacy tips for veterans and advocates along with all the latest developments in veterans law. 2014 Edition Editors: National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) Barton F. Stichman, Joint Executive Director and lead litigator for the National Veterans Legal Services Program Ronald B. Abrams, Joint Executive Director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program Louis J. George, Director of Training and Publications of the National Veterans Legal Services Program New in the 2014 Edition: The completely revised2014 Edition of the Veterans Benefits Manual has been thoroughly updated to include important developments in veterans law over the past year. New highlights include advocacy essentials such as: • A new section discussing the circumstances in which the Board of Veterans' Appeals has authority to overturn a finding favorable to the claimant made at the VA regional office level; • Updated information about electronic filing of VA claims; • A detailed explanation of the new case law that advocates can use to demonstrate that a VA medical opinion is inadequate; • The new "bright-line" rule governing when the VA must assign the higher of two disability rating evaluations; • The impact of the landmark Federal Circuit decision in AZ v. Shinseki on claims for PTSD caused by military sexual trauma; • Additional information about how newly submitted military service records can entitle VA claimants to an earlier effective date for an award of disability compensation; • A description of the 2014 directive issued by Secretary of Defense Hagel to the Boards for Correction of Military Records making it easier for Vietnam veterans to obtain an upgrade in discharge due to PTSD; • An update on VA's initiative to process claims for benefits that have been pending for more than two years; and • A detailed description of the new procedures affecting entitlement to TDIU and the new case law addressing the adequacy of medical opinions on unemployability. The eBook versions of this title feature links to Lexis Advance for further legal research options.