Advocacy does not stop after helping a veteran obtain service-connected disability compensation. There are circumstances under which the VA can reduce those benefits, and even sever service connection altogether. Veterans can lose their benefits when a VA adjudicator thinks a service-connected condition has improved or that the VA shouldn’t have awarded benefits for the disability in the first instance.

The rules that apply to the VA’s reduction of disability ratings and severance of service connection are complex, deriving from a combination of statues, regulations, and court decisions. The VA often incorrectly applies these rules, improperly depriving veterans of the benefits they earned serving our country. Many service officers also have difficulty understanding these rules, which makes it hard to identify when the VA makes such a mistake. This webinar will teach you these rules and effective advocacy strategies for preventing improper rating reductions and severance of service connection. You will also learn how to force the VA to retroactively reinstate ratings that were improperly reduced and fight erroneous severances.

This 90-minute webinar will cover the following and more:

• When the VA is permitted to schedule an examination to reevaluate a service-connected disability and what to do if you think the veteran should not be reexamined
• The ramifications of missing a VA reexamination and how to mitigate them
• The process the VA must use to lawfully reduce a rating or sever service connection
• The numerous rules that protect veterans from rating reductions and severance based on the length of time a disability has been service-connected and the rating percentage assigned to the disability
• How a change to the rating criteria for a disability impacts veterans who are rated under the old criteria
• Advocacy strategies for preventing the VA from reducing a disability rating, or at least delaying a reduction