SOC, Form 9, & Veterans
So you’ve filed your Notice of Disagreement (NOD). The VA must respond with a “Statement of the Case” (SOC). The SOC is designed to explain all reasons that the VA reached their decision. It should refer to your specific claims, the evidence that they used to evaluate your claims, and the laws and regulations they applied to reach their conclusions.
Depending upon your particular claim, an SOC can get long and complicated. It may comprise many pages of arcane language regarding the laws, regulations, and rules that the VA Regional Office used as the basis for their decision. It’s important to know and understand everything that’s in there, however. Did the VA miss an important piece of evidence in your C-File? Did they rely on an outdated rule?
Once you have the SOC, it is your responsibility to respond with VA Form 9, “Appeal to Board of Veterans Appeals,” or as it’s more commonly called Form 9. This may be the most important form that gets filed in your appeal and you may hear it referred to as the “Substantive Appeal.” That’s because this is where you specify all of the reasons you believe the VA got it wrong.
On the Form 9, you’ll need to state each decision with which you disagree–and state every reason for your disagreement. The idea is to include everything that you want the VA to consider. This might include new evidence that should have been in your C-File but turned out to be missing. And, since the goal is to make it as easy as possible for the VA to say, “Yes,” to your appeal, it’s also a good idea to include what you think is the right decision.
Another important consideration is that while you had one year to file your NOD, you have only 60 days to file your Form 9. Just like the NOD, if you don’t meet the deadline, your appeal is pretty much over.
Once you’ve completed your Form 9, you’ll send it to the VA office that denied your initial claim. As with all paperwork sent to the VA, you should (a) save a copy for yourself and (b) send it to the VA in a way that provides proof of delivery.
Once the VA has your Form 9, a number of different things can happen. If you’re very lucky, the decision might get changed right there. But it’s just as likely that your appeal will continue. If you submitted something new for the VA to consider, you’ll receive a “Supplemental Statement of the Case” (SSOC)–to which you would respond with another Form 9. And, of course, all the same rules and deadlines would apply to the new submission.
Filling out an effective Form 9 can be tricky. Overlooking something at this stage can derail your appeal. Considering all the technicalities involved in this, if you haven’t contacted and retained qualified legal assistance now may be a very good time to consider it. We at The Law Offices of Maurice L. Abarr are at your disposal.
Contact us for a free consultation.