Veterans of the US Armed Forces may be entitled to compensation for the disabilities that they suffered today because of their military service. But what are VA disability compensation benefits?

Hello, I’m Todd Wesche, the founder and managing member of Vetus Legal LLC. We help veterans, their dependents, and survivors obtain from the VA the disability compensation benefits that they were promised, they earned, and they deserve. That’s all we do.

Let me get started with the basics of VA disability compensation. Quite simply, it is a monthly cash payment from the U.S. government to qualified disabled veterans.

Payments range from around $100 per month to almost $4,000 per month, depending on the severity the disability suffered, and the payment could be much higher for veterans with severe disabilities. That is money veterans can use in any way they want. There are no restrictions or strings attached. This means you can use the money for bills, your rent, mortgage, vacations, paying off your debt, or even funding your children’s education. The choice is yours.

And the best part is that this money is federal income tax free. You don’t even report the money on your income tax returns.

So how do you get it? Well, that’s where it becomes complicated. I’ll walk you through the essential requirements.

First and most importantly, the veterans must currently — today — suffer from a diagnosed disability or symptoms of an undiagnosed disability. This is important because VA will deny the claim if the veteran has no diagnosed disability and no symptoms of a disability.

The veteran must also have received a better-than-dishonorable discharge or separation from the military. The discharge does not need to be honorable. Some entry level or medical discharges may also qualify. The veteran must have served in a qualifying period of service, usually meaning active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty for training. So, that means that members of the National Guard or Reserve components may not necessarily qualify.

The veteran must also have suffered from a disease, injury, or event during qualifying service. That could be physical injuries, like a basketball injury, or combat wounds, psychological injuries, such as PTSD, diseases, like diabetes, or events, such as a sexual assault or exposure to environmental toxins. Importantly, it does not matter whether the disease, injury or event occurred while the veteran was on leave or on duty or whether the condition or event happened during combat or peacetime.

And finally, it must be at least as likely as not that whatever happened during service also caused the current disability. That means that the evidence shows that maybe it did, maybe it didn’t, but if it’s not clear either way then VA must grant the claim and pay the compensation.

You may be asking, is it even worth the hassle? Well, let me say, yes! Getting VA disability compensation benefits opens the door for many other VA benefits, such as free VA health care and benefits for certain survivors should you die before they do. And it could make you eligible for a significant non-VA. federal and state level benefits too.

If you’re a disabled veteran, VA owes you this. You’ve earned it already. You were promised these benefits when you joined the service. Don’t let your benefits, your entitlement, go to waste. Every month that goes by could be thousands of dollars you’ll miss out on. That’s money that can make your life and the life of those you love easier.

I hope that you will call or contact us through this website to schedule a time to talk about your VA benefits and how we might be able to help you maximize them. Thank you.