VA Appeals

WASHINGTON (CN) – An appeal for Veterans Administration benefits triggers the VA’s duty to “provide a claimant with notice of the information and evidence necessary to substantiate a claim and to assist a claimant in obtaining the evidence necessary to substantiate the claim” in two instances.      The VA can cure the defect of not providing notice and assistance for an underlying claim by providing it and readjudicating the claim, if the claim was denied because it was not substantiated.          When a claim is barred as a matter of law the VA has no duty to notify and assist, unless whether a claimant is entitled to a benefit as a matter of law requires fact-specific analysis.