VA Disability Lawyer for Veterans Who Need Help Getting Disability Benefits
Centonzio Law is the veterans disability law firm that delivers compassion, empathy, and results.
WE REPRESENT VETERANS NATIONWIDE
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
WHY SHOULD YOU HIRE A VA DISABILITY LAWYER TO HANDLE YOUR DISABILITY APPEAL?
The VA regularly denies valid disability benefits claims and often makes the same mistakes in their decisions. Veterans law is complicated and involves the intersection of medicine and law. You should not fight the VA without a lawyer on your side. Some of the most common errors we help file appeals for are:
The most common issue we appeal is when VA decides that a claimed disability is not service connected. In almost every single one of these cases, there is no nexus opinion connecting the current disability to the military service of the claimant (or the deceased veteran in cases where a surviving spouse is seeking DIC benefits). Most veterans disability appeals are based on the lack of an accurate medical opinion and many veterans law cases deal with this issue.
As dedicated veterans disability lawyers, our job is to identify and obtain the evidence needed to get the benefits our clients are entitled to receive. This is why we regularly pay for medical opinions from private independent medical professionals that establish the link between your current disability and your service. If we need to track down and pay for medical records related to your claim then that’s what we do.
Whether you are a widow who filed a claim for DIC and accrued benefits, or a veteran trying to get the compensation you deserve, we can help get you the medical opinion you need to strengthen your claim.
When a claim for VA benefits is granted, the VA assigns an effective date when benefit payments should have started. The VA regularly assigns the wrong effective date which results in the veteran getting less compensation than they should have received.
Effective date appeals can result in very large retroactive awards of benefits for years of unpaid benefits. Veterans law related to effective dates can be very confusing and many veterans are not aware that they may be entitled to receive an earlier effective date that comes with a large monetary award from the VA.
You should always closely review any decision granting a benefit claim for effective date mistakes. If you feel a mistake has been made don’t hesitate to contact our office for a free case evaluation.
Total Disability Rating Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) is a benefit available to veterans whose service connected disabilities keep them from finding or keeping “substantially gainful” employment. In other words, if evidence shows you aren’t able to work because of your service connected disabilities, but you aren’t rated at 100%, you may be eligible for TDIU (also known as Individual Unemployability(IU)).
This underutilized benefit is commonly denied by VA adjudicators at the regional office or elsewhere who just don’t understand how to properly decide these claims. Helping veterans obtain TDIU benefits is something our law firm does extremely well. We have longstanding relationships with vocational experts who understand how to assess the impact service connected disabilities have on a veterans ability to work.
Our law firm also covers the cost of obtaining reports from vocational experts and social security records, which we are reimbursed for only if we win your appeal and get the denial of benefits overturned.
When the VA determines that a disability claimed by a veteran is service connected it must assign a rating percentage to that disability. The criteria used by the VA when rating a service connected disability are found in Part 4 of Title 38 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. Even though the rating criteria is set out for the VA to follow when assigning a disability rating, many VA decisions assign a rating that is lower than it should be.
The VA often abuses the discretion it has to weigh the evidence of record and choose between different ratings. The VA will commonly assign a lower rating even though the evidence shows that a higher rating should be assigned. Only experienced veterans lawyers with years of practicing veterans law can easily identify these disability rating errors.
Improper ratings can make a huge difference in the amount of benefits a disabled veteran receives each month. Our law firm can review your VA benefits claim decision to ensure you received the proper rating for your service connected condition.
FOUR REASONS TO CHOOSE CENTONZIO LAW FOR YOUR VETERANS DISABILITY CASE
Stellar Ratings & Reviews From Actual Clients
The Centonzio Law team is made up of award-winning and highly rated veterans law attorneys. Our disability law team is honored to have great reviews from our clients, and we are dedicated to maintaining the excellent reputation we have worked hard to build. Client satisfaction is our priority as demonstrated by our “Superb” rating on AVVO, our 5-star reviews on Google, and our Client Reviews.
Veterans Advocates & Supporters
Centonzio Law donates thousands of dollars annually to support veterans and Veterans Organizations. Our firm’s founder, Javier Centonzio, is a Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), American Legion, and the Marine Corps League. He also serves as a Board Member for the Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch and the Bay Pines Foundation and is a frequent lecturer on Veterans Law and VA disability benefits. Our disability lawyers regularly teach other lawyers how to help a veteran review a denial of benefits and what to do to help those veterans find the help they need.
Accreditation & Experience
Our Attorneys are accredited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. We have helped hundreds of disabled veterans obtain the VA disability benefits they deserve at every level of appeal from the Regional Office to the Board of Veterans Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Our VA disability lawyers understand the appeals process and how to get the benefits our clients are entitled to receive. We know when a medical opinion or a report from vocational experts can make the difference in winning your case.
We are a Veteran-Owned Law Firm
Javier is a veteran of the Kansas Army National Guard and the U.S. Marine Corps. His experiences in the armed forces, and as a veteran seeking VA benefits, have provided him with valuable insights.MEET OUR TEAM
Javier Centonzio
VA DISABILITY LAWYER
Victoria Tamayo
VA DISABILITY LAWYER
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When you contact our law firm, we will gather some basic information from you such as your first name, last name, date of the denial, and whether you have filed a notice of disagreement. We will then request a copy of the decision you wish to appeal.
We then have our experienced lawyers look over the decision to identify any errors or missing evidence and determine how and if our team can successfully represent you on appeal. Sometimes, we may need additional information or records to decide whether we can take your case so our office will contact you to get the information we need.
Ultimately, you make the decision whether to hire us or not. Unlike some law firms, every single case evaluation at Centonzio Law is done by a lawyer who is well-versed in veterans law and knows what it takes to succeed with a disability appeal.
Unfortunately, we cannot represent everyone that contacts our office for help because we limit our caseload. We do this in order to provide the attention and care necessary for each of our cases. However, just because we don’t agree to take a case on appeal doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good case. We encourage people we are unable to represent to contact other veterans law attorneys to review their cases.
Lawyers are paid on a contingency basis for VA disability appeal work. This means that they only get paid if they win your appeal.
This fee structure is set by law and was intended to allow veterans and other claimants access to lawyers after a denial of compensation benefits without having to come up with large retainers or pay legal fees for work that didn’t result in getting disability benefits.
The fee can be a percentage up to 33.3% and covers the legal work required for your appeal. Your case may require additional costs to obtain evidence such as medical records, medical opinions, or vocational reports.
We pay the costs for medical opinions and vocational expert reports for our veteran clients. We cover these costs upfront and only recover these costs in cases we win.
When we decide to take on a veteran disability appeal case it is because we believe that we can be successful in overcoming the denial of compensation so we don’t mind covering these costs even though we may not win every single case. We also know that many of our clients do not have the money to pay for these costly reports and opinions, but we believe in doing whatever we can to help get the evidence our clients need to win their appeals.
If you have hired a law firm to help you with your appeal for VA benefits you should not be asked to pay for these costs to get the evidence you need to win your compensation appeal.
Typically, you have one year to appeal a denial of a disability claim. If you are appealing a decision of the U.S. Board of Veterans Appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, then you have 120 days to file an appeal.
No matter where you are in the appeals process our law firm can help. We work on cases at every level hearing from the Regional Office to the Board of Veterans Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and beyond if necessary.
If you miss the deadline to appeal you will most likely have to start all over by filing a new disability claim or survivors benefit claim.
Our office commonly receives calls from disabled veterans and other claimants looking for help filing a veterans disability claim.
This could be a claim to reopen a previously denied VA disability claim, an original disability claim, or a claim for an increased rating for a service connected disability.
Our law firm focuses exclusively on VA benefits appeals and encourages the use of Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) and their Veterans Service Officers to help with disability claims.
VSOs provide free help with filing disability benefits claims. We do not feel it is right to charge to help disabled veterans file a disability claim and warn against using companies or services that ask you to pay for help filing your benefits claim.
You can find a directory of VSOs here: https://www.va.gov/vso/VSO-Directory.pdf
VETERANS DISABILITY LAW BLOG
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OUR TEAM AT CENTONZIO LAW IS READY TO FIGHT FOR YOU
Do not hesitate to contact us as you take the next steps in fighting for your VA disability compensation. Choosing and retaining legal counsel is an important decision to make. Simply call 800.342.2727 for your free VA Disability Claim Review and see if Centonzio Law is right for you.
We know that your disability claim is important, and our team of disability lawyers is dedicated to helping veterans and other claimants get the benefits they deserve. We can work to shorten the appeals process by making sure you have the evidence you need to prove your disability is related to your active duty military service.
We do not take the decision to create an attorney client relationship lightly and neither should you. You should only hire a lawyer who knows and regularly practices veterans law. Beware of lawyers who say they represent veterans but lack the experience and knowledge necessary to properly review your case and successfully represent you.
“When you turn to Centonzio Law, the best interests of you and your family become our priority. Our team takes full responsibility for the outcome of your case, which is why we stop at nothing to obtain a favorable resolution.”
Defend Your Legal Right to Receive VA Disability Compensation by Calling Centonzio Law today at 800.342.2727!
