VA Duties come in all shapes and sizes. A VA duty is an obligation with no wiggle room. In other words, the Veterans Administration is required to complete a specific task.

The point of stating the Veterans Administration did not do something specific is to help a Veteran acquire benefits. Specifically, this is important during the appeal process.

VA Duties under 38 CFR 3.159

One of the most basic duties and responsibilities for the Department of Veterans Affairs is to develop a claim. In my experience, Veterans Affairs does not develop every claim. Luckily, regulation 38 CFR 3.159 can help Vets remind the VA of their errors.

As you can see, this rule assigns a bunch of important duties to the VA. Just to name a few, their duties include:

Telling the veteran what kind of evidence they should acquire,
Helping veterans obtain evidence,
Getting records that are kept being kept by the government, and
Obtaining medical opinions.

Now, the benefit of having a list of duties outlined in a regulation is the fact the VA breaches these responsibilities all the time, which financially, can be to a Veteran’s benefit.

Developing a VA Claim

The whole idea of sharing this is to show one of many strategies a Veteran can appeal a claim for benefits. In other words, Veterans can find success proving up their claim upon identifying a moment where the VA breached a duty owed to a veteran.

Veterans needing help with developing their claim or showing a breach in VA duties can contact me directly. I wish you the best.