Seeking Congressional Assistance to Get VA Claim Approval

November 10, 2015

by Lawyers With Purpose with 3 Comments Asset Protection Systems & Processes VA

What is Congressional Assistance?

It has been “X” months since you filed the VA formal claim, and your sole correspondence from the VA consists of periodic form letters apologizing for the delay. Your calls to the VA inquiring about status reveal only that the claim is still pending, but your client is getting exasperated hearing that the average processing time for approving VA claims is less than “X” months.

Congressional assistance is when a private constituent requests a member of Congress to inquire on their behalf in the administrative proceedings of a governmental agency, in this case the Department of Veterans Affairs. The purpose of doing so is to force the VA to pull a specific claim from their backlog and expedite it. The actual result is not always that, it seems. There are reports of success from various internet forums dedicated to veterans’ benefits – people who swear that, had it not been for Senator So-and-So, their VA claim would never have been approved. But there are even more grumblings on the same forums that such congressional inquiries merely elicit a form letter, and then your file returns to the backlog BUT at the end of the queue. This is horrific enough to scare you off from considering making any such inquiries, but at times of sheer desperation it can be a tool to make the VA respond, or to be able to get a copy of a VA response. Then sometimes a client’s family will demand it because apparently it had been done successfully by their hairdresser’s brother-in-law’s grandfather. Therefore, you should be aware of the option of requesting congressional assistance with a VA pension claim, how to do it, and when it may be appropriate to do so.

How do you file a Congressional?

First, you need a member of Congress. Our firm generally uses a senator. I don’t know that there is any advantage to having a senator rather than a member of the House of Representatives making the inquiry. However, you must be aware that not all members of Congress may be receptive to making such inquiries. If their platform and/or expressed political views suggest that veterans’ benefits may not be a priority, you may need to approach with caution. Most members of Congress have websites that post information for the types of assistance they provide. Members of Congress who do count a large number of veterans among their constituents may even regularly reach out to explain what specific services they can provide for them. This assistance generally requires a privacy release form that must be signed by the veteran or other type of claimant so the VA will release information to the congressperson’s office.

Our firm sends the privacy release form with a letter requesting assistance on behalf of our client, and includes a timeline of the claim highlighting any major dates relevant to the claim process. We also mention in this letter any circumstances that may merit that the claimant’s request be considered with utmost urgency. This would include statements, if applicable, as to the claimant’s terminal condition, advanced age, and/or financial hardship. Once their office files the inquiry with the VA, that agency must respond within a certain amount of time, even if it is just a form letter apologizing for the delay. The congressperson’s office generally then forwards a copy of the VA correspondence to the claimant.

When do you file the Congressional?

This is the hardest question to answer, and the only quick and easy way to do so is as follows: It depends.

You may be pressured by your client to file a request for congressional assistance at any point after submitting the formal claim, when presumably the VA should have everything it needs to decide the claim. Your client can also certainly request assistance on their own without your firm’s involvement. However, given the mixed results, I would recommend that you consider it primarily as a last resort, meaning you should exhaust all other means first, like calling the VA for status inquiries and to follow up on submitted requests to expedite a claim due to terminal condition, advanced age and/or financial hardship. You also need to decide, given the average amount of time it is taking for the VA to process your firm’s claims, at how many months you are going to seriously consider requesting congressional assistance.

Our firm currently uses the one-year mark after filing a formal claim to start considering this option, but this is subject to change as we see claim processing times change over the years. Bear in mind that processing times vary regionally, and that overuse of your local congressperson will not earn you much love from his or her office. Reserve the request for congressional assistance for those VA claims that truly seem to have dropped off the face of the earth, or for those claimants who may end up in extreme financial straits or who for medical reasons may not survive to receive the benefits to which they are entitled unless they are awarded right away.

Lawyers With Purpose is offering a FREE Webinar on Wednesday, December 2nd at 12 EST on "Trust Planning for VA Benefits After the Proposed Look Back Takes Place" – click here to register now. Transfer penalties for VA claimants are expected to be implemented in February 2016. What does that mean for your trust drafting services? Will we need to change the language in our trusts? Or, worse yet, start using totally new trusts? Attend the upcoming VA Tech School Training on 12/2/15 on Drafting Trusts After the Laws Change and find out! Register today as we have limited space!

By Sabrina A. Scott, Paralegal, The Elder & Disability Law Firm of Victoria L. Collier, PC, and Director of VA Services for Lawyers With Purpose.

Victoria L. Collier, Veteran of the United States Air Force, 1989-1995 and United States Army Reserves, 2001-2004. Victoria is a Certified Elder Law Attorney through the National Elder Law Foundation; Author of “47 Secret Veterans Benefits for Seniors”; Author of “Paying for Long Term Care: Financial Help for Wartime Veterans: The VA Aid & Attendance Benefit”; Founder of The Elder & Disability Law Firm of Victoria L. Collier, PC; Co-Founder of Lawyers with Purpose; and Co-Founder of Veterans Advocate Group of America.

Leadership

November 12, 2014

by Lawyers With Purpose with One Comment Systems & Processes Team Building

The term “leadership” is all the rage on social media these days – and it is definitely on most entrepreneurs’ wish lists. Yet when I ask people what leadership means to them, I often hear some multifaceted variation that’s equivalent to dismissing the need for relationship. In this day and age I have actually heard, “People today should be thankful they have a job in this economy.” I can assure you, in no way, shape or form is this leadership.

In my experience, leadership is charting or changing the course to take a stand for unity. It’s so much more about finding leadership within that will get the work out and the consistent cash flow in. And fast. It is Mindfulness + Self Awareness + Social Awareness + Self Management.

Self-Awareness is showing up on time with empowering energy, and general concern for everyone’s time and experience while they are with you. Social Awareness is supporting your team, showing up focused and present, keeping your word and taking full responsibility for how you show up in the world. Self-Management is showing up prepared, projecting onward motion, without an unstable tone combined with tension demands. Even though most leaders are active, you don’t want to come off harsh, with a self-serving need to push your own agenda. The minute you become disengaged and start pointing at them, you resign from being a leader.

Leadership is not strength or force. It is not based on “old school” thinking that smart is good enough and that great leaders are tough and can always muscle through – no one can sustain continuous strain. It is not survival of the fittest. Leadership does not manage from a place of control – team has to go along to get along and must stay in the box built. It is not from a place of personal position – sway whichever way, defer decisions or create fear based on authority.

Every great leader touches your head to make you think, touches your heart to make you feel and always gives you something to carry with you later, a walk-away message. The way I see leadership, here are some of the key tenets:

Never dehumanizes, but fills up, guides, includes and creates
Tend and befriend vs. command and control
- Willing to live the examined life, a spiritual seeker
- How we do what we do is just as important as what we do
- Emotional intelligence
- Power is used to bring wisdom and clarity for others
- Not forced, common practice
- In order to empower, you have to give up your power
- Of the people, for the people while honoring them for their conviction

Leaders have an ability to get people behind one another and bring out the best in each of them. They identify their own weaknesses, and provide solutions to increase efficiency and productivity. Never “Here’s what’s wrong, now solve it or we’ll be having a different conversation.” They are very much “part of.” They have the ability to be the manager and make sure that tasks are getting completed, with an empowering leadership element in that. It usually is very difficult to be manager/leader at the same time, but true leaders can accomplish this at all times. They can verbalize the “hard” things to say, even when it hurts, because they are accurate and necessary for the growth and success of the company and the individuals in the company – even when they can’t see it.

A leader is loyal and committed, with a reassuring way that permits people to let go of panic and trust in themselves to accomplish their goals. A leader has the ability to help individuals sort through a tremendous amount of information and put them on a path of clarity and direction, with specific short-term steps that lead to long-term success.

You know you have great leadership when you have engaged employees who are innovative and empowered to get the job done while never being afraid to use their voice!

Molly L. Hall, Co-Founder, Lawyers with Purpose, LLC, and author of Don’t Be a Yes Chick: How to Stop Babysitting Your Boss, Transform Your Job and Work with a Dream Team Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Spirit in the Process.

We’ve Updated The Five Key Focusers

May 19, 2014

by Lawyers With Purpose with No Comment Coaching & Implementation Systems & Processes

Four years ago I had never heard of Lawyers With Purpose and knew nothing about the LWP processes. Of course I had worked a number of years in the legal field, and had developed systems and processes in each position I had held, but I had never seen anything like the Initial Contact Focuser (ICF).

What a ridiculously simple idea! How come I never thought of it?

Like so many gemstones in the rough, I didn’t immediately see the depth of its value. I was fairly easily persuaded that collecting the data and documenting it made sense. I simply put one on a clipboard behind the phone, and grabbed it when a first-time caller phoned, or someone walked in off the street. But it wasn’t until I had been collecting that data for several months, and transitioned to an Excel spreadsheet that I started to really “get it.”

Then I got excited.

Just for kicks, I added a few columns into my spreadsheet that are now incorporated into the new Initial Contact Focuser on the LWP website. By using the sort and filter functions, I was able to see exactly what was causing our phone to ring. I was able to track the results of our RMS process, as well as each retail advertisement we had paid for.

Thinking about advertising on the scorecards at local golf clubs? Forget it! We never got a single referral from the half dozen courses that we advertised at. And I can tell you that with no hesitation because of the Initial Contact Focuser.

We were able to track ROI on retail marketing down to the cent, and maximize our marketing dollars.

Not only that, but I could immediately access referrals from synergy partners, tell you how many prospects were converted to clients, and give you the total dollar value of that referral relationship, as well as the average value of each referral.

We were able to more effectively measure the results of our involvement in community groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and the results of luncheon speaking engagements for the local Rotary Clubs.

OK, so maybe I’m preaching to the choir here. You probably have already “seen the light” long ago. But just in case your firm is not religiously documenting every new prospect on the Initial Contact Focuser, I just have to ask …. WHY NOT?

I hope you’ll check out the brand new Five Key Focusers on the member website. A great deal of work has gone into improving them … just for you!

Nedra Catale – Coaching, Consulting & Implementation

Lessons From Los Angeles

March 31, 2014

by Lawyers With Purpose with No Comment Systems & Processes VA

California is known for being different – a place where stars rise and fall every day, working hard to make a name for themselves, then smearing it all over town.

How does this relate to your VA benefits law practice?

I spent four days in L.A. in an effort to interview a big name who would propel my TV show, "Senior Salute," to new levels. The better the show is, the more it can help a broader audience of caregivers and people who are aging.

I had a date for the interview, but no set time. I spent time and money to be present for the meeting, even hiring a local makeup artist to come to my hotel to dress me up. The interview didn't happen. So, why was I there for four long days when I could have been with my family or at the office?

My agent strung me along with little to no communication. It wasn't intentional, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

And it raised a question: How often do you string your clients along without communicating?

I arrived on a Tuesday night for a Wednesday interview. No word from my agent until 11:23 a.m. Wednesday saying, "Not today." At 8:16 p.m., new message received: "Just heard back, we are in for Friday afternoon." The next day, Thursday, February 27, next message, "Are you here tomorrow? They are getting us in about 3:00." Friday morning, no news. I call for a status and my agent tells me we are still only about a 50/50 chance. By 3:00 I knew there was no interview, but not because my agent told me, because if there had been one I would already have received my special pass. Instead, I used a ticket I got on the Internet to watch from the general audience the live filming of a show that night, featuring my big-name star. No VIP status.

Reading the above, it looks like there was constant communication. And if I had complained to my agent about not hearing from her, she would have argued that she was doing everything she could and telling me everything she knew. The problem, from the client perspective, is that she was telling me projections, possibilities and hopeful deliverables. What I wanted were the details of her efforts, the positive and negative conversations between her and her "contacts," so I could set up my own expectations and not feel so duped when the interview didn't take place.

How often and how detailed are you when communicating with your clients? Only when you have good news? Only when you need something from them? Only when they are calling you?

The VA application process can take an uncertain amount of time, sometimes more than nine months. Getting that monthly check to pay for care is the client's only focus, and you are the means of achieving that. It's very much like getting that interview, with my agent being my vessel. Even when there is no new news, clients want to hear that, which is why our office calls the VA each month for a status and then passes the information to our waiting clients. Just showing the details of our efforts is enough to keep them content, if not yet satisfied with the results.

Thus, my lessons from L.A. include:

1. Set and manage client expectations;

2. Use clear, constant and honest communication;

3. And understand the unspoken gratitude from your clients when they are aware of your efforts.

P.S. While at the show, I even took actions to "do it myself" by approaching the set's floor supervisor to plead my case. One of the worst things that can happen is when clients take matters into their own hands because they have lost confidence in you. It rarely makes a difference in the result. It didn't in mine.

Victoria L. Collier is a Veteran and Certified Elder Law Attorney, Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Co-Founder of Lawyers With Purpose LLC, and author of “47 Secret Veterans’ Benefits for Seniors—Benefits You Have Earned … but Don’t Know About.”