The VA disability claim process looks different depending on where you are standing. At twelve months out you are building a record: getting seen for the knees, the back, the hearing, the sleep, the things you have been eating for years because sick call was a hassle. Every documented visit is a dated entry tying that condition to your service.

 

Between 180 and 90 days before separation you can file a Benefits Delivery at Discharge claim on VA Form 21-526EZ. Your service treatment records have to be submitted before the 90 day mark or the claim falls out of BDD, and you have to stay available for VA exams for 45 days after filing. An Intent to File does nothing on a pre-discharge claim, because the effective date cannot precede the day after separation.

 

Once you are out, the rules invert. File within one year of discharge and your effective date runs back to the day after you separated. An Intent to File on VA Form 21-0966 now holds that date for a year while you gather evidence. And if you are already rated, the percentage most people leave on the table is not in increases but in secondary service connection under 38 CFR 3.310, conditions caused or aggravated by something you are already service connected for.

 

Pick the stage you are at and the checklist remembers what you have ticked, so you can come back to it. Print it for your next appointment and take it in with you.