An Appeal to Board of Veterans’ Appeals or a Substantive Appeal is a document employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and is formally known as VA Form 9. This document is used when a veteran wishes to appeal to the board after being denied benefits under the VA. The veteran will complete this form themselves or they can seek assistance from an attorney or representative to fill out this form. This document will first require personal information, such as the veteran’s social security number, the claim file number, and contact information. Later in the form, the veteran will be required to provide details about the decision that they are appealing. He or she may also request a BVA hearing to further dispute the decision.
This form is used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. A VA Form 9 is known as an Appeal to Board of Veterans’ Appeals or a Substantive Appeal. A veteran will use this form if they wish to appeal to the board after receiving a denial for benefits under the VA. A veteran can fill this form out by themselves, or they can seek assistance in the form of a representative or attorney.
This form will first require basic information about the veteran. They will need to include their name, social security number, claim file number, and contact information on this form. The next part of the form will allow the veteran to detail what decision they are disputing. They can request a BVA hearing if desired. Before this form is return to the Department of Veterans Affairs, it must be signed by the person disputing the VA’s decision.
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A VA Form 9 is commonly used to appeal an adverse decision. Â The form arrives with your Statement of Case (SOC) when the VA renders a decision on your case and you let your VA office know that you disagreed with a decision that it made on your claim for VA benefits by filing a "Notice of Disagreement." Â The VA Form 9 gives you a chance to contest information on your SOC, present additional evidence, and gives you several options for requesting a hearing with a VA judge.Â
The VA Form 9 contains the following sections:
To complete a VA Form 9, you will need to provide the following information:
When filing your VA Form 9, you need to pay close attention to the submission deadlines. Â You must submit your VA Form 9 within the deadline that gives you the most time to complete and file this form:
You can request three different types of hearings:
You can also choose to have no hearing at all.
There is no specific timetable for when you will receive your decision.  After you submit your VA Form 9, the Veterans’ Appeals Board will review your submission or you can present it in person at a hearing.  The Board will then decide whether to grant your appeal, deny it, or send it back to the local VA office for remand for additional proceedings.
If you intend to submit a brief later in the process, you do not need to present an extensive argument in Form 9. Â To preserve all potential issues, there should be broad and inclusive language use in the Form 9. Â The claimant must provide some indication that he or she intends to raise an issue on appeal.
If you would like additional information about the VA claims and appeals process, you can view Title 38, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20 or view the pamphlet "How Do I Appeal" available at: http://www.bva.va.gov/How_Do_I_Appeal.asp.
