Jim,

I will start with much thanks and gratitude. Your obvious dedication and knowledge is greatly appreciated.

I filed in Jan./13 and began studying your sight shortly thereafter. I have a supposed VSO but don"t believe he is worth my time. I am currently awaiting my decision letter. I have three claims, one of which is for tinnitus that I am confident in. The others I expect to appeal and plan to follow your explicit directions of filing a NOD and seeking legal representation.

My question is: when I appeal can accept part of the decision and receive that back pay and monthly payment? The Tinnitus is what I am referring to as it is a set 10%.

Reply:

As a rule, VA will notify you of the decision and how it breaks down. If you are awarded 1 of 3 claims, that benefit will begin immediately and any retro pay will be issued.

Then you are free to appeal the denied claims and those appeals won't have any effect on the awarded claim.

Each claim is in a sort of individual box. When one is closed the others will remain open until an appropriate time to close them. In the case of a denied claim, it remains "open" until you appeal or until one year after the denial. Once the year has passed without an appeal, the claim is then considered closed.