• Expedite. In some circumstances, if you are over the age of 85, homeless or at immediate risk of homelessness, or if you are experiencing extreme financial hardship, we may be able to speed up the process. If any of these circumstances apply to you, complete the request to expedite statement survey and upload supporting documents so we can file a request to expedite your case.

  Expediting Your Case (cognitoforms.com)

  Criteria:

  • Over 85 years old (75 years old for Board claims only):
    • Provide Birth Certificate
  • Diagnosed with a terminally ill condition:
    • Copy of medical evidence showing illness that is terminal in nature,
  • Severe/Extreme Financial Hardship:
    • Copy of an eviction notice or statement of foreclosure
    • Copy of notices of past-due utility bills
    • Copy of collection notices from creditors
  • Homelessness:
    • Lack of a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; or
    • Have a “primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designated for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation” such as a parking lot, vehicle, public transportation station, or abandoned building; or
    • Live in a shelter

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When to Expedite

• If the client is enrolled in HUD-VASH Housing (Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing), you can file a motion to expedite due to homelessness/imminent risk of homelessness.

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Purple Heart Recipients:

Purple Heart recipients incurred their injuries while engaged in combat. That being the case, they would likely be entitled to the lowered burden of proof for combat veterans under 38 USC § 1154(b): "...the Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of service-connection of any disease or injury alleged to have been incurred in or aggravated by such service satisfactory lay or other evidence of service incurrence or aggravation of such injury or disease, if consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such service, notwithstanding the fact that there is no official record of such incurrence or aggravation in such service, and, to that end, shall resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran.”