Claim Raven explanation
What this means
The Board can vacate a decision on grounds described here, including a denial of due process. Examples include certain failures involving representation or a requested hearing.
Vacating a decision is different from reconsideration, a CUE motion, or a court appeal. The request should identify the procedural problem and how the rule applies rather than simply repeat disagreement with the outcome.
How this helps your claim
Gather the notices and requests that document the claimed due-process failure. Keep any court-appeal deadline in view while assessing the appropriate procedure.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Identify the Board decision and issue affected.
- Locate the hearing, representation, or notice records showing the alleged failure.
- Compare the request with the grounds for vacatur and any related appeal timing.
Identify the procedural right allegedly denied
A motion to vacate should explain the specific ground within the rule, such as a qualifying denial of due process. Identify the event, relevant correspondence and effect on the proceeding. A broad statement that the Board reached the wrong outcome does not describe the procedural problem.
Keep this request distinct from reconsideration, a CUE motion and an appeal to the Court. They have different purposes and requirements. The same decision can raise several questions, but one procedure's name should not be used as though it automatically invokes the others.
Is vacating a decision the same as granting the benefit?
No. Vacatur addresses the validity of the decision under the specified grounds. It does not by itself establish that the evidence meets every entitlement requirement. The subsequent handling of the matter must be understood separately from the request to set the decision aside.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 20.1000
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 20.1000 Rule 1000. Vacating a decision.
An appellate decision may be vacated by the Board of Veterans' Appeals at any time upon request of the appellant or his or her representative, or on the Board's own motion, on the following grounds:
(a) Denial of due process. Examples of circumstances in which denial of due process of law will be conceded are:
(1) When the appellant was denied his or her right to representation through action or inaction by Department of Veterans Affairs or Board of Veterans' Appeals personnel,
(2) When there was a prejudicial failure to afford the appellant a personal hearing. (Where there was a failure to honor a request for a hearing and a hearing is subsequently scheduled, but the appellant fails to appear, the decision will not be vacated.), and
(3) For a legacy appeal, as defined in § 19.2 of this chapter, when a Statement of the Case or required Supplemental Statement of the Case was not provided.
(b) Allowance of benefits based on false or fraudulent evidence. Where it is determined on reconsideration that an allowance of benefits by the Board has been materially influenced by false or fraudulent evidence submitted by or on behalf of the appellant, the prior decision will be vacated only with respect to the issue or issues to which, within the judgment of the Board, the false or fraudulent evidence was material.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 7104(a))
[57 FR 4109, Feb. 3, 1992. Redesignated and amended at 84 FR 177, 191, Jan. 18, 2019, as amended at 84 FR 4337, Feb. 15, 2019]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 19.2: Legacy Appeals and Opting Into Modernized Review
- 38 USC § 7104: What a Board Decision Must Address
- 38 CFR § 3.2400: Modernized and Legacy VA Appeals Explained
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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