38 CFR: VA Disability Regulations Explained: Page 4
Browse laws, regulations, and VA manual guidance alongside Claim Raven explanations. Choose a collection or search the laws and regulations below.
This collection: 201 CFR sections and 68 U.S. Code sections for disability claims and reviews. Search covers this collection. Browse or search M21 separately.
Browse this collection
- 38 CFR § 3.957
Regulation2026-09-03The 10-Year Service Connection Protection
Service connection in effect for ten years or more is protected from severance except for the specific fraud or qualifying-service exceptions in this rule. Severance means ending the finding that the disability is service connected.
- 38 CFR § 3.1010
Regulation2026-09-03Continuing a Pending Claim After a Veteran Dies
An eligible person may request substitution to continue a claim or appeal that was pending when the claimant died. This regulation explains eligibility, priority, filing requirements, and how the continued claim is handled.
- 38 CFR § 3.2400
Regulation2026-09-03Modernized and Legacy VA Appeals Explained
This section determines whether a claim uses the modernized review system or remains in the legacy system. The date of the initial decision notice and any valid election into the modernized system matter.
- 38 CFR § 3.2500
Regulation2026-09-03VA Decision Review Options and Continuous Pursuit
This regulation describes modernized review options and how timely, properly filed reviews can preserve continuous pursuit of an issue. Higher-Level Review, Supplemental Claims, and Board appeals have different requirements.
- 38 CFR § 3.2501
Regulation2026-09-03Supplemental Claims and New and Relevant Evidence
A Supplemental Claim asks VA to review a previously decided issue using new and relevant evidence. New evidence was not previously part of the actual record; relevant evidence tends to prove or disprove an issue in the claim.
- 38 CFR § 3.2502
Regulation2026-09-03What Happens After a Duty-to-Assist Return or Remand
When Higher-Level Review returns a claim or the Board remands it, the original agency must address the identified duty-to-assist errors and issue a new decision. This section calls for expeditious handling.
- 38 CFR § 3.2600
Regulation2026-09-03Legacy Decision Review Officer Review
This rule concerns review of qualifying legacy decisions by a Decision Review Officer or other designated reviewer who did not participate in the original decision. It does not govern modern Higher-Level Review.
- 38 CFR § 3.2601
Regulation2026-09-03Higher-Level Review and Informal Conferences
Higher-Level Review lets a more senior VA adjudicator review an eligible modernized decision using the record that existed at the relevant decision. You cannot add new evidence in this review lane.
- 38 CFR § 4.1
Regulation2026-09-03What a VA disability rating measures
The rating schedule reflects average impairment in earning capacity. VA needs descriptive medical examinations and must view a disability in relation to its history.
- 38 CFR § 4.2
Regulation2026-09-03Inadequate VA examination reports
VA must interpret examination reports alongside the whole recorded history. A report that lacks sufficient detail or a diagnosis supported by its findings must be returned as inadequate for evaluation.
- 38 CFR § 4.3
Regulation2026-09-03Benefit of the doubt in VA disability ratings
After considering the available evidence, VA resolves reasonable doubt about the degree of disability in the claimant’s favor.
- 38 CFR § 4.6
Regulation2026-09-03How VA weighs claim evidence
VA must consider evidence carefully and fairly when deciding service connection and the degree of disability. This includes whether witnesses are competent to describe the facts and whether their accounts are credible.
- 38 CFR § 4.7
Regulation2026-09-03When VA assigns the higher of two ratings
Where there is a question between two evaluations, the higher applies if the disability picture more nearly approximates its criteria. Otherwise, the lower applies.
- 38 CFR § 4.9
Regulation2026-09-03Congenital conditions and VA disability ratings
This rule identifies congenital or developmental defects and certain other conditions that are not treated as diseases or injuries for disability compensation. A label in a record can therefore affect how VA analyzes a claim.
- 38 CFR § 4.10
Regulation2026-09-03Daily-life limitations in VA disability ratings
Disability evaluations consider functioning under ordinary conditions of daily life, including employment. Examiners must describe the effects on ordinary activity.
- 38 CFR § 4.13
Regulation2026-09-03When VA changes a diagnosis
A new diagnostic label does not necessarily mean that the disability itself improved or worsened. VA must consider whether the change reflects the same service-connected condition, a genuine change in that condition, or another issue.
- 38 CFR § 4.14
Regulation2026-09-03VA pyramiding and overlapping disability ratings
VA must avoid evaluating the same disability or manifestation under different diagnoses. It also must not use effects of nonservice-connected conditions to establish a service-connected evaluation.
- 38 CFR § 4.15
Regulation2026-09-03Total and permanent VA disability ratings
This section describes total disability and when total disability is considered permanent. Total concerns the degree of impairment; permanent concerns whether that impairment is reasonably certain to continue throughout life.
- 38 CFR § 4.16
Regulation2026-09-03TDIU: VA individual unemployability rules
This rule addresses individual unemployability, often called TDIU. It considers whether service-connected disabilities prevent securing or following substantially gainful employment.
- 38 CFR § 4.17a
Regulation2026-09-03Misconduct disability and total-rating decisions
The presence of a disability attributed to misconduct does not automatically rule out a permanent total rating under the circumstances described here. The rule looks at whether other disabilities independently meet the stated requirements.
- 38 CFR § 4.18
Regulation2026-09-03Work history in VA unemployability claims
VA considers the actual circumstances of employment when deciding unemployability. Work that was occasional, unsuccessful, or specially accommodated may tell a different story from steady work the veteran could sustain.
- 38 CFR § 4.19
Regulation2026-09-03Does age affect a VA disability rating?
Age cannot be used as a factor in evaluating service-connected disability. In a service-connected total-rating claim, inability to work due to advancing age or an unrelated disability cannot supply the basis for the rating.
- 38 CFR § 4.20
Regulation2026-09-03VA analogous ratings for unlisted conditions
When a condition has no listed diagnostic code, VA may evaluate it using a closely related disease or injury. The comparison should address the functions affected, the location in the body, and the symptoms.
- 38 CFR § 4.21
Regulation2026-09-03Applying VA rating criteria to the whole disability
The rating schedule does not expect every atypical case to show every finding described in a detailed rating level. Findings must still identify the disease and resulting disability, with the rating coordinated with functional impairment.
- 38 CFR § 4.22
Regulation2026-09-03Rating a disability aggravated during service
For a disability aggravated by service, the rating generally reflects the increase beyond the degree that existed when service began. The preservice degree must be expressed in terms of the rating schedule when it can be determined.