Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This statute protects service connection that has been in force for ten years or more, subject to specific exceptions involving fraud or the required service or discharge status.
The protection concerns service connection itself. It does not lock in every later percentage increase or replace the separate rules governing rating reductions and protected evaluation levels.
How this helps your claim
If severance is proposed, compare the effective date with the ten-year protection and inspect the stated exception. Keep the distinction between ending service connection and reducing a percentage clear in your response.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Locate the original service-connection effective date.
- Identify whether VA proposes severance or only a rating change.
- Review the evidence cited for any statutory exception to protection.
Identify whether the proposed action is severance
Severance ends recognition that a disability is service connected. A reduction changes its evaluated severity. This statute protects the former in qualifying long-standing cases, so the action named in the notice is important.
Keep the original service-connection effective date and any later findings with the proposal or decision. Read the specified exceptions rather than assuming protection is either absolute or irrelevant. A recent increase does not change the fact that the underlying service connection can have a different, older history.
Does protected service connection freeze every percentage forever?
No. Percentage protection and reduction safeguards are addressed through other provisions. This statute concerns the service relationship itself. Distinguishing those findings helps identify which rule actually addresses the action VA is taking and avoids relying on the wrong protection.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 1159
OLRC release through Public Law 119-102 (July 12, 2026). Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 1159. Protection of service connection
Service connection for any disability or death granted under this title which has been in force for ten or more years shall not be severed on or after January 1, 1962, except upon a showing that the original grant of service connection was based on fraud or it is clearly shown from military records that the person concerned did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. The mentioned period shall be computed from the date determined by the Secretary as the date on which the status commenced for rating purposes.
Related references
- 38 USC § 5107: Benefit of the doubt in VA claims
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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