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Buddy Letters

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Jim Strickland is a nationally known advocate for veterans and a member of the Stateside Legal Advisory Board. This column appears with his permission. Jim's opinions are his own.

NOTE: Letters in my Q&A columns are reprinted just as they come to me. Spelling and grammar are left as is and only small corrections are made to improve readability, ensure anonymity or delete expletives that may offend some readers. This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits.

Jim,

I have a question regarding a buddy letter I wrote one for a guy I served with 20 years ago supposedly the VA DRO wants more they have requested my Social Security number Via the service member I told him to have them contact me on this matter and the answer I got was they need to verify my service

still comming from the service member then I finally got his representive's number and again wanted my social security number ok have the DRO send me a VA letter requesting that info acording to them it's illeagle for the DRO to contact me I have never heard of such a thing everytime the VA wanted info it was in writing could you inform me of the correct procedure I don't want anyone poking around my file and I am not giving my SS number to someone I don't know or to someone I have served with 20 years ago when he has access to our chain of command.

Reply:

Buddy letters often don't carry much weight. I rarely bother with them unless there is a very specific reason.

There is a form that VA prefers that you would use to submit a "Buddy Letter". www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-4138-ARE.pdf

You may write a simple letter instead of using the 4138 form but you must provide all the information that is on the form. Your SSN is not required.

The statement at the bottom of the form "I CERTIFY THAT the statements on this form are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief" is required.

It may be best if you wrote your statement again on the 4138 form. That way you could be very sure that you are in compliance with the rules and that VA should accept your statement as fact.

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Comments

Jim, I have to disagree with your viewpoint on Buddy Letters. These are very important statements which can carry a considerable amount of weight. Please review the case of Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331, 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2006) stating “competent lay evidence can be sufficient in and of itself” to obtain disability benefits.

For individuals who are suffering from PTSD or TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) these are the statements that really provide the burden of proof.

Posted by Civforpatriots on Jul 3rd, 2011 at 12:52 pm.