Florida Veterans Lawyer (VA) Disability Attorney

If you live in Florida and served in the military, you might be entitled to disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA provides benefits to disabled veterans whose medical conditions resulted from their military service.

Unfortunately, filing for VA benefits can be challenging. A Florida veterans lawyer at Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick LTD can help you navigate the vast complexities of the VA appeals process, build a strong and convincing case, and maximize your compensation with benefits that are less common or more complex.

Before we consider the benefits of a highly experienced VA-accredited law firm on your side, let us consider what it is like to be a Florida veteran.

Florida VA Benefit Resources

VA Regional Benefit Office

• Petersburg: St. Petersburg Regional Benefit Office

VA Medical Centers

Statistics about Florida Veterans

According to the most recent information available as of 2025, Florida has:

• More than 1.5 million veterans (the third-most of all U.S. states)
• 401,118 veterans who receive VA disability
• 749,104 veterans enrolled in the VA health care system

Over half the veterans living in Florida are 65 or older. Over 13 percent are military retirees.

How to Win VA Disability Benefits in Florida

If VA denied your claim for benefits, do not be discouraged. VA is an enormous bureaucracy, and many of its own claims processors struggle with interpreting the rules and regulations governing VA benefits. As a result, a very significant number of successful VA disability claims begin with one or more appeals. (When filing an initial claim, you may want to consider using the CCK VA Claim Builder, a free tool that helps identify evidence and benefits that you should consider.)

Fortunately, federal law does allow veterans to hire VA-accredited representatives to assist with appeals. The veteran advocates at Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick LTD can help you identify VA mistakes, present evidence correctly and in a way that satisfies VA adjudicators’ needs, and identify less-common benefits that you and even VA claims processors might have overlooked.

Our team of veterans disability lawyers, practitioners, and accredited VA claims agents have seen tens of thousands of cases. We know what VA is looking for and what goes into a successful claim. For example, we can help you demonstrate that:

1. You have a current diagnosis of a disabling medical condition; and
2. The condition is a result of an event, injury, or illness during your military service

VA refers to this as “service connection,” and without it, the VA will not grant you disability benefits, no matter how severe your condition. For example, you cannot simply claim that you have hearing loss from your military service. You must be able to establish a nexus, or link, between your hearing loss and an “in-service event.” In cases like this, we have seen that VA can respond positively to service records indicating exposure to loud and constant gun blasts.

The evidence we might gather to establish service connection includes your military records, medical history, and test results, as well as personal statements from your doctor or testimony from medical experts. The evidence that we help identify, collect, and organize is informed by thousands of cases and by years of litigation by our attorneys, court cases that have clarified and shaped veterans benefits for millions of veterans like you.

VA Disability Compensation Levels

Our top priority is always to get you the maximum amount of benefits to which you are rightfully entitled. First, we will help you obtain a grant of service connection. Next, we will review VA’s rating decision to ensure you were granted the correct disability rating from the correct “effective date” (i.e., the date from which your back pay is calculated). Your VA compensation and benefits depend on your disability rating, a number assigned by VA based on the severity of your condition. A rating can range from 0 to 100 percent, or even qualify you for higher-compensating programs if your conditions are severe. (Note that a 0 percent rating does not itself provide monthly compensation, but it can still qualify you for ancillary benefits such as health care, as well as potentially open the door to secondary service connection and other indirect sources for compensation.)

As of December 1st, 2024, the VA disability rate benefit amounts are as follows:

• 0 percent disability rating: $0.00 per month
• 10 percent disability rating: $175.51 per month
• 20 percent disability rating: $346.95 per month
• 30 percent disability rating: $537.42 per month
• 40 percent disability rating: $774.16 per month
• 50 percent disability rating: $1,102.04 per month
• 60 percent disability rating: $1,395.93 per month
• 70 percent disability rating: $1,759.19 per month
• 80 percent disability rating: $2,044.89 per month
• 90 percent disability rating: $2,297.96 per month
• 100 percent disability rating: $3,831.30 per month

If you have multiple disability ratings (common), you should be aware that VA uses a complex formula to combine them, resulting in a lower rating than you might expect. The CCK VA disability calculator saves you the time and headache of attempting “VA math” on your own.

If VA issues you a rating of 30 percent or above, you are eligible for additional compensation based on the number of dependents in your household, such as your spouse, children, or dependent parents.

These are just examples of the various benefits that the country has created for veterans. If you have received what you think is an incorrect rating, or if you suspect that VA may have overlooked benefits like Individual Unemployability, we may be able to help you file an appeal for an increased VA disability rating.

How Can I Afford a Lawyer?

We know that you may not be able to afford any extra expenses right now. We offer free consultations to all veterans in Florida. Also, like all VA-accredited representatives, we operate on a contingency basis, which means we do not receive a payment for our services unless we are able to get you the benefits you deserve.

For a Free Consultation with a VA Disability Lawyer Serving Florida, Call CCK Law Today

Our veterans advocates are standing by, ready to help you fight for the disability benefits you rightfully earned in service to our country. We offer all veterans free consultations during which we will learn more about your situation and determine whether we might be able to help. Call us at 800-544-9144 today for your free consultation.