Advice from the Advocate
The 5, 10, 20 & 55 Year Rules
When your rating becomes protected from reduction
The VA can reduce ratings — but a set of protection rules limits that power based on how long you have held a rating and your age. Know your milestones.
Ratings Are Not Always Forever — Except When They Are
The VA retains the authority to reduce ratings when a condition improves. But Congress and the VA's own regulations have created a series of protection milestones that progressively limit the VA's power to take back what it has granted. Understanding these milestones affects how you respond to proposed reductions — and whether you have to respond at all.
The Protection Milestones
5-Year Rule — §3.344 / §3.951
A rating that has been continuously in effect for five or more years is considered "stabilized" and cannot be reduced unless the VA can demonstrate sustained improvement under the ordinary conditions of daily life — not just a single exam showing better numbers. The improvement must be shown through multiple examinations over time, and the VA must consider the entire record, not just the latest snapshot.
10-Year Rule — §3.957
Service connection that has been in effect for 10 or more years cannot be severed except upon a showing of fraud. The VA can still reduce the rating percentage, but it cannot take away the underlying service connection itself. This means the condition remains recognized — even at 0% — and can be re-evaluated for an increase.
20-Year Rule — §3.952
A rating held continuously for 20 or more years cannot be reduced below the lowest rating it has held during that period, except upon a showing of fraud. If your knee has been rated at 10% for 22 years, it cannot be reduced below 10% regardless of what an examination shows.
55-Year Rule (Age Protection)
Veterans over the age of 55 are generally not scheduled for routine reexaminations. While the VA retains the theoretical authority to order one, the practical effect is that ratings held past age 55 are rarely disturbed. This is not a statutory guarantee, but it is the VA's consistent practice.
When the VA Proposes a Reduction — Your Rights
Before reducing any rating, the VA must comply with the due-process requirements of §3.105(e):
The VA must issue a proposed reduction letter explaining the basis for the reduction
You have 60 days to submit additional evidence opposing the reduction
You have the right to request a predetermination hearing within 30 days
The reduction cannot take effect for at least 60 days from the date of the final decision
If the VA fails to follow these procedures, the reduction is void and can be reversed on appeal
Strategic Implications
If you are approaching a protection milestone, think twice before triggering a new C&P exam by filing for an increase on that condition. Sometimes the strategic move is to let the clock run and secure the protection before seeking a higher rating. This is a case-specific decision that depends on your overall rating picture and financial situation.
The Advocate's Take
The VA counts on you not knowing your rating is protected. Know the milestones, and a reduction notice becomes a fight you can win. We have defeated proposed reductions by holding the VA to its own rules — and those rules strongly favor the veteran who knows them.
Where the VA Gets This Wrong
The most common error is proposing a reduction of a stabilized rating (5+ years) based on a single improved exam, without demonstrating sustained improvement under the ordinary conditions of daily life. If the VA cites one exam to take away a rating you have held for years, that is a fightable error.
Building a The 5, 10, 20 & 55 Year Rules Claim That Wins
Every claim stands on three legs. Knock one out and the claim falls over, no matter how bad your symptoms are. Before you file, look at your file and find all three.
A current diagnosis
A doctor has to say you have it, now, in writing. Not "reports symptoms of" — a diagnosis. Without this leg, nothing else in the file matters.
A link to your service
An event, an injury, an exposure, or an already service-connected condition. Service records, unit records, buddy statements, and your own account all count as evidence.
A nexus that ties the two together
A medical opinion stating it is at least as likely as not that your service caused or aggravated the condition. That phrase is a legal standard: 50 percent or better. It is the leg most denials break.
Document the problem before you file
• Keep a dated symptom log for at least 30 days. Frequency, severity, and what it stopped you from doing.
• Get statements from people who see it — a spouse, a coworker, a battle buddy. Lay evidence is legal evidence.
• Pull your private treatment records. The VA only has to help; it does not have to go find everything.
• Write down what you have stopped doing. Lost work, lost sleep, lost activities. That is what impairment looks like on paper.
Your Rights in This Process
It costs nothing to file
Filing a VA claim is free. Accredited representatives may only charge for work on an appeal after an initial decision, and those fees are capped by 38 CFR §14.636.
The VA has a Duty to Assist you
Under 38 CFR §3.159 the VA must help you get the evidence it needs, and it must tell you what is missing before it denies you for missing it.
You can ask for a different examiner
You may request a trauma-informed clinician, or a clinician of a specific gender, for a C&P examination. Ask before the exam is scheduled.
You can claim every condition you have
There is no limit and no penalty. Primary conditions, secondary conditions, and conditions made worse by service all get filed.
You can appeal and be re-evaluated
A denial is not the end. You may submit new evidence, request a higher-level review, appeal to the Board, and ask for re-evaluation when your condition worsens.
You must be considered for TDIU
If your service-connected conditions keep you from holding substantially gainful employment, you may be paid at the 100 percent rate without a 100 percent rating.
When You Are Ready to File
Talk to an accredited representative before you file. It costs nothing to ask, and the order you file in changes what the VA is allowed to award you. Albert L. Thombs Jr. is VA-Accredited Claims Agent #45147.
The application itself
This is the form that opens a disability compensation claim. List every condition you are claiming, and name the secondary conditions explicitly.
Release for private records
Authorises the VA to request records from your private doctors. Without it, treatment outside the VA may never reach your file.
Lay or buddy statement
The official form for your own statement and for statements from people who witnessed the event or the change in you.
Resources Worth Keeping
These are real, staffed VA lines. Tap to call from your phone.
Veterans Crisis Line
988
Then press 1. Text 838255. Available 24 hours a day, every day. You do not need to be enrolled in VA health care.
VA Benefits & Facility Line
1-800-827-1000
Claim status, general benefits questions, and help finding the right VA office.
Women Veterans Call Center
1-855-829-6636
Call or text. Staffed by women veterans who can connect you to services in your area.
Vet Centers
1-877-927-8387
Community-based counselling for combat veterans and their families. No VA enrollment required.
Talk to a VA-accredited claims agent about the 5, 10, 20 & 55 year rules
Albert L. Thombs Jr. is a US Army veteran, VA-Accredited Claims Agent #45147, and 100% service-connected himself. He personally reviews every request. Fees are capped by 38 CFR §14.636 — and there are no fees unless you win.
Three Ways to Put an Accredited Agent on The 5, 10, 20 & 55 Year Rules
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