38 C.F.R. § 14.636 NOTICE REGARDING education SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL EVALUATIONS, AND FEES

Last Updated: September 07, 2026

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Veterans Overwatch LLC
8 The Greene Suite A
Dover, Delaware 19901

Veterans Overwatch LLC is an independent, veteran-owned business. Veterans Overwatch LLC is not the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and does not represent itself as an agency or program of the federal government.

This Notice explains important limitations concerning Veterans Overwatch services, the distinction between educational and administrative support and VA claims representation, the separate nature of independent professional medical evaluation services, and the manner in which Veterans Overwatch structures its fees.

This Notice should be read together with the Veterans Overwatch Terms of Service, applicable service agreement, privacy policies, and any separate informed consent applicable to referrals for professional medical or psychiatric evaluation services.

FEDERAL LAW GOVERNING VA CLAIMS ASSISTANCE

Federal law regulates representation and certain assistance involving claims for benefits administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Among the applicable authorities are 38 U.S.C. Sections 5901 through 5905 and regulations contained in 38 C.F.R. Part 14.

Federal law restricts when fees may be charged for services involving the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of claims for VA benefits.

38 U.S.C. Section 5905 also establishes potential criminal consequences when a person who is not authorized under applicable law willfully charges or receives a fee or compensation for services rendered in the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of a VA claim.

Veterans Overwatch takes these limitations seriously.

The substance of a service, rather than the title assigned to that service, determines its nature. A service does not become permissible merely because it is described as consulting, education, coaching, document support, or another similar term.

For this reason, Veterans Overwatch limits its non-accredited services as described below.

VETERANS OVERWATCH IS NOT A VA-ACCREDITED REPRESENTATIVE

Unless expressly stated otherwise in writing for a particular authorized professional, Veterans Overwatch LLC does not act as a VA-accredited attorney, claims agent, or representative of a recognized Veterans Service Organization.

Veterans Overwatch does not establish an attorney-client relationship through its educational or administrative services.

Under its standard educational and administrative service model, Veterans Overwatch does not become the veteran's representative before VA.

The veteran remains responsible for making decisions concerning the veteran's claim and, unless separately represented by an appropriately authorized person, remains responsible for communicating with VA and submitting the veteran's own materials.

SERVICES VETERANS OVERWATCH DOES NOT PROVIDE AS AN UNACCREDITED VA REPRESENTATIVE

Through its educational and administrative services, Veterans Overwatch does not:

  • Act as the veteran's representative before VA.

  • Hold itself out as a VA-accredited attorney, claims agent, or VSO representative.

  • Access a veteran's VA.gov, Login.gov, ID.me, or other government account using the veteran's login credentials.

  • Request or retain a veteran's government account password, authentication code, or security credentials.

  • Communicate with VA while representing itself as authorized to act for the veteran.

  • Appear for the veteran at a VA hearing or other proceeding.

  • Sign a VA claim, appeal, or substantive declaration on behalf of the veteran.

  • Guarantee service connection.

  • Guarantee a particular disability rating.

  • Guarantee an increase in disability compensation.

  • Guarantee an effective date or amount of retroactive benefits.

  • Guarantee that a medical professional will provide a favorable nexus opinion.

  • Condition its professional opinion on the veteran obtaining a favorable VA decision.

  • Charge a percentage of a veteran's future VA disability benefits for Veterans Overwatch educational, administrative, or professional evaluation services.

  • Create, alter, conceal, or encourage submission of false or misleading evidence.

  • Encourage a veteran to exaggerate symptoms, impairment, military events, injuries, exposures, diagnoses, or functional limitations.

  • Predetermine the professional conclusion that an independent healthcare professional must reach.

Veterans Overwatch may decline, limit, suspend, or refer a requested service when the requested activity could exceed the lawful scope of the service being provided.

EDUCATIONAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION SERVICES

Veterans Overwatch may provide general educational and informational services concerning subjects relevant to veterans and disability documentation.

Depending upon the service purchased, these services may include general information concerning:

  • The VA disability process.

  • Common terminology used in VA disability matters.

  • Publicly available VA forms and resources.

  • General categories of evidence.

  • The purpose of service treatment records and military personnel records.

  • VA medical records and civilian medical records.

  • The general purpose of a VA Claims File, commonly referred to as a C-File.

  • The general role of lay evidence.

  • The general purpose of personal and buddy statements.

  • The general purpose and structure of a Disability Benefits Questionnaire.

  • The general purpose of a Compensation and Pension examination.

  • General preparation for participating truthfully and completely in an examination.

  • The general purpose of independent medical opinions and nexus opinions.

  • The importance of complete and accurate medical documentation.

  • General organizational methods for maintaining the veteran's own records.

  • Educational materials, examples, checklists, templates, and informational resources.

General educational information does not constitute VA representation and does not guarantee that particular evidence will establish entitlement to benefits.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND RECORD-ORGANIZATION SERVICES

Veterans Overwatch may offer administrative services that do not require Veterans Overwatch to act as the veteran's representative.

Depending upon the service selected and applicable legal limitations, administrative services may include:

  • Digitizing records.

  • Sorting records.

  • Indexing records.

  • Creating inventories of records supplied by the client.

  • Organizing documents chronologically.

  • Identifying duplicate documents.

  • Labeling and categorizing documents.

  • Creating objective document chronologies from information already contained within supplied records.

  • Formatting client-authored materials.

  • Proofreading for spelling, grammar, readability, and organization.

  • Providing organizational worksheets and checklists.

  • Helping clients understand what records they currently possess.

  • Identifying categories of documents that appear absent from materials supplied for review.

Veterans Overwatch reserves the right to limit any individualized administrative activity when performing it would constitute preparation, presentation, or prosecution of a VA claim requiring authorization under applicable federal law.

PERSONAL STATEMENTS AND BUDDY STATEMENTS

Veterans Overwatch may provide general education concerning personal statements and lay or buddy statements, including educational information concerning organization, clarity, chronology, and the importance of firsthand observations.

The substance of a personal or buddy statement must remain the truthful account of the person making the statement.

Veterans Overwatch will not fabricate events, symptoms, observations, injuries, exposures, impairment, diagnoses, or other evidence.

Veterans Overwatch will not knowingly transform information supplied by a client into a false or materially misleading statement.

When individualized drafting or substantive development of a statement would constitute regulated preparation of a particular VA claim, Veterans Overwatch will limit the service or refer the veteran to an appropriately VA-accredited representative.

C AND P EXAMINATION EDUCATION

Veterans Overwatch may provide general educational information regarding Compensation and Pension examinations.

This may include explaining the general purpose of an examination, encouraging veterans to review their own history and relevant records, explaining the importance of accurate reporting, and helping veterans prepare to communicate their symptoms and functional limitations truthfully and completely.

Veterans Overwatch does not coach veterans to exaggerate symptoms or provide answers calculated to obtain a particular disability rating.

Veterans Overwatch does not control the examination, examiner, examination findings, VA's interpretation of the examination, or the resulting benefits determination.

NEXUS EDUCATION AND PROVIDER MATERIALS

Veterans Overwatch may provide general education concerning medical nexus opinions, including the role of diagnosis, medical history, chronology, relevant records, clinical reasoning, and medical literature.

Veterans Overwatch may provide general provider discussion materials, educational frameworks, or templates where legally permissible.

A veteran's treating healthcare professional remains independently responsible for determining:

  • Whether an evaluation is appropriate.

  • Whether sufficient information exists to render an opinion.

  • Whether the healthcare professional agrees with any proposed medical relationship.

  • What additional information is necessary.

  • What diagnosis, if any, is clinically appropriate.

  • What medical opinion, if any, the healthcare professional is willing to provide.

  • The reasoning and language of the healthcare professional's ultimate opinion.

  • Veterans Overwatch does not require another healthcare professional to adopt a predetermined diagnosis, nexus conclusion, or degree of medical certainty.

When requested individualized nexus-development assistance would cross into regulated preparation of a particular VA claim rather than permissible education or professional medical evaluation, Veterans Overwatch will limit the service or require an appropriate referral.

SEPARATE INDEPENDENT MEDICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES

Veterans Overwatch may separately offer professional medical or psychiatric records review, referral for general disability evaluation, and referral to independent medical opinion services when such services are within the evaluating clinician's professional licensure, competence, and lawful scope of practice.

These professional services are distinct from VA claims representation.

An independent professional evaluation may involve:

  • Review of relevant medical records.

  • Review of relevant military medical documentation.

  • Review of treatment history.

  • Clinical interview and history.

  • Assessment of reported symptoms and functional impairment.

  • Appropriate diagnostic assessment.

  • Consideration of relevant medical literature.

  • Consideration of alternative explanations or contributing factors.

  • Independent professional analysis.

  • Referral for preparation of a professional medical report or opinion when clinically supportable.

The evaluator's obligation is to provide an independent professional assessment rather than the outcome desired by the person purchasing the evaluation.

Payment is for the clinician's professional time, records review, evaluation, analysis, and report preparation. Payment does not purchase a favorable diagnosis or favorable nexus opinion.

An evaluation may result in a favorable opinion, unfavorable opinion, qualified opinion, inconclusive opinion, or a determination that available evidence is insufficient to provide the requested opinion.

No refund or additional compensation will depend upon whether an opinion supports service connection or whether VA ultimately awards benefits.

Independent disability evaluations are recognized professional evaluation activities, and professional fees may reflect the time and judgment required for records review and report preparation.

Where professional licensure or another applicable law prevents Veterans Overwatch from providing the requested evaluation, the service will not be provided in that jurisdiction.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DO NOT CONTROL VA DECISIONS

A professional evaluation or medical opinion is evidence. It is not a VA benefits decision.

Veterans Overwatch and its clinicians do not control:

  • Whether VA accepts an opinion.

  • Whether VA requests another examination.

  • Whether VA obtains contrary evidence.

  • Whether VA finds evidence persuasive.

  • Whether VA establishes service connection.

  • The percentage assigned to a disability.

  • The effective date of an award.

  • The amount of compensation.

  • Whether an appeal or review results in a different decision.

No professional report should be interpreted as a guarantee of any governmental determination.

FEES

Veterans Overwatch uses disclosed fees for the specific service purchased.

Unless expressly stated otherwise in a written agreement, fees are based upon factors such as the service performed, professional time, records volume, complexity, research required, and work necessary to complete the agreed service.

Veterans Overwatch does not charge a percentage of a veteran's future disability award for its educational, administrative, records-review, or independent professional evaluation services.

Veterans Overwatch does not increase or decrease the fee for an independent medical opinion based upon whether the professional conclusion is favorable to the veteran.

Fees for professional evaluations compensate the clinician for the professional service performed and not for a particular opinion or VA result.

Cases involving unusually extensive records, multiple prior decisions, complex medical questions, or work outside the originally purchased scope may require additional fees. Any material additional charge should be disclosed and accepted before the additional work is performed.

The applicable service agreement and payment policy contain the specific financial terms governing each purchase.

INITIAL CLAIMS AND SERVICES REQUIRING ACCREDITATION

Veterans Overwatch recognizes that federal law restricts charging fees for services involving preparation, presentation, or prosecution of VA benefit claims when the person providing those services is not authorized to charge for them.

The fact that a veteran personally signs or electronically submits a document does not, standing alone, determine whether another person's paid work constitutes preparation, presentation, or prosecution of the claim.

Similarly, calling a service "consulting," "coaching," "education," "document assistance," or "self-help" does not control the legal characterization of the underlying activity.

Veterans Overwatch therefore reserves the right to:

  • Decline requested work.

  • Limit the scope of a purchased service.

  • Return work to the client for completion.

  • Separate professional medical services from claims-related administrative services.

  • Require review before accepting a complex engagement.

  • Refer a veteran to a VA-accredited representative.

  • Discontinue a requested activity if its nature changes during the engagement.

This restriction is intended to ensure that Veterans Overwatch's actual conduct remains consistent with the lawful scope of the services it provides.

PRIOR VA DECISIONS, DENIALS, AND APPEALS

Veterans Overwatch may provide general education and records-related services to veterans who have received prior VA decisions.

However, a prior denial does not automatically make every type of subsequent paid assistance permissible.

Formal representation, individualized legal advocacy, preparation or prosecution of an appeal, and other activities regulated by federal veterans-benefits law may require an appropriately VA-accredited attorney or claims agent.

When a veteran's needs extend beyond Veterans Overwatch's lawful scope, Veterans Overwatch may recommend referral to an accredited VSO representative, VA-accredited claims agent, or veterans-benefits attorney.

Veterans remain responsible for preserving all applicable VA filing and appeal deadlines unless an appropriately authorized representative has expressly accepted that responsibility.

NO LEGAL ADVICE

Veterans Overwatch LLC is not a law firm.

Educational or administrative services provided by Veterans Overwatch do not constitute legal representation.

General discussion of publicly available statutes, regulations, VA procedures, decisions, forms, or other government materials is provided for informational purposes and should not be interpreted as establishing an attorney-client relationship or as Veterans Overwatch representing the veteran before VA.

Questions requiring individualized legal analysis or representation may be referred to an appropriately licensed attorney or VA-accredited representative.

NO GUARANTEE OF RESULTS

Every VA disability matter depends upon its individual facts, evidence, applicable law, and VA adjudication.

Veterans Overwatch makes no promise or guarantee concerning:

  • Approval of a claim.

  • Service connection.

  • A particular disability rating.

  • An increased rating.

  • A successful Supplemental Claim.

  • A successful Higher-Level Review.

  • A successful Board appeal.

  • A favorable C and P examination.

  • A favorable DBQ.

  • A favorable nexus opinion.

  • An effective date.

  • Retroactive compensation.

  • Future compensation.

  • Any other VA determination.

Past outcomes experienced by other veterans do not guarantee or predict the outcome of another veteran's matter.

DOCUMENT INTEGRITY

Veterans Overwatch requires truthful and accurate information.

Clients remain responsible for reviewing information and documents attributed to them for accuracy before signing, adopting, or submitting those materials.

Veterans Overwatch will not knowingly participate in:

  • Fabrication of evidence.

  • Falsification of medical history.

  • Falsification of military history.

  • False statements concerning traumatic events, injuries, exposures, symptoms, or functional impairment.

  • Concealment or manipulation of information for the purpose of creating a materially misleading record.

  • Alteration of authentic records.

  • Creation of fraudulent medical documentation.

A request for such conduct may result in immediate termination of services.

CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Clients are responsible for:

  • Providing accurate information.

  • Providing authentic records.

  • Reviewing documents for accuracy.

  • Protecting their VA.gov, Login.gov, ID.me, and other account credentials.

  • Monitoring VA correspondence.

  • Monitoring filing and appeal deadlines.

  • Attending required VA examinations.

  • Responding to requests from VA.

  • Submitting their own materials when Veterans Overwatch is not acting through an independently authorized representative.

  • Informing Veterans Overwatch of existing representation.

  • Informing Veterans Overwatch of relevant deadlines.

  • Informing Veterans Overwatch when circumstances affecting the agreed scope of service change.

FREE VA-ACCREDITED ASSISTANCE IS AVAILABLE

Veterans should understand that paid private services are not required to file a VA disability claim.

Free assistance may be available through VA-accredited representatives of recognized Veterans Service Organizations and other authorized resources.

Veterans may independently choose whether to use Veterans Overwatch educational, administrative, or professional evaluation services.

Use of Veterans Overwatch is voluntary.

For free assistance with VA claims, Veterans may contact any VA-accredited VSO, including:

INDEPENDENCE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Veterans Overwatch LLC is a private company.

Veterans Overwatch is not:

  • The Department of Veterans Affairs.

  • The Veterans Benefits Administration.

  • The Veterans Health Administration.

  • A VA Regional Office.

  • The Board of Veterans' Appeals.

  • A Veterans Service Organization.

  • An agency of the United States government.

Use of terms such as veteran, VA, C and P, DBQ, C-File, disability, service connection, nexus, or similar terminology describes the subject matter of services and does not indicate sponsorship, approval, affiliation, or endorsement by VA or the United States government.

REFERRAL WHEN SERVICES FALL OUTSIDE SCOPE

Veterans Overwatch may recommend or require referral when the requested service falls outside its administrative, professional, legal, geographic, or licensure scope.

Possible referrals may include:

  • A VA-accredited Veterans Service Organization representative.

  • A VA-accredited claims agent.

  • A veterans-benefits attorney.

  • A treating healthcare professional.

  • An independent medical specialist.

  • A mental health professional.

  • Another appropriately licensed professional.

Veterans Overwatch may decline an engagement when appropriate services cannot be provided within applicable professional or legal boundaries.

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

Before purchasing applicable services, clients may be required to acknowledge the scope of the service, applicable limitations, fees, refund terms, and other provisions contained in the applicable Veterans Overwatch service agreement.

No provision of this Notice is intended to waive a right that cannot lawfully be waived or to expand Veterans Overwatch's authority beyond that permitted by applicable law.

If a conflict exists between marketing language and applicable law, applicable law controls.

If a requested service would exceed the lawful scope of Veterans Overwatch's role, Veterans Overwatch reserves the right to modify, decline, or terminate that service.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Questions concerning Veterans Overwatch services or this Notice may be directed to:

Veterans Overwatch LLC
8 The Greene Suite A
Dover, Delaware 19901

This Notice may be revised when Veterans Overwatch modifies its services or when applicable laws, regulations, professional requirements, or business practices change.

This 38 C.F.R. § 14.636 Notice was last updated: September 07, 2026