If you’re one of the estimated 11,172 Detroit veterans who have no service-connected disability rating, and a wrongful VA denial looks like the reason…
Or if you’re among the city’s 4,123 veterans who do have a rating, just not the one your condition deserves…
Hill & Ponton is here for you. Our VA-accredited disability lawyers devote their whole practice to veterans the VA denied or underrated.
We know how the VA reads a file, which mistakes cost veterans years, and what it takes to turn a bad decision around. Whether your condition began at Selfridge, the Persian Gulf, or in the years after discharge, we can take the case all the way to victory, with nothing charged upfront.
Our Legal Services for Detroit Veterans and Their Families
- Disability Compensation: The target is the whole award: the correct monthly amount plus the back pay stretching to your first effective date.
- VA Disability Appeals: We answer a denial or a shorted rating by rebuilding the file with new exams, missing records, and expert opinions, then pressing the appeal to a decision.
- Rating Increases: Conditions age badly. When yours has, we document the worsening and demand the percentage that matches it today.
- Special Monthly Compensation: An amputation, blindness, or a constant need for another’s help can bring compensation past the ordinary rate schedule.
- Individual Unemployability: Veterans whose conditions closed the door on steady work can receive TDIU, full 100% pay without a 100% combined rating. We prove the work barrier with medical and employment records.
- DIC and Survivor Benefits: Families who lost a veteran to a service-connected illness or injury, spouses, children, dependent parents, may hold a claim of their own for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, and we handle it if the VA denies the claim.
How Much Is Your Rating Worth?
Each condition the VA service-connects gets a percentage between 10% and 100%, and the percentages together fix the monthly tax-free deposit. But VA’s combining formula discounts each added condition, so the total often lands below the plain sum of the ratings for multiple illnesses. Check the combined number with the VA disability calculator.
Current monthly payments for veterans with no dependents, based on the rating:
- 10%: $180.42
- 20%: $356.66
- 30%: $552.47
- 40%: $795.84
- 50%: $1,132.90
- 60%: $1,435.02
- 70%: $1,808.45
- 80%: $2,102.15
- 90%: $2,362.30
- 100%: $3,938.58
Michigan provides its own veterans benefits, including a complete property tax exemption on the home of a veteran rated 100% permanent and total (veterans paid at the TDIU rate qualify too), and other exemptions or discounts.
Work with us to get your Benefits
Selfridge PFAS and Other Exposure Claims
Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, northeast of Detroit, has been under a state-tracked PFAS investigation since the Air National Guard’s 2016 review identified 28 potential release locations for firefighting foam chemicals on the base, and Lake St. Clair, which receives the base’s groundwater, carries a PFOS fish consumption advisory.
Hill & Ponton also assists veterans affected by postings far from Michigan: Vietnam War locations where Agent Orange was used, burn pits and other Gulf War hazards, Camp Lejeune’s wells, or other military bases across the U.S.
What Does It Take to Win VA Disability?
- A present-day diagnosis – recent medical evidence that names the condition.
- An event in service – the injury, illness, or exposure your records place inside your service dates.
- A connecting opinion – a clinician concluding the condition is “at least as likely as not” tied to that event. This link fails more claims than any other element.
Our VA disability attorneys have dissected thousands of denials. We can spot the weak evidence or errors fast and know how to correct them.
Tell us about your case
Bringing in a VA Lawyer After a Denial
Detroit veterans who file alone often do fine on a straightforward first claim, but it’s still very common for initial claims to be denied. The veteran finds himself in an appeal system, with different lanes, deadlines and evidence rules that can be very difficult to navigate. Which appeal lane is best?
A Supplemental Claim adds evidence the VA never saw. A Higher-Level Review challenges how the existing file was read. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals puts the case before a judge (but it takes much longer than the other lanes). A VA disability lawyer can help make the right choice and build the most compelling legal argument.
At Hill & Ponton, we handle appeals on behalf of veterans or veterans’ survivors to ensure success and maximize compensation. Our team focuses exclusively on VA disability law and keeps up with new VA regulations so that you don’t have to. If the VA denied or underrated you, we’ll take a look at the VA decision and see how we can help. The review costs nothing, and a fee comes only if we take the case and win it.
Detroit’s VA Offices and Veteran Services
- John D. Dingell VA Medical Center – Detroit’s VA hospital, providing primary, specialty, surgical, and mental health care around the clock. 4646 John R Street, Detroit, MI 48201. Phone: 313-576-1000
- VA Clinic – East Jefferson Avenue – An in-city VA Detroit outpatient clinic on the east side. 3245 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207. VA Detroit main line: 313-576-1000
- Community Resource & Referral Center (CRRC) – VA Detroit’s community resource and referral center. 301 Piquette Street, Detroit, MI 48202. VA Detroit main line: 313-576-1000
- VA Clinic – Trenton – A VA Detroit outpatient clinic. 1640 Fort Street, Suite D, Trenton, MI 48183. VA Detroit main line: 313-576-1000
- VA Clinic – Pontiac – A VA Detroit outpatient clinic. 44200 Woodward Avenue, Suite 212, Pontiac, MI 48341. VA Detroit main line: 313-576-1000
- Detroit VA Regional Benefit Office – The VBA office that decides disability claims for Michigan veterans, housed in the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building. 477 Michigan Avenue, 12th Floor, Detroit, MI 48226. National benefits line: 800-827-1000
- Detroit Vet Center – Free, confidential counseling for PTSD, depression, and military sexual trauma in a non-medical setting. 11214 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, MI 48214. Vet Center call line, 24/7: 877-927-8387
- Wayne County Veterans’ Services – The county’s assistance office for veterans and their families in the International Center Building; for VA disability claims it refers veterans to the VA hotline. 400 Monroe Street, Suite 405, Detroit, MI 48226. Phone: 313-224-5045
We Prioritize Homeless and At-Risk Veterans
Detroit’s 2025 Point-in-Time count, taken on January 29, tallied 117 veterans among the 1,284 residents the city’s Continuum of Care found in shelters or on the street that night. But many more are at risk due to unemployment and financial struggles.
VA Detroit homeless veteran care offers food and shelter, transitional and permanent housing, job training, addiction and depression treatment, and more.
Hill & Ponton prioritizes veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing their home. We know that a wrongly denied VA rating is often part of the story, and that disability typically leads to unemployment.
If you’re facing financial hardship because of your disability and the VA didn’t approve your claim, get in touch with our VA-accredited lawyers for a free, no-obligation review of the case.
Meet Our Expert Legal Team
VA disability attorneys and professionals backing veterans in Detroit, Michigan and nationwide.
Let Us Fight For Your Benefits
Need help appealing a VA decision? Contact our VA disability lawyers for a free evaluation of your claim.