For 40 years Hill & Ponton has been helping veterans overturn unfavorable VA decisions: our VA-accredited lawyers focus exclusively on appealing denials and increasing ratings.
The 2024 one-year Census survey counts 9,035 veterans living in Sioux Falls, and 5,690 of them hold no service-connected disability rating. When that missing rating is the product of a claim the VA wrongly turned down, Hill & Ponton steps in.
The other 3,345 Sioux Falls veterans have a rating, but many percentages understate the condition behind them. Much of our time goes to pushing undervalued ratings up to honest levels.
Wherever your health problems began, from Joe Foss Field to a burn pit half a world away, we move the VA claim forward from the point it stopped, with no upfront costs. Don’t take our word for it, see what other veterans say about us.
Legal Help We Give Sioux Falls Veterans
- Disability Compensation: Our goal is the full monthly amount your condition merits, together with back pay reaching to the original effective date.
- VA Disability Appeals: After a denial or an undersized award, we rebuild the claim, adding the exam results, records, and expert opinions the VA overlooked, and see the appeal through.
- Rating Increases: Symptoms that have worsened since the last exam justify a re-rating. We prove the change and pursue the percentage that reflects it.
- Special Monthly Compensation: Blindness, amputation, being housebound, or needing another person’s help each day can add Special Monthly Compensation above the regular rate table.
- Individual Unemployability: If service-connected conditions have priced you out of steady work, TDIU delivers the 100% payment rate even though the combined number sits lower. We put together the vocational and medical proof.
- DIC and Survivor Benefits: Surviving spouses, children, and dependent parents can receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation after a death tied to service. We guide families through those claims.
From Rating Percentage to Monthly Payment
A VA rating lands somewhere on the 10%-to-100% scale, and that number, once conditions are combined, controls the tax-free deposit that arrives each month.
But the VA’s formula discounts each added condition, so two 50% ratings come out well short of 100%, and a single miscalculated condition costs real money. The VA disability calculator shows what your conditions combine to.
Current monthly rates for a veteran without dependents:
- 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
Payments rise with a spouse or children on the award, and cost-of-living increases compound over time.
In addition to monthly compensation and federal programs, veterans also receive South Dakota’s own veteran benefits, including a property tax exemption covering the first $200,000 of assessed home value for veterans with a permanent and total rating.
Work with us to get your Benefits
PFAS at Joe Foss Field and Other Toxic Exposure Claims
Joe Foss Field, the South Dakota Air National Guard station beside the Sioux Falls airport and home of the 114th Fighter Wing, used AFFF firefighting foam from the 1970s until 2018, and a remedial investigation into PFAS contamination there is under way after detections at areas of concern on and near the base.
Sioux Falls veterans could also have been exposed elsewhere: Vietnam War locations where Agent Orange was used, Middle Eastern burn pits, Camp Lejeune or other military bases with toxic exposure. A denial issued before the law caught up can be revisited, and that’s what our attorneys focus on.
What the VA Must See Before It Grants a Claim
- Current diagnosis – recent medical evidence naming the condition.
- Something that happened in service – an injury, event, or exposure in your records or supported by lay statements.
- A linking opinion – a clinician finding it “at least as likely as not” that service produced the condition. Most wins and denials hinge on this piece.
Our VA disability attorneys have studied thousands of rating decisions. We recognize the missing proof quickly and know which records and experts can supply it.
Tell us about your case
When Should You Hire a VA Lawyer?
A first application is something many Sioux Falls veterans manage alone. But that changes once the VA says no, or answers with a rating that doesn’t recognize the full extent of the condition.
Three appeal lanes exist: a Supplemental Claim for new evidence, a Higher-Level Review of the same record, or a hearing before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Each fits a different problem, and the choice shapes the timeline. A skilled lawyer will select the best path and ensure that deadlines are met.
VA disability law moves constantly, and we move with it, applying new court decisions and rule changes whenever they strengthen a client’s position.
The evaluation of your case costs nothing, and our fee depends entirely on winning. Show us the decision letter and we will tell you what we see.
VA Facilities Serving Sioux Falls
- Sioux Falls VA Medical Center (Royal C. Johnson Veterans Memorial Hospital) – The city’s full-service VA hospital, with primary, specialty, surgical, and mental health care. 2501 West 22nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57105. Phone: 605-336-3230
- Sioux Falls Vet Center – Counseling for combat veterans and survivors of military sexual trauma, offered free and kept off the medical record. 5020 South Broadband Lane, Suite 100, Sioux Falls, SD 57108. Phone: 605-330-4552
- Sioux Falls VA Regional Benefit Office – The Veterans Benefits Administration office on the hospital campus, answering benefits questions and taking disability claims in person. 2501 West 22nd Street, Building 38, Sioux Falls, SD 57105. National benefits line: 800-827-1000
- Minnehaha County Veterans Service Office – County officers who assist with benefit applications, DD-214 records, and state bonus claims at no cost. 521 North Main Avenue, Suite 201, Sioux Falls, SD 57104. Phone: 605-367-4217
Getting Homeless Veterans Back Under a Roof
The 2025 Point-in-Time count recorded 43 veterans among the 1,450 South Dakotans experiencing homelessness on a single night in late January 2025. But many more are at risk of homelessness.
VA Sioux Falls homeless veteran care responds with immediate food and shelter, transitional and permanent housing assistance, job training, and treatment for addiction and depression, and its HUD-VASH vouchers are administered with the Sioux Falls Housing and Redevelopment Commission.
At Hill & Ponton, we know that benefits denied or delayed at the wrong moment can cost a veteran the rent. Cases with housing on the line get priority attention from our firm. When a VA decision left you short, denied, or waiting, let us handle the appeal: nothing is owed up front and the fee comes only from a successful outcome.
Meet Our Expert Legal Team
VA disability attorneys and professionals fighting for veterans in Sioux Falls, South Dakota 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.