(a) Furnishing Forms.— Upon request made by any person claiming or applying for, or expressing an intent to claim or apply for, a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall furnish such person, free of all expense, all instructions and forms necessary to apply for that benefit.
(b) Incomplete Applications.— If a claimant’s application for a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary is incomplete, the Secretary shall notify the claimant and the claimant’s representative, if any, of the information necessary to complete the application.
(c) Time Limitation.—
(1)If information that a claimant and the claimant’s representative, if any, are notified under subsection (b) is necessary to complete an application is not received by the Secretary within one year from the date such notice is sent, no benefit may be paid or furnished by reason of the claimant’s application.
(2)This subsection shall not apply to any application or claim for Government life insurance benefits.
(a) Furnishing Forms.— Upon request made by any person claiming or applying for, or expressing an intent to claim or apply for, a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall furnish such person, free of all expense, all instructions and forms necessary to apply for that benefit.
(b) Incomplete Applications.— If a claimant’s application for a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary is incomplete, the Secretary shall notify the claimant and the claimant’s representative, if any, of the information necessary to complete the application.
(c) Time Limitation.—
(1)If information that a claimant and the claimant’s representative, if any, are notified under subsection (b) is necessary to complete an application is not received by the Secretary within one year from the date such notice is sent, no benefit may be paid or furnished by reason of the claimant’s application.
(2)This subsection shall not apply to any application or claim for Government life insurance benefits.
Pub. L. 108–183, title VII, § 701(c),Dec. 16, 2003, 117 Stat. 2670, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section and section
5103 of this title] shall take effect as if enacted on November 9, 2000, immediately after the enactment of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–475; 114 Stat. 2096).”
The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.
The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Monday, June 17, 2013
An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.
38 USC
Description of Change
Session Year
Public Law
Statutes at Large
This is a list of parts within the Code of Federal Regulations for which this US Code section provides rulemaking authority.
It is not guaranteed to be accurate or up-to-date, though we do refresh the database weekly. More limitations on accuracy are described at the GPO site.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.