VA-Accredited Claims Agent · Fellow Veteran · 100% P&T
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Jesse Schultz · U.S. Army, 2012–2017 · VA-Accredited Claims Agent
No upfront charge. No win, no fee.
An accredited VA claims agent and a fellow veteran who prepares, files, and fights your claim from the first form to the final rating decision.
30% of back pay awarded. $0 upfront.
Nothing if no back pay is awarded. My incentive is aligned with yours.
Free review. No obligation. I personally respond within one business day.
If there's a case worth fighting, I'll fight it. If there isn't, I'll tell you that too.
Estimate your rating with the VA calculator ↓Search "Schultz" under Claims Agents. This is the live federal accreditation database. You never have to take my word for it.
The Reality
The VA denies or underrates thousands of legitimate disability claims every year, not because veterans don't qualify, but because the paperwork, the evidence, and the medical language weren't lined up correctly.
Most veterans file alone, once, and accept whatever rating comes back. You don't have to. You served. These benefits are not a handout. They are earned compensation for what your body and mind gave to this country.
You deserve an advocate who knows the system, has been through it, and has a real stake in advocating for the benefits you may be owed.
The VA doesn't adjudicate the benefit of the doubt. It adjudicates the paperwork. What you file, and how you file it, is everything.
Free Tools
Estimate your combined rating and monthly compensation with the current VA figures. These tools are for planning only and do not guarantee any rating or amount.
The VA does not add ratings together. It uses the “whole person” method, so conditions rated 50% and 30% combine to 65%, which rounds to a 70% rating, not 80%. Enter each condition, then your dependents, for a current monthly estimate.
Your conditions
Your dependents
Estimate based on VA rates effective December 1, 2025. Dependents apply at ratings of 30% and above. Verify at va.gov.
A disability rating is a percentage reflecting how much a service-connected condition reduces your overall health and ability to function. With more than one condition, the VA combines them using the “whole person” method (never simple addition) and rounds the final figure to the nearest 10%.
| Rating | Alone | With spouse | Spouse + 1 child |
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Monthly amounts, tax-free, effective December 1, 2025 (Source: VA). Full tables including additional dependents: va.gov compensation rates and how VA ratings work.
Services
VA Disability Claims
Initial & Supplemental
Full preparation of your initial disability claim or a Supplemental Claim (VA Form 20-0995), building the medical evidence, identifying service connections, and submitting a complete, well-documented claim built to withstand scrutiny.
Rating Appeals
If the VA got it wrong on a prior rating decision, a Higher-Level Review puts a senior adjudicator on it. I review the record, identify the errors, and make the strongest possible case for a rating that accurately reflects your condition.
Exam Readiness
The Compensation & Pension exam is where many legitimate claims fall apart. I prepare you: what to say, what to document, what the examiner is actually evaluating, so your real condition is accurately reflected.
Evidence & Statements
A VA Form 21-4138 written well can make or break a claim. I craft detailed, well-organized statements and help you gather buddy statements, service records, and nexus letters that build a complete file.
Decision Review
When a decision comes back wrong, there's more than one path forward. I map the right lane for your case, whether Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or Board Appeal, and build the record each one requires.
Getting Paid
When your back pay award arrives, my 30% fee is due. I accept Zelle, Venmo, and wire transfer. Mail-In Checks not accepted at this time.
Post-Service Reintegration
Unemployment Filing
Navigating state unemployment systems after separation is its own challenge. I help you file correctly and completely.
Resume Preparation
I translate your military experience into civilian language employers understand and value.
Interview Preparation
I work through your story, your answers, and your presence so you walk in prepared and confident.
Billed at a mutually agreed fee, separate from the claims contingency model.
The Fee Model
My fee is 30% of the back pay the VA awards. If no back pay is awarded, my fee is zero. My incentive is perfectly aligned with yours.
Jesse Schultz, VA-Accredited Claims Agent
Every fee agreement is in writing and filed with the VA. Post-Service Reintegration services are billed at a separate, mutually agreed fee.
Get My Free Claim ReviewThe Process
Step One
I start with a no-obligation conversation. You tell me your service history and what conditions you're dealing with. I assess where your claim stands and what a realistic path forward looks like, honestly, with no pressure.
Step Two
I gather your service records, medical evidence, and supporting documentation. I structure the claim to establish clear service connections and submit a complete, well-organized file to the VA.
Step Three
If the VA schedules a Compensation & Pension exam, I prepare you for it. I go through what the examiner will focus on, how to describe your symptoms accurately, and what documentation to bring, so a stressful pop-quiz becomes an open-book test.
Step Four
The VA issues its rating decision. If the outcome is right, that is the win. If it's wrong, whether underrated, denied, or missing conditions, I evaluate next steps: Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or appeal.
Step Five
When your back pay award arrives, my 30% contingency fee is due. I accept Zelle, Venmo, and wire transfer. Mail-In Checks not accepted at this time.
About Jesse
Jesse Schultz is a fellow veteran and a claims professional with over a decade inside the insurance industry. For more than 10 years he has handled detailed, nuanced, high-stakes insurance and disability claims on both sides of the table, working both for the carriers and against them. He knows exactly how a claim is built, scrutinized, and decided from the inside out.
A VA disability claim is, at its core, workers' compensation for the military, and like any claim it is won or lost on evidence and precise language, not good intentions. Jesse spent years learning what makes an adjuster approve or deny a file, and he puts that same insider knowledge to work for the veteran on the other side of the desk.
He has navigated this system firsthand in the most personal way there is: Jesse is a 100% Permanent and Total (P&T) disabled veteran who built and won his own claim to that rating by hand. He knows exactly what it feels like to file and then wait on a decision, because he has done it for himself. He works one-on-one with each veteran through every step, and he is willing to work outside traditional hours because veterans keep every kind of schedule and live all over the world. He has helped everyone from local Vets in his own community to Air Force firefighters ETSing out of Japan, accommodating time differences and odd hours, and he is as sharp at midnight as he is at noon.
That hard-won experience extends to the claims most agents avoid. Jesse has a strong track record submitting and winning claims for Conventional and Special Forces combat veterans, for veterans holding TS/SCI clearances whose service is bound by non-disclosure agreements, for survivors of Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and for veterans pursuing Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). These cases demand discretion, precision, and the skill to build a strong record even when the details are difficult or sensitive to document. That is exactly the work Jesse does best.
VA-Accredited Claims Agent · Fellow Veteran
Connect on LinkedIn → Start with a free reviewBeyond the Claim
Separation is disorienting. One week you have a mission, a team, and a schedule. The next, you're staring at unemployment portals, a resume that reads like a foreign language to civilian employers, and interviews you haven't sat for in years. It's a lot, and most veterans face it alone.
Here's what it looks like to work through it with me: I file your unemployment correctly the first time, rebuild your resume so your service actually lands with hiring managers, and rehearse your interviews until you walk in steady. Practical, hands-on, one person in your corner, the same way I handle claims. (The reintegration services listed under Services are covered in full detail there.)
Post-Service Reintegration support is a separately-billed service and is not part of the VA claims representation engagement. Fees and scope are outlined in a separate agreement.
Schedule a Reintegration Consult
Common Questions
No. On VA disability claims, there is no upfront fee, no retainer, and no charge if I don't win back pay. My fee, 30% of back pay awarded, is paid only when you receive a successful award. Post-Service Reintegration services are separate and billed at a mutually agreed fee discussed before any work begins.
For VA disability claims, my fee is 30% of the back pay the VA awards, collected only when you win. If there is no back pay award, you owe me nothing. That rate sits below the national average of 33.3%, and that is a deliberate choice. When you do better work than the competition, you don't need to nickel-and-dime the people you serve. Veterans who feel genuinely taken care of refer their friends and families, and those relationships are worth far more to me than a few extra points. For Post-Service Reintegration (resume preparation, unemployment filing, interview prep), it is a flat fee agreed upon in advance. I don't surprise people with charges.
A claims agent accredited by the VA's Office of General Counsel has passed a written examination on VA law, cleared a character and fitness review, and is held to the VA's standards of conduct for representatives. Accreditation is the form of representation the VA recognizes. You can confirm my accreditation directly in the VA's public database at va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation, searching "Schultz" under Claims Agents. I am not a law firm; I am an accredited agent who works your claim personally.
I don't just file your paperwork and wish you luck. Before your C&P exam, I give you a comprehensive breakdown of exactly what to expect from the appointment, plus a set of first-person, client-specific notes written in your own voice about your conditions and how they affect your daily life. You walk in with your own words already organized, so a stressful pop-quiz becomes an open-book test. Most people never touch the exam itself, and that preparation is often the difference between an accurate rating and a denial.
Initial disability claims, Supplemental Claims (VA Form 20-0995), Higher-Level Reviews, statements in support of claim (21-4138), C&P exam preparation, and evidence development. I also have deep experience helping Veterans who are facing or experiencing homelessness, and I am well equipped to navigate the claims process for them as seamlessly as possible. If you're not sure where your situation fits, the free claim review is the right first step.
VA processing times vary and are outside anyone's control. As a frame of reference, initial claims and Supplemental Claims currently average roughly 3 to 6 months for a VA decision, and Higher-Level Reviews typically run about 4 to 5 months. These are VA averages, not guarantees, but they give you a realistic planning window. What I can control is submitting a complete, well-documented claim that gives the VA everything it needs to process your case without unnecessary back-and-forth requests. I'll give you an honest picture of where things stand at every stage, with no false timelines.
A Compensation & Pension exam is a medical evaluation the VA schedules to assess the severity of your claimed conditions. The examiner's report carries significant weight in the rating decision. Many claims are underrated or denied because the veteran wasn't prepared to accurately describe their symptoms in the context the examiner needed. Preparation matters, and it's part of what I do.
In Their Words
“Jesse walked me through my very first claim one step at a time and never once made me feel rushed. The rating came back right where it should have been.”
Individual experience. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
“After years of being underrated, Jesse built the Higher-Level Review that finally got me the decision I earned. He knew exactly where the old claim went wrong.”
Individual experience. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
“He prepped me for my C&P exam so thoroughly that I walked in calm and clear instead of nervous. That preparation made all the difference.”
Individual experience. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
“Jesse handled my case with total discretion and knew how to build a strong record around a complicated service history. I never had to explain twice.”
Individual experience. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
“Jesse took care of our family like we were his own. He was there whenever we had a question, even late at night, and he got it done.”
Individual experience. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
“He treated a difficult, sensitive claim with real respect and care, and fought for me the whole way through. For the first time, I felt heard.”
Individual experience. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
First names only, to protect client privacy. Individual experiences; results vary and no outcome is guaranteed.
Free Claim Review
No pressure, no commitment, just an honest conversation about where your claim stands and what a path forward looks like. If there's a case worth fighting, I'll fight it. If there isn't, I'll tell you that too.
Call or text, the fastest way 510-410-5708Call or email whenever works for you, whatever your schedule or time zone. I accommodate time differences and work outside standard hours to reach every veteran, wherever they are.
Get Your Free Claim Review
A few details and I'll reach out. Or just call, whatever is easiest.