VA 20-Year Rule Explained: How It Protects Your VA Disability Rating!

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If you’ve been getting VA disability for decades and you’re asking, “Can the VA still cut my rating after all these years?” you’re really asking about the VA 20-year rule.

This rule is one of the strongest protections in VA disability law. Once you cross the 20-year line on a rating that’s been in place continuously, the VA generally cannot reduce that evaluation below a protected floor unless it proves the rating was originally based on fraud.

In this article from VA disability expert Brian Reese, we’ll break down exactly what the VA 20-year rule is, where it comes from, how it works in real life, how it fits with the VA 5-year rule and the VA 10-year rule, and how to use it to protect your hard-earned benefits.

Summary of Key Points

• The VA 20-year rule (38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b)) protects any disability or combined rating that’s been in place for 20+ years from being reduced below that level, unless the original rating was based on fraud.

• The VA measures the 20 years using effective dates, and the protected level is usually the lowest evaluation you held continuously during that period—not necessarily the highest.

• The rule can protect both individual conditions and your combined rating, and the VA must still follow separate reduction rules (3.105, 3.343, 3.344) for any changes above the protected “floor.”

• You should use your VA Rating Code Sheet to identify which ratings have passed 20 years, mark those as protected floors, and challenge any VA reduction that tries to drop you below those levels.

What is the VA 20-Year Rule?

The VA 20-year rule comes from 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b), which implements 38 U.S.C. § 110.

In states:

• If a service-connected disability has been continuously rated at or above a certain evaluation for 20 or more years for compensation purposes, the VA generally cannot reduce that evaluation below that level, unless it proves the rating was based on fraud.

Key points built into that definition:

• The 20-year rule protects any evaluation level (10%, 30%, 70%, etc.), not just 100%.
• The rating must have been in effect for 20+ continuous years.
• The only exception in the regulation is if the rating was based on fraud.

For a big-picture overview of all the time-based protections together, see: VA 5-, 10-, and 20-Year Rules Explained.

Where the VA 20-Year Rule Comes From

38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b): Preservation of Disability Evaluations

38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b) says that:

• A disability that has been continuously rated at or above any evaluation of disability for 20 or more years for compensation purposes will not be reduced to less than that evaluation, except upon a showing that the rating was based on fraud.
• Likewise, a permanent and total rating for pension that has been in force for 20 or more years will not be reduced except for fraud.

This is sometimes called “preservation of disability evaluations.” Once your rating hits that 20-year mark, VA is essentially locked into that floor unless it can prove outright fraud in the original award.

M21-1 Guidance on Protected Ratings

VA’s internal adjudication manual, the M21-1, has an entire section on Protected Ratings that interprets and applies the 20-year rule in day-to-day rating work. In the protected ratings section (Part X, Subpart ii, Chapter 1, Section B), VA tells raters that:

• A rating that has been in effect for 20 or more years is a protected evaluation under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b).
• VA must measure the 20-year period from the earliest effective date of the evaluation to the effective date of any proposed reduction.
• Once protected, VA is not supposed to reduce that evaluation below the protected level, even if the original evaluation was erroneous, unless there was fraud.

VA Claims Insider covers this in more detail in our article: 7 Types of Protected VA Disability Ratings Explained.

How the VA 20-Year Rule Works in Practice

What “Continuously Rated” Really Means

The phrase “continuously rated” is critical. It means the disability (or combined rating) has had a compensable evaluation in effect for 20 or more years without a break in the evaluation itself.

That does not always mean you were being paid the whole time at that level. For protection purposes, VA looks at whether the evaluation was in effect for compensation purposes under the law, even if payment was temporarily withheld or offset for some reason.

Also important:

• The 20-year rule protects the floor of your rating level, not necessarily the highest level you’ve ever had for that condition.
• VA can still increase your rating above the protected floor if your disability worsens.
• VA can, in some situations, reduce a higher rating back down to the protected floor if it follows the proper reduction rules.

How the 20-Year Clock Is Calculated

To apply the VA 20-year rule, VA compares two key dates:

• The earliest effective date of the evaluation you are trying to protect (for example, the first date you were rated 20% for your back), and
• The effective date of the rating decision that proposes to reduce that evaluation.

If 20 or more years have elapsed between those two effective dates, the evaluation is generally protected from being reduced below that level (absent fraud).

Here’s where many veterans get confused: when your evaluation changes over time, the protected level is usually the lowest evaluation you held during the full 20-year period, not the highest.

Example:

• 10% for migraines from January 1, 2008
• Increased to 30% effective January 1, 2016

By January 1, 2028:

• You’ve been continuously rated at or above 10% for 20 years.
• You’ve been at or above 30% for 12 years.

Result: the 10% level is now 20-year protected; VA generally cannot reduce you below 10% absent fraud. The 30% level is not yet 20-year protected, so in theory VA could reduce you from 30% down to 10% if it properly shows improvement and follows the rating reduction rules.

Combined Ratings and the 20-Year Rule

The 20-year rule does not just apply to individual conditions. It can also apply to your combined rating.

According to VA’s protected rating guidance, if your combined evaluation (for example, 90%) has been in effect for 20 or more years, then VA treats that combined evaluation as protected under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b). In that situation, both:

• The individual evaluations, and
• The combined evaluation

are treated as protected, and VA generally cannot reduce benefits below that combined level unless it proves fraud.

VA Claims Insider talks about this more in: How to Punch Back Against a Proposed VA Rating Reduction.

How the VA 20-Year Rule Interacts with TDIU and SMC

The 20-year rule focuses on **evaluations for compensation**. That includes the schedular ratings VA applies under the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (38 C.F.R. Part 4).

Two related areas often come up in the same conversation:

• Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU), governed in part by 38 C.F.R. § 3.343, which says total ratings, including TDIU, generally cannot be reduced without evidence of material improvement and, for TDIU, clear and convincing evidence of actual employability.
• Special Monthly Compensation (SMC), which is an extra payment on top of your basic combined rating in certain severe-disability scenarios.

In practice:

• The 20-year rule protects long-standing schedular and combined evaluations from being reduced below the protected floor absent fraud.
• VA must still respect those protected evaluations when it calculates things like SMC or considers whether you meet the schedular criteria underlying TDIU.
• The separate TDIU-specific rules in § 3.343 control whether VA can terminate a TDIU award based on evidence of employability; the 20-year protection keeps VA from cutting long-standing schedular floors even if it re-examines TDIU.

Advanced Nuances: Renouncing Benefits, Retro Increases, Breaks in Payment

VA’s guidance adds a few advanced nuances that matter for the 20-year rule:

• You don’t have to be paid the entire 20 years. An evaluation can still become 20-year protected even if you weren’t actually receiving payment the whole time (for example, during recoupment or certain offsets). The key is whether the evaluation remained in effect for compensation purposes, not whether money went into your bank account every month.
• Renouncing benefits can break protection. If you formally renounce entitlement to disability compensation, VA may treat your entitlement as terminated for protection purposes. Renouncing and starting over later is not the same as uninterrupted, continuous entitlement.
• Retroactive increases count toward 20-year protection. If a later VA decision (or a successful clear and unmistakable error (CUE) motion) increases your rating all the way back to an effective date that is 20 or more years in the past, that evaluation is treated as having been in effect the whole time for purposes of 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b).
• Payment adjustments are not the same as reductions. The 20-year rule does not stop VA from applying other statutes or regulations that temporarily change how much you are paid (for example, certain incarceration or hospitalization-related payment rules). It protects the evaluation level, not every possible payment adjustment under other laws.

Examples of the VA 20-Year Rule in Action

Example #1: 20% Back Rating After 21 Years

Suppose:

• You were granted 20% for a lumbar spine disability, effective January 1, 2004.
• You’ve been at 20% (or higher) ever since—no breaks in the evaluation.
• In 2025, VA orders a new C&P exam and proposes to reduce your back rating to 0% effective January 1, 2026.

By January 1, 2026, you have been continuously rated at or above 20% for 22 years.

Under the VA 20-year rule:

• VA generally cannot reduce your back rating below 20% unless it proves the original award was based on fraud.
• VA could still reduce a rating that had increased above 20% (for example, 40% down to 20%), but 20% is now your protected floor.

Example #2: 10% → 30% Migraines – Which Level Is Protected?

Suppose:

• VA grants you 10% for migraines effective January 1, 2008.
• VA increases you to 30% effective January 1, 2016.
• In 2030, VA proposes to reduce you from 30% to 0% based on a new exam.

Here’s the protection picture:

• By 2030, you’ve been at or above 10% for 22 years, so 10% is 20-year protected.
• You’ve been at or above 30% for 14 years, so 30% is not yet 20-year protected.

Result: VA generally cannot reduce your migraines below 10% absent fraud. It can, in theory, reduce 30% down to 10% if it shows real improvement and follows the rating reduction rules in 38 C.F.R. § 3.105, § 3.344, and related sections.

Example #3: Long-Standing Combined 90% Rating

Suppose:

• Your ratings combine to 90% effective January 1, 2003.
• Over the years, VA adjusts individual ratings, but your combined rating never drops below 90%.
• In 2025, VA proposes a set of reductions that would push your combined rating down to 70%.

By 2025, your combined 90% rating has been in effect for 22 years.

Under the 20-year rule and M21-1 protected rating guidance:

• VA generally cannot reduce your combined rating below 90% absent fraud.
• VA can still “move pieces around” at the individual condition level (reducing some ratings, increasing others), as long as your combined evaluation stays at or above the 90% level.

How the VA 20-Year Rule Fits with the 5- and 10-Year Rules

The VA 20-year rule is part of a broader system of protections that get stronger over time:

• VA 5-Year Rule (Stabilized Ratings) – Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.344, once a rating has been at the same level for 5 or more years, VA must show sustained improvement before it reduces that rating. Learn more in: What Is the VA 5-Year Rule?
• VA 10-Year Rule (Protected Service Connection) – Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.957, once a condition has been service connected for 10 or more years, VA generally cannot sever service connection (can’t say it’s no longer service connected) except for fraud or lack of qualifying service/character of discharge. Learn more in: What Is the VA 10-Year Rule?
• VA 20-Year Rule (Protected Evaluations) – Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b), once an evaluation (or combined evaluation) has been in effect for 20 or more years, VA generally cannot reduce it below that level absent fraud.

If you want a single deep dive that puts all three protections side-by-side with examples, check out: VA 5-, 10-, and 20-Year Rules Explained.

Pro Tips to Use the VA 20-Year Rule to Your Advantage

• Pull your VA Rating Code Sheet. Your code sheet shows each condition, its diagnostic code, effective dates, and current evaluation. It’s the easiest way to see which ratings are approaching (or have passed) the 20-year mark. Learn how in: How to Get Your VA Rating Code Sheet FAST!
• Mark your 20-year “floors.” Go condition by condition and also look at your combined rating history. Mark which evaluation levels (and combined ratings) have been in effect for 20+ years—those become your protected floors.
• Don’t fear legitimate increases. The 20-year rule doesn’t stop you from filing for an increase if your condition gets worse. It just means that, once an evaluation has been in effect 20+ years, VA generally cannot reduce you below that level later absent fraud.
• Watch proposed reductions closely. If you receive a letter proposing a rating reduction that would drop you below a 20-year-protected level, that’s a red flag. Compare the proposed reduction against your code sheet and the dates on your ratings.
• Know the reduction rules. For many reductions, VA has to follow due process in 38 C.F.R. § 3.105 and the stabilization rules in 38 C.F.R. § 3.344. VACI covers this step-by-step in: How to Punch Back Against a Proposed VA Rating Reduction.
• Understand re-exam patterns. Longstanding protected ratings are less likely to be routinely re-evaluated, but the law doesn’t completely forbid exams after 20 years. For more on when and how VA reevaluates, see: How Often Does the VA Reevaluate Disability Ratings?
• Use VA’s decision review process if needed. If VA ignores the 20-year rule and reduces you anyway, you can challenge that decision through the modern decision review lanes. Start at the official page: VA Decision Reviews and Appeals.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is my 100% VA rating protected after 20 years?

If your 100% schedular rating has been in effect for 20 or more continuous years, the VA 20-year rule generally protects it from being reduced below 100%, unless VA can prove the rating was based on fraud.

If you’re at 100% due to TDIU (Individual Unemployability), your situation is governed by both:

• The TDIU-specific standards in 38 C.F.R. § 3.343 (requiring clear and convincing evidence of actual employability to terminate TDIU), and
• The 20-year protection on any underlying schedular evaluations and combined rating levels under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b).

Bottom line: a 100% rating that has been in place for 20+ years is very difficult for VA to lawfully reduce, even more so if it is also permanent and total (P&T).

Does the VA 20-year rule apply to each condition or my combined rating?

Both.

• It applies to each individual disability evaluation: once an evaluation level (10%, 20%, 40%, etc.) for a condition has been in effect for 20 or more years, VA generally cannot reduce that condition below that level absent fraud.
• It also applies to your combined rating: if your combined evaluation (for example, 90%) has been in effect for 20+ years, VA guidance treats that combined evaluation as protected under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b).

This is why looking at your full rating history and code sheet is so important.

Does the VA 20-year rule protect my Permanent and Total (P&T) status?

P&T (permanent and total) is a label VA applies when it considers your disabilities to be totally disabling and not expected to improve.

The 20-year rule technically protects the evaluation levels (schedular and combined) under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b). However, if you have a 100% P&T rating that has also been in effect for 20+ years, you’re benefiting from:

• The inherent stability of a P&T rating, and
• The 20-year fraud-only protection on the underlying evaluation level.

That combination makes it extremely unlikely—though never literally impossible—that VA will lawfully reduce your overall level of benefits.

For more on P&T concepts, see: What Does a 100% Permanently and Totally Disabled VA Rating Really Mean?

Does a retroactive increase count toward the 20-year rule?

Yes. If a later rating decision (or a CUE grant) increases your evaluation back to an effective date that is 20 or more years in the past, VA treats that evaluation as having been in effect for that entire retroactive period.

Once the retroactive effective date puts the evaluation at 20+ years, that evaluation generally becomes 20-year protected under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b), just like if it had been granted correctly the first time.

How is the VA 20-year rule different from the “age 55” rule?

The so-called “age 55” rule is more of a policy than a true CFR rule. VA typically avoids routinely scheduling future exams for veterans who are 55 or older, except in certain situations (for example, cancer in recent remission).

The VA 20-year rule is very different:

• The 20-year rule is a binding legal protection in 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b) that limits VA’s ability to reduce protected evaluations below a certain floor absent fraud.
• The age 55 concept is more about how often VA schedules re-exams, not a hard bar on reductions.

Can VA still schedule exams after I hit the 20-year mark?

The 20-year rule does not explicitly forbid VA from ever ordering another exam. In practice, long-standing protected ratings and older veterans tend to be reviewed less frequently, but the legal protection is about reducing the evaluation, not about whether VA can look at your file again.

That said, if VA orders an exam and then tries to reduce your rating below a protected floor that has been in effect for 20+ years, the VA 20-year rule gives you strong grounds to challenge that reduction.

What if VA ignores the 20-year rule and reduces me anyway?

It happens. Raters are human, and reductions get done incorrectly.

If VA issues a rating decision that reduces an evaluation or combined rating below a 20-year-protected level, you can challenge that decision through the modern decision review process:

• Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence,
• Higher-Level Review (senior rater takes a fresh look), or
• Board Appeal to a Veterans Law Judge.

You can review your options at VA’s official page: VA Decision Reviews and Appeals, and check the status of a claim or review here: Check Your VA Claim, Decision Review, or Appeal Status.

VA Claims Insider also walks you through how to respond to a bad reduction in: How to Punch Back Against a Proposed VA Rating Reduction.

Conclusion & Wrap-Up

The VA 20-year rule is one of the most powerful shields you have against unfair rating reductions. Once a schedular or combined evaluation has been in place for 20 or more years, VA generally cannot reduce it below that level unless it can prove the rating was based on fraud.

To put this into action right now:

• Get your VA Rating Code Sheet.
• Identify which evaluations and combined ratings have been in place 20+ years.
• Mark those as protected floors.
• If VA proposes a reduction that goes below those floors, strongly consider using VA’s decision review lanes or working with an accredited representative to challenge it.

For more on disability ratings and how VA compensation works generally, start with VA’s official page: VA Disability Compensation.

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