A Department of Veterans Affairs-accredited law group launched in 2022 has already helped clients recover millions in VA backpay while building a team of more than 25 employees — 90 percent of whom are service-disabled veterans.
Co-founded by Navy veteran Trinidad Aguirre, VetsForever provides expert legal representation to service-disabled veterans seeking VA benefits.
“With the VA backing and having them trust us, it gives us so much more credibility and it makes us different,” he said. “I love that I can talk to the VA with that authority that a veteran here needs help.”
Since its inception, the Dallas, Texas-based firm has helped thousands of clients access a cumulative $5 million in total backpay, delivering results in months rather than years.
Aguirre, the law group’s co-founder and CEO, said his personal experience navigating the confusing and often frustrating VA claims process inspired him to launch VetsForever with a mission to ensure every veteran has access to expert, accredited legal support.
“This work is personal. Every client we help represents a version of ourselves, someone who wore the uniform and now needs support,” he said.“We know the system because we’ve been through it, and that’s exactly why we show up every day to make sure no veteran gets left behind.”
Aguirre served in the Navy from 1996 to 2003 as an aviation electrician mate. When he left the military, he said there really wasn’t a transition program and that he had to figure everything out - from finding a place to live and figuring out if he wanted to find a job or go to school - all on his own.
He opted to go to school, where he worked part-time at the VA office on campus while cobbling together other work while studying. While PTSD wasn’t widely diagnosed then, Aguirre came to recognize he had it.
“Every veteran we talk to has some sort of trauma,” he said. “We need to normalize asking for help.”
Aguirre said there is a lot of misinformation online about the VA claims process.
“We provide veterans with facts and guidance they can trust,” he said. “We walk them through the process and even assist with appeals.”
Aguirre said the law group’s accreditation matters on several different levels. All of its employees go through a background check and pass Veteran Services Organization testing.
“To have an accredited organization like us, we are going to do all your paperwork, we’re going to present it back to make sure it’s truthful and accurate because we want to tell only your truth,” he said.
Once the veteran approves the paperwork, VetsForever can send the information to the VA and then prep the veteran for any examinations that may be required.
“By the time a decision comes, whether it’s approved and we’re celebrating or it’s denied or we have to file an appeal, we will advocate for the veteran,” he said.
Because VetsForever is regulated by the VA, it can only charge up to 33 percent of the approved claim.
“If you take $1,000 of backpay, that’s $330,” Aguirre said.
VA compensation is much more than simply money, Aguirre said.
“It’s access to medical care, financial relief and peace of mind,” he said.
The law group also works with active-duty service members before they separate from the military, providing them with information about the benefits they have earned and helping them document any injuries they may have sustained as a result of their service.
VetsForever is currently on track to serve over 2,500 veterans by the end of this year.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.