Free legal help, discharge upgrades and justice-involved Veterans

Free legal aid near you

VA pays legal aid groups in every state to help Veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing housing (the VA Legal Services grant). They handle eviction and housing, family law, consumer debt, income and benefits, and many help with discharge upgrades. Enter your ZIP to see who serves your county.

Source: VA: Legal Services grantee referral list (January 2026)

Free legal clinics at VA medical centers

Many legal aid groups and law schools hold free legal clinics inside VA medical centers. VA keeps a list. Some clinics only give advice, and some take cases.

Stateside Legal has free plain-language legal guides for Veterans and military families on VA benefits, discharge upgrades, housing, family law and criminal records, plus a map of legal help.

Sources: VA Office of General Counsel: Legal services for Veterans; Stateside Legal

Discharge upgrades: how they work

Your military branch, not VA, decides whether to upgrade a discharge. VA.gov has a short question tool that tells you which board to apply to and which form to use.

• Discharge Review Board (DD Form 293): you must apply within 15 years of your discharge.
• Board for Correction of Military (or Naval) Records (DD Form 149): for older discharges and other record errors. The law says to apply within 3 years of finding the error, but the board can waive that "in the interest of justice," and often does.
• Liberal consideration: Defense Department guidance tells boards to weigh requests generously when PTSD, TBI, military sexual trauma or another mental health condition may have played a part. A VA finding that you have such a condition helps.
• A free legal aid group or a Veterans law clinic can prepare the application with you. Many VA Legal Services grantees above list "discharge upgrade" among their services.

Sources: 10 U.S.C. 1553 (15-year limit); 10 U.S.C. 1552 (3 years, waivable); VA.gov: Discharge upgrade instructions

VA can still find you eligible, even without an upgrade

VA makes its own "character of discharge" decision for benefits, separate from the military. A 2024 VA rule (in effect since June 25, 2024) made this fairer: it removed the old bar for "homosexual acts," narrowed what counts as "willful and persistent misconduct," and added a "compelling circumstances" exception, such as mental health, hardship or a combat injury, for some bars.

If VA turned you down before, you can ask again with VA Form 21-0995 (a Supplemental Claim).

Sources: Federal Register: Update and clarify regulatory bars to benefits (89 FR 32361); VA News: More service members eligible after VA amends character of discharge rules

Mental health care with an other-than-honorable discharge

In a suicidal crisis, VA will provide or pay for emergency care, including up to 30 days in a hospital and 90 days of outpatient care, for many former service members with an other-than-honorable discharge. This covers those who served 100 or more days in a combat zone, or who experienced military sexual trauma.

Ongoing VA mental health care is also open to many OTH Veterans who served 100 days or more and deployed in a combat theater. VA encourages you to apply even if you're not sure. Vet Centers offer free counseling too.

The Veterans Crisis Line is for everyone, whatever your discharge: call 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

Sources: VA: COMPACT Act emergency suicide care FAQ; VA.gov: Benefits with an other-than-honorable discharge

In court, jail or prison: VA justice programs

VA medical centers have Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) specialists. They meet Veterans in jails and courts, connect them to VA treatment, and work with Veterans Treatment Courts. There are about 745 Veterans Treatment Courts and other Veteran-focused courts served by VJO specialists. Ask the public defender or the court about one.

Health Care for Reentry Veterans (HCRV) staff meet Veterans in state and federal prisons before release, help plan for housing, health care and benefits, and give short-term help after release.

Sources: VA: VJO specialist contacts; VA: Health Care for Reentry Veterans; VA: Veterans Treatment Court inventory fact sheet (December 2025)

What happens to VA pay while incarcerated

After 60 days in prison for a felony, VA disability pay drops: to the 10% rate if you're rated 20% or more, or to half if you're rated 10%. VA pension stops on the 61st day for a felony or misdemeanor. Payments can start again after release. Work release and halfway houses don't trigger the cut.

Your spouse, children or dependent parents can ask VA for part of the withheld pay (an apportionment). It's based on need and isn't automatic, so they must file.

Source: VA: Incarcerated Veterans