---
kind: "section"
citation: "38 C.F.R. § 20.204"
title: "38"
number: "20.204"
heading: "Rule 204. Who can file a Notice of Disagreement."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/38/20.204"
---

# §20.204. Rule 204. Who can file a Notice of Disagreement.

- (a) **Persons authorized.** A Notice of Disagreement may be filed by a claimant personally, or by his or her representative if a proper Power of Attorney is on record or accompanies such Notice of Disagreement.
- (b) **Claimant rated incompetent by Department of Veterans Affairs or under disability and unable to file.** If an appeal is not filed by a person listed in [paragraph (a)](#a) of this section, and the claimant is rated incompetent by the Department of Veterans Affairs or has a physical, mental, or legal disability which prevents the filing of an appeal on his or her own behalf, a Notice of Disagreement may be filed by a fiduciary appointed to manage the claimant's affairs by the Department of Veterans Affairs or a court, or by a person acting as next friend if the appointed fiduciary fails to take needed action or no fiduciary has been appointed.
- (c) **Claimant under disability and able to file.** Notwithstanding the fact that a fiduciary may have been appointed for a claimant, an appeal filed by a claimant will be accepted.

## Notes

### Source

Source: 84 FR 180, Jan. 18, 2019, unless otherwise noted.

### Authority

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a) and as noted in specific sections.

### Source

Source: 57 FR 4109, Feb. 3, 1992, unless otherwise noted.