Victim Compensation Fund

Information for Law Firms

The Fund is continually looking for ways to meet the overall goal of making the claims process as fair, transparent, and easy to navigate as possible. This page provides information of particular interest to law firms and attorneys who are representing VCF claimants. Law firms are encouraged to check this page periodically for updates and new information.

Messages from the Special Master

May 14, 2013

The following updates were recently made to the "Attestations and Exhibits" page:


February 14, 2013

The following updates were recently made to the online Personal Injury and Deceased Individual claim forms:

  • In the section for physical injury designation on both the online claim form and the printout from the system, the boxes for both "Primary Cause" and "Contributing Cause" have been removed

  • Medical providers assigned to a specific "Other" injury will now display in the printout of the claim form

  • Exhibit 1 to the Compensation Form - the Social Security Administration Consent for Release of Information and Request for Social Security Earnings Information - is now available through a link in the Exhibits section of the online Compensation form or you may access it here


February 1, 2013


December 13, 2012

The Personal Injury and Deceased Individual claim forms have been updated to include the cancers that were added to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions effective October 12, 2012. The updated forms are now available through the VCF’s online system. Please see FAQ 3.21 for details on how to add cancer to an existing claim.

In addition to adding cancers to the list of conditions in Part III of the Eligibility Forms, attorneys will notice several other changes and updates aimed at simplifying and streamlining the claim forms. These include:

  • The capability to list more than one attorney for each claim and to designate a “Primary Attorney Contact” in those situations

  • Simplified identification of who should receive correspondence from the VCF related to the claim

  • Clarification and streamlining in the sections about prior VCF claims and September 11th-related lawsuits


The following updates were also made to the online system:

  • When multiple “Other” conditions are selected on the claim form, claimants can now answer the questions individually for each “Other” condition

  • Expanded the view so that all injuries are displayed in the list when more than 10 are entered

  • Revised the display for date of birth on the Registration screen


October 11, 2012

The following updates have been made to the VCF Claimant Portal:

  • Answer to Part VII question "Has any government agency, insurer, or physician made a determination with respect to the Claimant's disability?" will save properly when the selection made is "State/Municipal Gov't Entity (e.g., FDNY)"

  • Added line to the attestations print form for Sections D and G even if there is no date entered online for that attestation. Specifically, the line "Executed on this ____ day of ____ 201_" will be displayed

  • Answers to follow-up questions in Part III of the claim form will now save properly when multiple “other” injuries are selected


Claims Management System (CMS) Enhancements for Law Firm Users

The Special Master understands that law firms representing multiple claimants face unique needs when using the online Claims Management System. In response to feedback received from law firms, several enhancements and new features have been added to the system to make it easier to use and more efficient for filing and updating multiple claims. Click on the link below for the most recent list of enhancements.

CMS Enhancements for Law Firm Users

For information about CMS enhancements or for support using CMS, please contact the VCF toll-free Helpline at 1-855-885-1555.


Law Firm Bulk Upload Feature

The Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) online claims system includes a “bulk upload” feature to allow authorized law firms or other organizations to upload Registration information for a large number of claims at one time. This feature supports both the initial submission of claim data as well as the bulk upload of modifications and updates to existing Registrations.

Before using the bulk upload feature, it is encouraged that you become familiar with the claim forms and the VCF claimant portal. Sample claim forms, general instructions on how to submit a claim, and video tutorials explaining the online process can be found under the How to File a Claim webpage. You may also find it helpful to reference our Frequently Asked Questions.

Click here for bulk upload instructions and additional information.



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