The Board determined that the appellant is not eligible as the surviving spouse of the veteran for VA benefits, but granted her request for an earlier effective date for DIC to her child.
The deciding factor: The appellant and the veteran did not have a valid marriage under Maryland law due to their failure to obtain a marriage license. However, they held themselves out to be married to the public.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic lung cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 26, 2002
- Citation
- 0203859
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0203859.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Denied
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- Remanded (sent back)
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