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Denied

The appellant is not eligible to receive VA death pension benefits as the surviving spouse of the veteran due to a lack of one year marriage or child birth before or during their marriage.

The deciding factor: The appellant and the veteran did not meet the legal requirements for basic eligibility as a claimant to VA benefits, specifically failing to have been married for at least one year prior to the veteran's death.

Claimed conditions
Not specified in this decision
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
March 2, 2004
Citation
0405665

Veterans Law Judge

K. OSBORNE

Decisions by this judge: 832 · Granted: 18% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)

Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.

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 0405665.

What this means for you

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