The Board has determined that the appellant's claim for an earlier effective date of February 1, 1986 for DIC benefits is granted based on her having filed a claim with SSA in February 1986.
The deciding factor: The appellant filed a claim with SSA shortly after her husband's death, which constituted both a claim for SSA benefits and VA death benefits.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic soft tissue sarcoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 4, 2004
- Citation
- 0405815
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 195 · Granted: 24% (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 0405815.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for spindle cell lung cancer and associated metastatic soft tissue sarcoma, finding that the Veteran's asbestos exposure during military service is likely related to his diagnosed conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's request for an earlier effective date for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits, finding that the criteria were not met. The effective date of June 22, 1996 was assigned based on the liberalizing law regarding Agent Orange exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining a copy of the appellant's Social Security Administration application and reviewing her claim for an earlier effective date for DIC benefits under additional criteria.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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