The Board has determined that the appellant is not entitled to recognition as the veteran's surviving spouse for purposes of VA benefits due to a valid marriage between the appellee and the veteran, which served as a legal impediment to the appellant's subsequent attempt at marriage.
The deciding factor: The evidence showed that the May 1943 marriage between the appellee and the veteran existed until the veteran's death, serving as a legal impediment to the appellant's attempted marriage in September 1977. The appellant's marriage cannot be deemed valid for VA purposes because a claim has been filed by the appellee, who is entitled to gratuitous death benefits.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 22, 2004
- Citation
- 0416237
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,977 · Granted: 27% (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 0416237.
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