The Board determined that the appellant could not be recognized as the veteran's surviving spouse for purposes of entitlement to VA death benefits due to a separation from N.P. prior to their marriage, and because she was found to have been entitled to gratuitous VA death benefits.
The deciding factor: The separation between the veteran and N.P., who were married in 1949 but did not finalize a divorce, was deemed to be due to the veteran's misconduct or procurement by him, making her ineligible as his surviving spouse for VA 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
- September 24, 2004
- Citation
- 0426584
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 0426584.
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