The Board has determined that the appellant is recognized as the veteran's surviving spouse for purposes of receiving VA benefits, given her continuous cohabitation with the veteran and her belief in a common-law marriage prior to the formal ceremony.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the appellant met the criteria for recognition as a 'deemed valid' marriage for VA purposes based on her continuous cohabitation with the veteran and her testimony indicating she had no knowledge of an impediment to the common-law marriage, such as New York's requirement of a marriage ceremony.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 6, 2006
- Citation
- 0610008
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,319 · Granted: 25% (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 0610008.
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
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