The Board found that the appellant did not meet the criteria to be recognized as the veteran's surviving spouse for VA benefits due to a lack of legal recognition of their common-law marriage in California.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not establish that the appellant and the veteran lived together as spouses or held themselves out as such, despite living together from September 1984 to April 1985. The appellant did not enter into the purported common law marriage with knowledge of a legal impediment.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 27, 2007
- Citation
- 0723080
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 0723080.
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