The appellant was not the veteran's lawful spouse at the time of his death and therefore cannot be recognized as the surviving spouse for dependency and indemnity compensation benefits.
The deciding factor: The marriage between the appellant and the veteran ended in divorce in 1989, and he subsequently married G. Y., who was still married to him at the time of his death in 2005.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2009
- Citation
- 0903291
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 734 · Granted: 9% (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 0903291.
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