The appellant was not the veteran's legal spouse at the time of his death in May 1982, and therefore does not meet the definition of a surviving spouse under VA law.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows that the veteran remarried in October 1979 to Y.H. and that Y.H. has been receiving death benefits as the veteran's surviving spouse since the time of the veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 2, 2009
- Citation
- 0903554
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,582 · Granted: 32% (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 0903554.
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