The Board concluded that the appellant's common-law marriage to the veteran was not valid under VA law, and therefore denied her claim for surviving spouse benefits.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not support a belief by the adjudicating activity that a valid marriage actually occurred, as there were no records of a legal or common-law marriage, and the appellant had held herself out to be single for SSI purposes.
- 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 5, 2009
- Citation
- 0904075
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,514 · Granted: 19% (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 0904075.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
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