The claimant was not the Veteran's surviving spouse at the time of his death and is therefore not eligible for an award of DIC, death pension benefits, and accrued benefits.
The deciding factor: Given the finalized divorce from the Veteran in June 2002, the exception under 38 C.F.R. § 3.50 that allows a claimant to remain the veteran's spouse despite misconduct by the veteran cannot apply in this case.
- 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 25, 2009
- Citation
- 0906951
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,547 · Granted: 20% (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 0906951.
What this means for you
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