The Veteran's marriage to the appellant was not valid under VA law due to a prior legal impediment, and therefore the appellant is not recognized as his surviving spouse for VA death benefits purposes.
The deciding factor: VA law requires that a veteran's marriage to their surviving spouse must have occurred within one year of the veteran's death or before the expiration of 15 years after the termination of the period of service in which the injury or disease causing the veteran's death was incurred. In this case, the appellant and Veteran were not legally married prior to July 2005, and their marriage did not meet VA requirements for recognition as a surviving spouse.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 4, 2009
- Citation
- 0929004
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 0929004.
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