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Denied

The Board found that there was no valid common-law marriage between the Veteran and the appellant for VA benefits purposes, as evidenced by the lack of mutual consent to enter into a marriage relationship.

The deciding factor: There was no indication of an agreement or mutual consent to enter into the marriage relationship. The Veteran provided statements indicating he was not married, despite having been previously divorced twice from other women.

Claimed conditions
Not specified in this decision
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
October 1, 2009
Citation
0937447

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 0937447.

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