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Denied

The Board found that the appellant did not have a valid marriage with the Veteran under Article 34 of the New Family Code of the Philippines, and thus is not entitled to recognition as the surviving spouse for VA benefits purposes.

The deciding factor: The evidence showed that the appellant and the Veteran lived together only slightly less than 2 years prior to their October 1987 marriage ceremony, which did not meet the requirement of living together as husband and wife for at least 5 years under Article 34.

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 26, 2010
Citation
1007232

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 1007232.

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