The Board denied the appellant's claim for recognition as the legal surviving spouse of the deceased Veteran for purposes of establishing entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits, finding that her common-law marriage was invalid due to the pre-existing legally valid marriage between the Veteran and his previous spouse.
The deciding factor: The separation from the Veteran's previous spouse was due to the Veteran's misconduct without fault of the appellant, thus invalidating her claim as a legal 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
- June 15, 2011
- Citation
- 1122955
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 1122955.
What this means for you
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