The Board found that there is a preponderance of evidence against the appellant being recognized as the Veteran's surviving spouse for VA benefits due to issues with the validity of their marriage under Philippine law.
The deciding factor: The appellant and the Veteran did not satisfy the requirements of Article 34 of the Family Code of the Philippines, which requires living together for at least five years prior to marriage and having a valid marriage ceremony witnessed by two legal age witnesses.
- 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 5, 2011
- Citation
- 1128927
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 1128927.
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