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Denied

The Board has determined that the Appellant cannot be recognized as the Veteran's surviving spouse for purposes of VA benefits due to their divorce prior to the Veteran's death and lack of remarriage.

The deciding factor: The parties were legally divorced in May 2008, which precludes them from being considered married at the time of the Veteran's death.

Claimed conditions
Not specified in this decision
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
March 12, 2014
Citation
1410307

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 1410307.

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