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Denied

The Board has determined that the appellant is not considered a surviving spouse for VA purposes due to her separation from the Veteran, which was not due to his misconduct or fault. The appeal is denied.

The deciding factor: The evidence does not show continuous cohabitation between the appellant and the Veteran up until the time of the Veteran's death, as there were significant separations and the appellant filed for divorce shortly after the separation began.

Claimed conditions
Not specified in this decision
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
December 14, 2015
Citation
1552256

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 1552256.

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