The Board has determined that the appellant qualifies as the Veteran's surviving spouse for purposes of eligibility for payment of VA benefits, including Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). The decision does not reach the merits of any underlying claim of entitlement to actual payment of DIC benefits.
The deciding factor: The evidence demonstrated a common law marriage between the Veteran and the appellant beginning on July 13, 2007, which is more than one year prior to the Veteran's death. This established eligibility as the surviving spouse for VA benefits.
- 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 18, 2015
- Citation
- 1552910
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 1552910.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
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