The Veteran's surviving spouse seeks recognition as the Veteran’s surviving spouse for purposes of entitlement to DIC and death pension benefits, but the Board finds that she does not meet the criteria due to her legal marriage occurring two-and-a-half months before his death.,The appellant also seeks accrued benefits, but there are no open claims at the time of the Veteran's death, so the claim is denied.
The deciding factor: The appellant and the Veteran did not enter into a valid common-law marriage under South Carolina law prior to their legal marriage in Nevada in November 2012. The evidence does not support a finding that they had such a marriage.,There were no open claims at the time of the Veteran's death, so there are no accrued benefits due.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 31, 2018
- Citation
- 18122765
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 18122765.
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