The Veteran died of a service-connected disability. The Appellant was granted basic eligibility to Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) benefits, effective October 31, 2012. She sought retroactive payment for academic enrollment from January 2013 to December 2013. The Board denied the claim as VA could not pay benefits more than one year prior to the date of receipt of her application.
The deciding factor: The Appellant's application was received by VA in December 2014, which is more than a year after the RO’s decision granting service connection for the death of the Veteran and establishing the Appellant's eligibility for DEA benefits. There is no provision in the law that would allow for retroactive payment of DEA benefits prior to December 8, 2013.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19106841
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
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