The Veteran's daughter, L.W., was found to be permanently incapable of self-support prior to her 18th birthday due to disabilities including mental retardation. The Board granted recognition as a helpless child.
The deciding factor: L.W.'s disabilities, including mental retardation, clearly existed prior to her becoming 18 and rendered her unable to sustain employment.
- Claimed conditions
- permanent incapacity for self-support, mental retardation
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2019
- Citation
- 19107324
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,451 · Granted: 22% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19107324.
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
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's daughter, P., is claimed to be permanently incapable of self-support prior to her 18th birthday due to sickle cell disease. The Board has ordered a remand for the VA to obtain relevant medical records from SSA and PRISMA Health.
- Granted
The Veteran's child, M.H., is recognized as a helpless child for VA benefits purposes due to permanent incapacity for self-support prior to attaining age 18.
- Denied
The Veteran's son, G.J., was not found to be permanently incapable of self-support prior to turning 18 years old. The evidence showed he graduated high school and attended college until his 18th birthday.
- Denied
The Veteran's daughter, D.R., is not considered permanently incapable of self-support prior to her 18th birthday. Therefore, she does not qualify for additional dependency benefits.
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