The Veteran's incarceration does not automatically render him ineligible for basic entitlement to VA pension benefits. The Board finds the Court’s reasoning in Valchar is persuasive and requires further development to determine if the Veteran meets the criteria for basic pension eligibility.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's incarceration does not automatically render him ineligible for basic entitlement to VA pension benefits as found by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Valchar v. Shinseki, 2013).
- Claimed conditions
- permanent and total disability due to non-service-connected conditions, age 65 or older
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19109046
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,249 · Granted: 37% (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 19109046.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
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