The Board found that the assets held by the Irrevocable Trust should not have been considered when analyzing the Veteran's net worth, thus denying the pension benefits was improper. The appeal is granted.
The deciding factor: The VA regulations allow for the transfer of assets to an irrevocable trust prior to a pension application to establish pension eligibility, as long as the veteran does not retain an ownership interest in or control over the trust's assets.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19109669
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,549 · Granted: 29% (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 19109669.
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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