The Board found that the termination and reduction of nonservice-connected death pension benefits were proper, as the Appellant's income exceeded the maximum annual pension rate (MAPR) for a surviving spouse with no dependents.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on the Appellant's income exceeding the MAPR due to receipt of Social Security Administration (SSA) income and not counting caregiver expenses paid to her brother as a medical expense.
- Claimed conditions
- nonservice-connected death pension benefits
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19127427
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 19127427.
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Related decisions
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- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal of the issue of entitlement to accrued benefits as the appellant withdrew her appeal during a videoconference hearing. The claims for DIC and nonservice-connected death pension benefits were not reopened due to lack of new and material evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's request to reopen her claim for nonservice-connected death pension benefits as no new and material evidence was received.
- Denied
The Board determined that the appellant's substantive appeal was untimely filed, and thus lacks jurisdiction to consider the claims for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, accrued benefits, and nonservice-connected death pension benefits.
- Denied
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