The Veteran's death was due to a service-connected disability. The appellant is the child of the deceased veteran and thus eligible for retroactive Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) benefits. The Board granted retroactive DEA benefits for educational expenses incurred from February 1997 to May 1999.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's death was due to a service-connected disability, which established the appellant's eligibility for retroactive DEA benefits.
- Claimed conditions
- service-connected disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19143630
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 961 · Granted: 20% (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 19143630.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disability resulted in him needing regular aid and attendance, with the Board finding equipoise on whether this was due to his service-connected condition or other factors. SMC based on need for aid and attendance is granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for educational assistance benefits at the 100 percent rate under the Post 9/11 GI Bill is granted because she served a minimum of 30 continuous days of active duty and was discharged due to a service-connected disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was service-connected, but the appellant became an eligible claimant for Chapter 35 benefits after she turned 26 years old. Therefore, she is not entitled to retroactive educational assistance.
- Denied
The Veteran's service was less than 90 days and he did not have a service-connected disability, thus he does not meet the eligibility requirements for nonservice-connected pension benefits.
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