The Board denied the appellant's claim for recognition as the Veteran’s surviving spouse, finding that she did not meet the requirements for a surviving spouse at the time of the Veteran's death due to the invalidity of their marriage.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the appellant and the Veteran entered into an invalid common law marriage in New Jersey, which is not recognized by VA benefit laws. The appellant could not be recognized as the surviving spouse because her marriage was not valid under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19187041
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · Granted: 21% (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 19187041.
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