The Veteran's surviving spouse is seeking accrued benefits for arteriosclerotic heart disease. The appeal is remanded to determine if the appellant filed a claim within one year of the Veteran’s death and whether the Veteran was entitled to service connection at the time of his death.
The deciding factor: Accrued benefits claims must be filed within one year after the date of death, and the appellant's claim for SSA benefits is under review to determine if it qualifies as a VA claim. The RO will also assess pending claims at the time of the Veteran’s death.
- Claimed conditions
- arteriosclerotic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004795
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
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the untimely filing of the Notice of Disagreement.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a separate initial 20 percent rating for right knee meniscal tear based on limitation of knee flexion, and an initial 60 percent rating for arteriosclerotic heart disease. It also granted TDIU due to service-connected residuals of prostate cancer.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and higher ratings for his service-connected conditions, as well as a TDIU.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart disability, to include arteriosclerotic heart disease, CAD, valvular heart disease, ventricular arrhythmia, and superventricular arrhythmia, based on the Veteran's exposure to herbicide agents during his service in Okinawa.
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