The Veteran's divorce from the appellant occurred in December 1986, which is prior to his death in February 2011. Therefore, the appellant cannot be recognized as the surviving spouse for VA death benefits purposes.
The deciding factor: The law mandates that a surviving spouse must have been married to the veteran at the time of their death and lived continuously with them from the date of marriage until the date of death without fault on the part of the spouse. The appellant's divorce occurred before the Veteran's death, thus she cannot be recognized as his surviving spouse.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20007477
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,812 · Granted: 30% (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 20007477.
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