The Board has remanded the case due to errors in processing Survivors Pension, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), and Accrued Benefits claims. The Appellant's representative submitted a mistakenly omitted section of her VA Form 21-534 Application for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation or Death Pension by a Surviving Spouse or Child, which contained her medical expense reports. However, the residential care facility was not provided with the necessary forms to complete them due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The deciding factor: The failure of VA to provide adequate assistance in obtaining completed and signed VA Form 21-8416 from the Appellant's residential treatment facility resulted in a denial of her claims for Survivors Pension, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), and Accrued Benefits.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- A20016172
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,077 · Granted: 25% (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 A20016172.
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
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