The Board has granted the appellant's recognition as the surviving spouse of the Veteran for purposes of entitlement to Dependence and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits, resolving reasonable doubt in her favor.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the appellant held herself out as married to the Veteran and cohabitated continuously since April 2013 until his death, meeting the criteria for a common law marriage 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
- December 15, 2020
- Citation
- 20079303
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 20079303.
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
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