The Veteran's military personnel records and the appellant's consistent statements indicate that her marriage to J.S. was terminated by annulment in April 1982, but no copy or abstract of the decree of annulment is available. The Board considers the provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.52, which allows for an attempted marriage to be deemed valid if certain conditions are met (including continuous cohabitation and lack of knowledge of a legal impediment). As such, the Veteran's and appellant's lengthy relationship and continuous cohabitation led to the determination that their attempted marriage in December 1985 was 'deemed valid,' granting recognition as the surviving spouse for VA purposes.
The deciding factor: The Board considered the provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.52, which allows an attempted marriage to be deemed valid if there is continuous cohabitation and lack of knowledge of a legal impediment, despite the absence of evidence of annulment.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 4, 2023
- Citation
- 23043171
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 23043171.
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.
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