The Veteran's spouse, the appellant, is denied recognition as his surviving spouse for VA death benefits due to not meeting legal requirements. The marriage was less than a year and more than 15 years after the Veteran's service period, and no children were born of their marriage.
The deciding factor: The appellant did not meet the legal requirements to be considered a surviving spouse for purposes of establishing entitlement to VA death benefits due to the marriage being less than one year and occurring more than 15 years after the Veteran's service period. The appellant also did not have biological children with the Veteran.
- 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 4, 2024
- Citation
- 24000680
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,242 · Granted: 24% (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 24000680.
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