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Denied

The Board denied the appellant's claims for accrued benefits and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1318, as there were no pending claims or past-due benefits owed to the Veteran at the time of his death, and he was not in receipt of compensation for service-connected disabilities continuously rated totally disabling for a period of 10 years immediately preceding his death.

The deciding factor: The records from within one year of the November 2001 rating decision were not new and material to render that decision non-final, as they did not show a worsening of the Veteran's psychiatric symptoms. Additionally, there was no evidence of entitlement to accrued benefits or Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1318.

Claimed conditions
Not specified in this decision
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
November 4, 2025
Citation
25013664

Veterans Law Judge

D. Martz Ames

Decisions by this judge: 2,170 · Granted: 38% (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 25013664.

What this means for you

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