The Board denied the appellant's claims for recognition as a substituted claimant and nonservice-connected burial benefits due to not meeting eligibility requirements.
The deciding factor: The Appellant, who is the Veteran's granddaughter, does not meet the VA statutory or regulatory definition of a child for the purpose of receiving VA death benefits. Additionally, there was no evidence that the Veteran incurred any expenses related to her last sickness and burial, nor did she meet other criteria for burial 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 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25089611
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,164 · Granted: 31% (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 A25089611.
What this means for you
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