Citation Nr: 18140493
Decision Date: 10/03/18	Archive Date: 10/03/18

DOCKET NO. 06-24 442
DATE:	October 3, 2018
REMANDED
Whether an overpayment of nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $11,996.00 based on unreported income was properly created is remanded.
Entitlement to waiver of recovery of an overpayment of nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $11,996.00 based on unreported income is remanded.
Whether an overpayment of nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $4,810.00 based upon a dependency change was properly created is remanded.  
Entitlement to waiver of recovery of an overpayment of nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $4,810.00 based upon a dependency change is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from March 1971 to March 1973, with confirmed service in the Republic of Vietnam.
The appeal was remanded by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) in March 2011 and September 2014.
The Veteran testified before a Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Service Representative in January 2007 and before a Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in July 2010.  The VLJ who held the latter hearing is no longer employed by the Board.  A July 2018 letter advised the Veteran that he had a right to a new hearing and advised him that the Board would assume he did not want another hearing if a response was not received within 30 days.  The Veteran did not respond and the Board will consider the appeal based on the evidence of record.
While further delay is regrettable, the Board finds the claims contesting the creation of the overpayments for nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $11,996.00 based on unreported income and in the amount of $4,810.00 based upon a dependency change must be remanded for a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC).  The Board’s September 2014 remand specifically instructed that all issues listed on the first page of the decision were to be readjudicated after development was undertaken.  The April 2018 SSOC addresses only the waiver issues and not the issues related to creation of the debt.  
As resolution of the creation of debt issues must precede consideration of the waiver issues, the waiver issues are inextricably intertwined with the creation of debt issues and a decision on the waiver issues would be premature.  See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180, 183 (1991).  As such, remand is required pending resolution of the intertwined claims.
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The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
Issue an SSOC addressing the appeal for whether overpayments were properly created for nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $11,996.00 based on unreported income and nonservice-connected disability pension benefits in the amount of $4,810.00 based upon a dependency change.
 
Nathan Kroes
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	A. Odya-Weis, Associate Counsel