Citation Nr: 18143952
Decision Date: 10/22/18	Archive Date: 10/22/18

DOCKET NO. 14-35 322
DATE:	October 22, 2018
ORDER
The appeal concerning the issue of entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
While the current appeal was pending at the Board and prior to the issuance of a final decision, the Board received notice that the Veteran died on January [redacted], 2017.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal at this time. 38 U.S.C. § 7104 (a) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA or Board) on appeal from a February 2011 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Boston, Massachusetts. Jurisdiction has since been transferred to the RO in Montgomery, Alabama.
Dismissal
Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal. As a matter of law, appellants’ claims do not survive their deaths. Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d 1236, 1243-44 (Fed. Cir. 1996); Smith v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 330, 333-34 (1997); Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 42, 47 (1994). This appeal on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death of the Veteran and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See 38 U.S.C. § 7104 (a) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2017).
In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no opinion as to the merits of this appeal or to any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1106 (2017). 
The Board’s dismissal of this appeal does not affect the right of an eligible person to file a request to be substituted as the appellant for purposes of processing the claim to completion. Such request must be filed not later than one year after the date of the appellant’s death. See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (b) (2017). A person eligible for substitution includes “a living person who would be eligible to receive accrued benefits due to the claimant under section 5121(a) of this title....” 38 U.S.C. § 5121A (2012); see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010 (a) (2017). However, as more than one year has passed since the date of the Veteran’s death in 





January 2017, the Board notes that the deadline to file a substitution request in this case has passed.
 
MICHAEL E. KILCOYNE
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Erin J. Trojanowski, Associate Counsel