Citation Nr: 18146904
Decision Date: 11/02/18	Archive Date: 11/01/18

DOCKET NO. 14-36 409
DATE:	November 2, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
VA has been notified that the appellant died in November 2017.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Due to the death of the appellant, 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 (2018).
 
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from November 1952 to October 1954.  He died in March 2012.  The appellant in this case was his widow.  Information received from the Social Security Administration indicates that the appellant died in November 2017.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2014 rating decision.
Unfortunately, the appellant 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 appellant and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.  See 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2018).
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 appellant.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1106 (2018).  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) (2018).  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 (West 2014); see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(a) (2018).  
 
An eligible party seeking substitution in an appeal that has been dismissed by the Board due to the death of the claimant should file a request for substitution with the VA office from which the claim originated (listed on the first page of this decision).  38 C.F.R. § 3.1010(b) (2018).
 
K. MILLIKAN
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	David Nelson