Citation Nr: 18149008 Decision Date: 11/08/18 Archive Date: 11/08/18 DOCKET NO. 15-45 344 DATE: November 8, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to accrued benefits is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran died on January [redacted], 1991; the Appellant is his daughter. 2. At the time of his death, the Veteran had no pending claim for VA benefits and there were no VA benefits that he was owed by VA but had not been paid by VA. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to accrued benefits have not been met. 38 U.S.C. § 5121 (West 2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from December 1969 to October 1971, including in the Republic of Vietnam from October 1970 to October 1971. He died in January 1991. The Appellant is his adult daughter. Although the Appellant currently lives within the jurisdiction of the RO in Houston, Texas, because this claim involves accrued benefits, VA’s Pension Management Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, has jurisdiction in this appeal. The Board finds that the Appellant’s claim of entitlement to accrued benefits must be denied as a matter of law. The Board notes initially that the Veteran died in January 1991. Following the Veteran’s death, the Appellant filed claims of entitlement to accrued benefits which were denied by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) in June 2006 and in April 2007. In both of these administrative decisions, the AOJ specifically notified the Appellant that she was not entitled to accrued benefits because, at the time of the Veteran’s death, he had no pending claim for VA benefits and there were no VA benefits that he was owed by VA but had not been paid by VA. The Appellant did not appeal either of these administrative decisions and they became final. See 38 U.S.C. § 7105 (West 2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.302 (2017). She also did not submit any relevant evidence or argument within 1 year of the June 2006 or April 2007 administrative decisions which would render either of them non-final for VA adjudication purposes. See Buie v Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 251-52 (2011). The Appellant contends that she is entitled to accrued benefits. It is undisputed that, at the time of his death, the Veteran had no pending claim for VA benefits and there were no VA benefits that he was owed by VA but had not been paid by VA. Although her argument is not a model of clarity, it appears that the Appellant contends that, because her father (the Veteran) is a potential member of the Nehmer class of Veteran-Appellants, she is entitled to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death. Her argument conflates several types of distinct VA disability compensation benefits and, in any event, does not support granting entitlement to accrued benefits. The facts underlying the Appellant’s claim have not changed since it was previously finally denied in April 2007 or in June 2006, or, indeed, since the Veteran’s death in January 1991. The facts are that, during his lifetime, the Veteran never filed a claim for VA benefits and, at the time of his death, he had no pending claim for VA benefits and there were no VA benefits that he was owed by VA but had not been paid by VA. The Board observes in this regard that the fundamental requirement to establish entitlement to accrued benefits is the existence of a pending claim for VA benefits which were due and unpaid to a Veteran at the time of the Veteran’s death. See 38 U.S.C. § 5121 (West 2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000 (2017). The Appellant cannot meet this fundamental requirement for a successful accrued benefits claim because the Veteran had no pending claim for VA benefits and there were no VA benefits that he was owed by VA but had not been paid by VA at the time of his death. Id. Accordingly, the Appellant’s claim for accrued benefits must be denied as a matter of law. See Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426 (1994). R. FEINBERG Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Michael T. Osborne, Counsel