Citation Nr: 18151611 Decision Date: 11/19/18 Archive Date: 11/19/18 DOCKET NO. 18-13 700 DATE: November 19, 2018 ORDER The claim of entitlement to reimbursement for a headstone or marker for the Veteran’s grave is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran died in January 2017 and is memorialized by a marked grave in a private cemetery. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for reimbursement for a purchased headstone or marker for the Veteran’s grave have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 2302, 2303; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1600-3.1610 (as in effect prior to July 7, 2014); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1700-3.1713. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from May 1957 to May 1959. He died in January 2017. The appellant is his surviving spouse. This appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) arose from October 2017 decision in which the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania denied reimbursement for a headstone or marker. In January 2018, the appellant filed a notice of disagreement (NOD). A statement of the case (SOC) was issued in February 2018. She filed a substantive appeal (via a VA Form 9, Appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals) in March 2018 Also, this appeal has been advanced on the Board’s docket. See 38 U.S.C. § 7107(a)(2) and 38 C.F.R. § 20.900(c). The appellant seeks reimbursement for a headstone that she purchased for the Veteran’s gravesite. Effective July 7, 2014, VA amended its regulations governing entitlement to monetary burial benefits, which included burial allowances for service-connected and non-service-connected deaths, a plot or interment allowance, and reimbursement of transportation expenses. Specifically, VA removed the existing regulations (38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1600 through 3.1612) and replaced them with new regulations renumbered at 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1700 through 3.1713. See 79 Fed. Reg. 32,653-32,662(June 6, 2014) (codified at 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.1700 through 3.1713). The final rule is applicable to claims for burial benefits pending on or after July 7, 2014. (The appellant’s claim for burial benefits has been pending since September 2017, i.e., after the effective date of the rule change on July 7, 2014). The Board notes that the amended regulations, applicable to the appellant’s claim, do not provide for reimbursement of the purchase of a headstone or marker for a veteran’s grave. It is noteworthy that the old regulations, in effect prior to the filing of the appellant’s claim, did provide for such reimbursement. Indeed, 38 C.F.R. § 3.1612 allowed for an allowance to be paid for such headstones or markers in lieu of a Government-furnished headstone or marker. However, subsection (h) provided that “the monetary allowance in lieu of a Government-furnished headstone or marker is not payable if death occurred on or after November 1, 1990.” 38 C.F.R. § 3.1612(h) (as in effect prior to July 7, 2014); see also M21-1MR Adjudication Procedures Manual, Part VII, Chapter 1, Section D, Subsection 3, Subpart p (the allowance is not payable if the Veteran died after October 31, 1990). Here, however, as the Veteran died in January 2017, there would likewise be no eligibility for reimbursement of headstone or marker expense under the former provision. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.1612(h) (as in effect prior to July 7, 2014). The Board also notes that VA offers reimbursement of expenses related to the Veteran’s funeral and burial, to include a headstone, in the form of a burial allowance. However, the appellant’s claim for nonservice-connected burial benefits was denied in an August 2017 decision. As the appellant did not disagree with that determination, it is not before the Board. The Board is sympathetic to the fact that the appellant incurred costs related to the purchase of the Veteran’s headstone. However, the legal authority pertaining to reimbursement for such expenses is prescribed by Congress and implemented via regulations enacted by VA, and neither the agency of original jurisdiction nor the Board is free to disregard laws and regulations enacted for the administration of VA programs. See 38 U.S.C. § 7104(c); 38 C.F.R. § 20.101(a). In other words, the Board is bound by the governing legal authority, and is without authority to grant benefits on an equitable basis. As, on these facts, there is no legal basis to award reimbursement for the purchase of the Veteran’s headstone, the claim for such must be denied as a matter of law. See Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994). JACQUELINE E. MONROE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Michael Sanford, Counsel