Citation Nr: 18153119
Decision Date: 11/27/18	Archive Date: 11/27/18

DOCKET NO. 16-44 759
DATE:	November 27, 2018
REMANDED
1. Eligibility for benefits as surviving spouse is remanded.
2. Whether new and material evidence has been submitted to reopen a claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded.
 
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from January 1968 to February 1974.  He died in January 2014.
1. Entitlement to eligibility for benefits as surviving spouse.
Although the appeal of the cause of death claim was certified to the Board, there remains a potentially outstanding threshold question of eligibility for benefits as surviving spouse.
In a February 2004 administrative decision, appellant #1’s 1973 marriage to the Veteran was deemed valid.  Most recently, in May 2014, appellant #2 filed a claim for benefits as his surviving spouse that was denied in a July 2014 decision.  Thereafter, in August 2014, appellant #2 submitted a statement indicating that she believes she is entitlement to benefits as the Veteran’s surviving spouse arising from a 1965 marriage.  The Board finds the August 2014 statement constitutes a notice of disagreement (NOD) as to this threshold eligibility issue.  See 38 C.F.R. § 20.201 (2014).  However, a statement of the case (SOC) has not been issued with regard to this issue.  Accordingly, the Board finds that remand of this issue for issuance of an SOC is warranted.  See 38 C.F.R. § 19.9(c); Manlincon v. West, 12 Vet. App. 238, 240-41 (1999).
This issue is subject to the special provisions governing simultaneously-contested claims.  See 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.100-19.102, 20.500-504.
2. Whether new and material evidence has been submitted to reopen a claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death.
In September 2015, the appellant #1 filed a claim to reopen a previously denied claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death.  She perfected an appeal of a January 2016 rating decision denying the claim to reopen.  This issue is remanded as it is intertwined with the issue of eligibility to benefits as surviving spouse.
These matters are REMANDED for the following action:
After reconsidering the matter, and if it is not granted in favor of appellant #2, issue an SOC to appellant #2 with respect to the issue of entitlement to eligibility for benefits as surviving spouse subject to the special provisions governing simultaneously-contested claims.  See 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.100-19.102, 20.500-504.  This issuance should include notification of the need to timely file a substantive appeal within 30 days to perfect an appeal on such issue.  A copy of the SOC should be sent to appellant #1.

 
RYAN T. KESSEL
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	D. Jimerfield, Associate Counsel