Citation Nr: 18156529 Decision Date: 12/10/18 Archive Date: 12/10/18 DOCKET NO. 09-46 610A DATE: December 10, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to an apportionment of the Veteran’s VA compensation benefits in favor of the Veteran’s dependent children, J.I.E.B. and J.C.S.B., is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from July 1966 to September 1969. The appellant is the Veteran’s former spouse, and mother and custodian of the Veteran’s dependent children, J.I.E.B. and J.C.S.B. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of a February 2009 decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Huntington, West Virginia RO has jurisdiction of the current appeal. On her December 2009 VA Form 9, the appellant requested a Travel Board hearing. Then, in an April 2010 Form 9, the appellant indicated that she did not wish to present testimony at a Board hearing. In July 2010, the appellant confirmed that she withdrew her hearing request. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.704(e) (2017). The appeal was previously before the Board in March 2015, and was remanded for additional development, to include obtaining updated income and expense information from the Veteran and appellant. VA obtained such information from the appellant, and made three requests for income and expense information from the Veteran, but he failed to provide the requested information. The matter has been properly returned to the Board for appellate consideration. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). Entitlement to an apportionment of the Veteran’s VA benefits. The appellant seeks an apportionment of the Veteran’s VA compensation benefits on behalf of the Veteran’s dependent children. She contends that the Veteran has not been discharging his responsibility to support his dependent children J.I.E.B. and J.C.S.B., and that an apportionment of his VA compensation benefits is, therefore, warranted. An August 2007 Final Judgement of Dissolution of Marriage noted that the Veteran had a child support arrearage of $9,380, and ordered that the Veteran pay $1,071.60 per month in child support, in addition to $100 per month towards the child support arrearage. In a December 2009 statement, the appellant asserted that the Veteran had not paid court-ordered child support since 2008. However, the appellant did not provide any evidence of the Veteran’s failure to pay child support. Accordingly, upon remand, the appellant should provide such evidence. In a December 2009 statement, the appellant asserted that the Veteran has rental income, which he did not report to VA. See also April 2010 appellant statement. There seems to be some support for this assertion in the August 2007 Final Judgement of Dissolution of Marriage, which noted that the Veteran fraudulently reduced the marital assets by transferring all of their real estate holdings into his non-profit organization, which deprived the appellant of approximately $388,709 in assets, her share of which was approximately $194,354. The Veteran was ordered to pay to the appellant $500 per month until the appellant’s share of the marital assets is fully satisfied. Upon remand, the appellant should provide evidence of the Veteran’s unreported rental income separate from that which was identified in August 2007 Final Judgement of Dissolution of Marriage. Moreover, pursuant to the March 2015 Board remand, the RO made three requests to the Veteran for updated income and expense information. See June 2016, March 2017, and July 2017 VA letters. However, to date, no response has been received from the Veteran. The Veteran is advised to provide evidence of his current income and expense information. The Veteran is also advised to provide evidence of any child support payments he may have made to the appellant since 2008. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Request that the appellant provide updated income information, to include child support income she may have received from the Veteran from 2008 to the present. If the appellant has not received agreed upon child support income from the Veteran, she should provide evidence from the relevant state child support agency showing that the Veteran failed to make child support payments, to include evidence of any child support arrearage owed by the Veteran to the appellant. 2. Request that the Veteran provide updated and accurate income and expense information, to include his VA benefits income information, to include any real estate income he may have received since 2008. 3. Request that the Veteran provide evidence of any child support payments he may have made to the appellant since 2008. 4. Readjudicate the claim on appeal. JONATHAN B. KRAMER Veterans Law Judge