Citation Nr: 18156673 Decision Date: 12/10/18 Archive Date: 12/10/18 DOCKET NO. 16-58 575A DATE: December 10, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to an effective date prior to November 1, 2013, for additional disability compensation for a dependent spouse, is denied. FINDING OF FACT Complete and satisfactory evidence of proof of the Veteran’s valid marriage was not received by the RO until October 4, 2013. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for assignment of an effective date prior to November 1, 2013, for additional disability compensation for a dependent spouse, have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5103, 5110 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.204, 3.205, 3.401, 3.652 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served in the United States Army from September 1982 to September 2002. This case comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2014 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). Entitlement to an effective date prior to November 1, 2013, for adding the Veteran’s spouse to his compensation award is denied. The Veteran is seeking an effective date prior to November 1, 2013, for adding his dependent spouse to his compensation award. Law An additional amount of compensation may be payable for a spouse, child, and/or dependent parent where a veteran is entitled to compensation based on disability evaluated as 30 percent or more disabling. 38 C.F.R. § 3.4(b)(2). An award of additional compensation for dependents based on the establishment of a rating in the percentage specified by law for that purpose shall be payable from the effective date of such rating, but only if proof of dependents is received within one year from the date of such rating. 38 U.S.C. § 5110(f). Additional compensation for a new dependent will be effective the latest of the following dates: (1) date of claim; (2) date the dependency arises; (3) effective date of the qualifying disability rating provided evidence of dependency is received within a year of notification of such rating action; or (4) date of commencement of a veteran’s award. 38 U.S.C. § 5110(f), (g) and (n); 38 C.F.R. § 3.401(b). The earliest that the additional award of compensation for a dependent spouse can occur is the first day of the month following the effective date. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.31. Analysis In this case, the Veteran was first eligible for additional compensation for his spouse beginning on October 1, 2002. This was the result of a March 2003 rating decision in which his combined evaluation rose to 30 percent, effective October 1, 2002. In a March 25, 2003 letter, the RO notified the Veteran that the information he sent about his dependents was not complete. The RO stated before they could pay additional benefits for his dependent(s), he would need to send a VA Form 21-686c, “Declaration of Status of Dependents,” and a copy of his marriage certificate with the date and place he married his spouse. The Veteran was informed this information needed to be sent to the RO within a year of this correspondence. The Veteran did not file a response within one year of the March 25, 2003 notification letter. On October 4, 2013, the Veteran filed a claim seeking an increased evaluation for his service-connected mild degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine, which included both a VA 21-686c and a copy of his marriage certificate. The RO subsequently granted service connection for left lower radiculopathy with a 10 percent rating and continued the rating for the service-connected lumbar spine. The radiculopathy grant was effective October 4, 2013. This coincided with the award of additional compensation based on the addition of his spouse as a dependent, effective November 1, 2013. The VA did not receive a VA Form 21-686c or a marriage license until the Veteran filed for an increase in October 4, 2013. While the Veteran was eligible to establish entitlement to payments to his spouse after the March 2003 rating decision, the information necessary to establish entitlement to payments for the Veteran’s spouse as a dependent was received more than one year after the Veteran was notified of the additional information required from him (in the March 25, 2003 letter). It was not received by the VA until October 4, 2013. That was more than 10 years after the March 2003 request for proof of dependency. As such, an earlier effective date is not warranted. The Board notes the Veteran’s contentions in his April 2014 notice of disagreement (NOD) asserting that he should have been receiving spouse dependent benefits upon his retirement in October 2001, beginning in November 2001. Additionally, in his December 2016 Form 9, he reports that his spouse should have been “automatically” added as his dependent. The Board finds these arguments to not be persuasive. First, the Board’s jurisdiction is limited to the rating decision on appeal, which is the February 2014 rating decision. The subject matter of that decision did not include retirement benefits. As such, discussion of retirement benefits will not be further addressed in this decision. Moreover, as stated above, the Veteran did not become eligible for dependent additional compensation until October 1, 2002, which is the effective date of his combined 30 percent evaluation for compensation. Also, as the RO instructed in it is May 25, 2003 letter, the Veteran needed to send in the proper documentation within a year of the March 2003 decision to be eligible for additional compensation for dependents. This put the Veteran on notice that additional compensation for dependents was not “automatic.” The proof documenting the Veteran’s spouse as his dependent, a VA 21-686(c) form and marriage license, was not received from the Veteran until October 2013. Accordingly, an effective date award prior October 2013, is not warranted in this case, and the claim is denied. G. A. WASIK Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. Wade, Associate Counsel