Citation Nr: 18161209 Decision Date: 12/31/18 Archive Date: 12/28/18 DOCKET NO. 16-20 285 DATE: December 31, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to accrued benefits is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Appellant did not file a claim for accrued benefits within one year of the Veteran’s death. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to accrued benefits have not been met. 38 U.S.C. § 5121; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.57, 3.1000. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from March 1943 to March 1946. The Veteran died in September 2014. The Appellant is the Veteran’s surviving spouse. The matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2015 decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Appellant contends that she is entitled to any accrued benefits owed to the Veteran. A review of the record indicates that in April 2014, the Veteran was granted disability pension benefits, including aid and attendance benefits, effective March 1, 2014. Periodic monetary benefits under laws administered by the Secretary to which an individual was entitled at death under existing ratings or decisions or those based on evidence in the file at date of death and due and unpaid, shall, upon the death of a veteran, be paid to the living person first listed as follows: (i) the veteran’s spouse; (ii) the veteran’s children (in equal shares); (iii) the veteran’s dependent parents (in equal shares). 38 U.S.C. § 5121(a); 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000(a). An application for accrued benefits must be filed within one year after the death of the veteran. See 38 U.S.C. § 5121; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000. In this case, as noted above, the Appellant is the Veteran’s surviving spouse and thus has standing to file a claim for accrued benefits. However, the Board finds that the Appellant failed to file a claim for accrued benefits within one year after the death of the Veteran. The Veteran passed away in September 2014 and the Appellant did not file her claim for accrued benefits until October 2015. The Appellant contends that the claim was originally submitted in May 2015 and thus should be considered as timely. In May 2015, the Veteran’s son, R.V.Z., filed a VA 21-601, Application for Accrued Amounts Due a Deceased Beneficiary, requesting entitlement to the Veteran’s March and September 2014 aid and attendance benefit payments as well as any and all accrued benefits. The RO denied R.V.Z.’s claim in September 2015, stating that it could not grant his claim because the Appellant was entitled to any and all accrued benefits since her relationship took precedence pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000(a). The Board finds that the evidence of record is clear that the Veteran’s son, R.V.Z., filed and signed the May 2015 Application for Accrued Amounts Due a Deceased Beneficiary as the requesting claimant and that the Appellant did not file her claim for accrued benefits until October 2015. A claim filed by the son cannot be considered as filed by the Appellant. Therefore, the Appellant did not file her claim for accrued benefits within one year of the Veteran’s death. The Board cannot find a basis for finding the filing of the application to be within one year, to include when considering the rules of computation of time. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.305. If the merits of this appeal were determinative, the Board notes that there is no evidence of due but unpaid monetary benefits or other basis for a grant of benefits. The RO also addressed the merits of this appeal. In a June 2014 rating decision, the Veteran was found incompetent to handle disbursement of VA funds due to Alzheimer’s dementia. In September 2014, R.V.Z. was appointed as the Veteran’s fiduciary for VA benefits and was notified that VA would be releasing the March 2014 funds that had been withheld due to the Veteran’s incompetency. Further, the Appellant received the Veteran’s VA compensation payment for the month of his death. See September 2015 Notification Letter.   While the Board is sympathetic to the Appellant, it is without legal authority to grant her claim. Accordingly, as the disposition of this claim is based on the law, the Appellant’s claim is without legal merit and must be denied. Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994). Nathaniel J. Doan Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. Robinson, Associate Counsel