Citation Nr: 20021140
Decision Date: 03/24/20	Archive Date: 03/24/20

DOCKET NO. 18-24 903
DATE: March 24, 2020

REMANDED

Entitlement to accrued benefits is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had honorable active service from January 1943 to October 1945.  He Veteran passed away in September 2016.  The appellant is his adult child.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO)’s March 2017 decision that denied the appellant’s claim for accrued benefits.  In February 2020, the appellant testified before the undersigned at a Board video-conference hearing.  A copy of the hearing transcript is associated with the claims file.

Entitlement to accrued benefits

The appellant contends that she is entitled to accrued benefits either as the Veteran’s fiduciary or as his surviving child.  Unfortunately, the appellant’s status as either the Veteran’s fiduciary or his surviving child does not give her standing to have entitlement to accrued benefits.  

A veteran’s fiduciary does not have standing or authority to receive accrued benefits that were unpaid at the Veteran’s death, other than in accordance with payments to designated family members or for reimbursement of the expenses of last illness and burial.  Youngman v. Shinseki, 699 F.3d 1301, 1303-04 (Fed. Cir. 2012).  Moreover, as the Veteran’s surviving child, the appellant is not eligible for accrued benefits because she has not shown she was dependent child at the time of the Veteran’s death (either under the age of 18 or between the ages of 18 and 23 and attending school, or was a helpless child).  38 C.F.R. § 3.57.  

The appellant was advised that the only means for her to establish standing was to show that she paid the expenses of his last illness and burial.  She was asked in a December 2017 duty to assist letter to provide evidence of the last expenses that she paid and was advised of, and provided with, the appropriate VA Form (21P 601) to do so.  As of the date that the RO certified the appellant’s appeal to the Board in May 2018, she had not provided this information.  

However, in August 2018, the appellant provided a completed VA Form 21P-601 with attached evidence of expenses she claims as final expenses that she paid on behalf of the Veteran as requested in the December 2017 duty to assist letter.  Unfortunately, the Board finds that a remand is necessary because it is unable to determine whether some of the medical expenses the appellant has claimed are related to the Veteran’s last illness.  It appears from the death certificate that the Veteran died from complications of congestive heart failure, but there are no medical records to establish the length of his last illness or what final treatment he received for it, if any.  The appellant has submitted invoices for a June 2016 emergency room visit, nursing care in August and September 2016, and medications from August and September of 2016, but there are no indications on these invoices that they relate specifically to the Veteran’s congestive heart failure.  Therefore, a remand is necessary for additional development to determine what, if any, of the claimed final expenses were for the Veteran’s last illness.

This matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Conduct all necessary development to determine what expenses the appellant reported on the VA Form 21P-601 and attachments submitted in August 2018 were paid for the Veteran’s last illness.

 

 

THERESA M. CATINO

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	S. M. Kreitlow

The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.