Citation Nr: A20007322
Decision Date: 04/30/20	Archive Date: 04/30/20

DOCKET NO. 191017-38898
DATE: April 30, 2020

REMANDED

Entitlement to an effective date earlier than March 1, 2015, for additional dependency compensation for child K.C., is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from December 1998 to December 2002 and from April 2003 to July 2003.  K.C. is his biological child.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2019 determination of a Regional Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  During the pendency of the Veteran’s appeal for an earlier effective date for dependency compensation, he had an active appeal for various other compensation benefits, to include for service connection for a lumbar spine disability.

The Board ultimately issued a decision in April 2020 granting, in pertinent part, the Veteran’s claim for service connection for a lumbar spine disability.  VA has not yet implemented this decision or assigned an initial rating for that disability.  That implementation directly impacts the Veteran’s claim for an earlier effective date for dependency compensation for his child.  See Sharp v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 267 (2009).  The Board therefore finds that it must remand this inextricably intertwined issue to allow VA to make that initial determination and potentially allow for the Veteran to obtain an earlier compensation date for K.C. based on that implementing decision.  See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991) (two issues are “inextricably intertwined” when they are so closely tied together that a final Board decision on one issue cannot be rendered until the other issue has been considered).

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Implement the Board’s April 2020 decision that, in pertinent part, granted an increased rating for anxiety and granted service connection for a lumbar spine and headache disability.  Then, readjudicate the Veteran’s claim for an earlier effective date for dependency compensation for K.C.

 

 

M. Tenner

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	B. Whitelaw, Associate Counsel

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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.