Citation Nr: 21062661 Decision Date: 10/08/21 Archive Date: 10/08/21 DOCKET NO. 18-20 794 DATE: October 8, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to accrued benefits is denied. FINDING OF FACT The appellant's claim for accrued benefits submitted in August 2017 was untimely as it was received more than one year after the Veteran's death in March 2005. 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 had honorable active military service from May 1956 to May 1976. He died in March 2005. The appellant is his daughter. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO)'s August 2017 decision. Entitlement to accrued benefits In August 2017, the appellant filed a claim for accrued benefits on VA Form 21-601, which claims was denied by the RO in an August 2017 notification letter. Certain periodic monetary benefits to which a veteran was entitled at death, or those based on evidence in the veteran's claims folder at the date of death, shall be paid to certain named beneficiaries, ordinarily the veteran's spouse, dependent children or dependent parents. 38 U.S.C. § 5121; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000. Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5121(c), an application for accrued benefits must be filed "within one year after the date of [the veteran's] death." See also 38 C.F.R. § 3.1000(c). In the present case, the Veteran died in March 2005. Therefore, to be timely, any application for accrued benefits must have been received within one year of the date of the Veteran's death, or by March 2006. The earliest document that can be construed as an application for accrued benefits from the appellant was received in August 2017, which was clearly received more than one year after the Veteran's death. Hence, the Board must find that the appellant's application for accrued benefits was untimely and deny the application as a matter of law. The appellant argues that VA closed the Veteran's claim after his death and never advised his family that he had benefits he was entitled to or that his family was entitled to and they only found out this year. Therefore, the appellant is essentially seeking tolling of the deadline to file for accrued benefits based on being unaware of the right to accrued benefits because of VA's failure to inform them of this. See October 2017 notice of disagreement. Unfortunately, the appellant's arguments are unpersuasive. VA is under no legal obligation to individually notify every potential claimant of his or her possible entitlement to VA benefits. See Lyman v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 194, 197 (1993). Moreover, VA's failure to notify a claimant if his or her right to benefits may not serve as the basis for tolling the time to file for benefits set forth by the law and awarding an effective date in contravention of the statutes. See Andrews v. Principi, 351 F.3d 1134, 1137 (Fed. Cir. 2003). Therefore, the Board does not find that any possible failure by VA in notifying the appellant or her family of the right to seek accrued benefits circumvents the law's requirement that a claim for accrued benefits be filed within one year of the Veteran's death. (Continued on the next page) Moreover, upon review of the claims file, the Board finds that the appellant specifically, as well as her sister, were advised multiple times within the first year after the Veteran's death that there was a right to file for accrued benefits and was provided with the appropriate form to do so. In March 2005, the RO sent the appellant a duty to assist letter in response to her March 2005 statement seeking service-connected death benefits. In the March 2005 duty to assist letter, in addition to advising the appellant of the evidence need to support her claim for service-connected death benefits (i.e., service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death), the RO advised the appellant to complete and return the enclosed claim for accrued benefits (VA Form 21-614). Furthermore, in a September 2005 letter to the appellant, which rejected her notice of disagreement as to the June 2005 denial of burial benefits because she was not the proper claimant, the RO advised her that the Veteran had a claim pending at the time of his death and asked her again to complete and return the enclosed claim for accrued benefits (VA Form 21-601). The law is dispositive in this matter, and the Board is bound by the laws and regulations applicable to the benefit sought. See 38 C.F.R. § 19.5. As the appellant's claim for accrued benefits was not timely received, her claim must be denied for lack of legal merit or lack of entitlement under the law. Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426 (1994). M. Mills Acting 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.