## Facts

- A Vietnam-era veteran received a 100% service-connected disability rating for PTSD and was found permanently and totally disabled for benefits purposes in 1990.
- The veteran married the appellant in January 2004.
- The appellant applied for Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA) under Chapter 35 in February 2004.
- The agency denied the claim, and the Board affirmed, ruling that the spouse’s 10-year delimiting period began in 1990 (when the veteran was rated permanently and totally disabled) and expired in 2000, before the marriage.
- The appellant sought judicial review of the Board’s denial.

## Issues

1. Under 38 U.S.C. §§ 3512(b)(1)(A) and 3501(a)(1)(D)(i), when does the 10-year delimiting period for a spouse’s Chapter 35 DEA benefits begin: on the veteran’s permanent-and-total rating date or when the claimant becomes the veteran’s spouse while that rating is in effect?
2. Whether the Secretary may set the delimiting period start date in a manner that begins before the claimant satisfies the statutory definition of an “eligible person.”

## Decision

- The court reversed the Board’s denial of DEA benefits and remanded.
- The court held that the delimiting period begins when the claimant first becomes an “eligible person” under the statutory definition—here, the date of marriage to a veteran already rated permanently and totally disabled.
- The court rejected the Secretary’s position that the agency could start the spouse’s 10-year period from the veteran’s 1990 rating date regardless of when the spousal relationship arose.

## Legal Principles

- For a spouse seeking Chapter 35 DEA, the 10-year delimiting period in 38 U.S.C. § 3512(b)(1)(A) begins when the individual becomes an “eligible person” as defined in 38 U.S.C. § 3501(a)(1)(D)(i).
- A claimant cannot be an “eligible person” under § 3501(a)(1)(D)(i) until she is the veteran’s spouse and the veteran has a permanent and total service-connected disability.
- The Secretary lacks authority to select a delimiting-period start date that predates the claimant’s satisfaction of the statutory eligibility status.
- Where the statutory text and structure answer the timing question, a contrary agency interpretation is not entitled to deference.

## Conclusion

The court held that a spouse’s Chapter 35 DEA eligibility period runs from the date she becomes statutorily eligible as a spouse of a permanently and totally disabled veteran, requiring recalculation of benefits using the marriage date rather than the veteran’s earlier disability rating date.


Cypert v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 307 (2008)