## Facts

- Cleda V. Frankel and veteran David Frankel married in a civil ceremony in Maryland on March 13, 1949, and later participated in a religious ceremony on October 29, 1949.
- A Virginia circuit court entered a divorce decree on August 19, 1985, totally dissolving the marriage.
- The veteran died on May 20, 1988.
- The claimant applied for VA death pension benefits as the veteran’s surviving spouse.
- The Board of Veterans’ Appeals denied benefits, finding the parties were divorced before the veteran’s death.
- On appeal, the claimant argued that the religious marriage was not dissolved by the civil divorce and therefore she remained the spouse for VA benefit purposes.

## Issues

1. Whether, for VA death pension eligibility, a religious marriage ceremony has legal significance independent of a civil marriage that was dissolved by a state-court divorce before the veteran’s death.
2. When the court may dispose of appeals through summary procedures rather than full panel decisions.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the Board’s denial of death pension benefits.
- Applying 38 U.S.C. § 103(c), the court held that marital status for VA purposes is determined by applicable state law at the time the right to benefits accrued.
- The right to death benefits accrued, if at all, at the veteran’s death; at that time the parties were divorced under Virginia law.
- The court held as a matter of law that the religious ceremony was irrelevant to the benefit claim because it did not create a separate legally controlling marital status after the civil divorce.
- The court stated that where there are no disputed material facts and the governing law is clear, summary affirmance or other abbreviated dispositions are appropriate; full panel opinions are reserved for matters warranting precedential treatment.

## Legal Principles

- For VA purposes, whether a person “is or was the spouse” of a veteran is determined “according to the law of the place” where the parties resided at the time of marriage or where they resided when the right to benefits accrued. (38 U.S.C. § 103(c))
- The right to VA death benefits accrues at the veteran’s death; surviving-spouse status is assessed as of that time under controlling state law.
- A prior state-court divorce that dissolved the civil marriage precludes surviving-spouse eligibility for VA death pension benefits, absent a legally valid marriage at the time benefits accrued.
- Summary disposition is appropriate when material facts are undisputed and controlling law dictates the result; precedential panel decisions are generally reserved for cases that establish, modify, clarify, or significantly apply legal rules, or otherwise present issues of broad importance.

## Conclusion

The court held that VA surviving-spouse status is governed by state-law marital status at the veteran’s death and affirmed denial of death pension benefits because the claimant and veteran were divorced at that time; it also identified circumstances in which summary disposition is suitable given clear law and undisputed facts.


Frankel v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 23 (1990)