Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section lists records and statements VA may use to establish a person’s birth, age, or relationship when those facts affect benefit eligibility.
The regulation does not make one missing document fatal. It allows other adequate evidence, including census, hospital, school, employment, insurance, immigration, or naturalization records, depending on the fact that must be established.
How this helps your claim
A public birth record is common, but the rule also recognizes service department reports, baptism records, statements from a physician or midwife, family records, knowledgeable witness statements, and other adequate records. Later-created records receive closer attention to consistency and their underlying evidence.
What to check in your records
Make sure the evidence connects the same person across names, dates, parents, and other identifying facts.
- Compare the person’s full name, birth date, birth place, and parents across all submitted records.
- If a name differs, include a signed statement or official name-change record that connects the names.
- For a delayed birth or baptism record, identify when it was created and what earlier evidence supports it.
Use records that answer the exact relationship question
A record proving age may not identify both parents, while a record showing a parent may use an earlier name. Select documents that together establish the required facts and explain how they connect.
When relying on witness statements, include how the person knows the birth or relationship facts. A conclusion without a source of knowledge gives VA less to evaluate.
What if the birth certificate was created years after the birth?
It can still be accepted when it is consistent with VA’s other material or shows that it was based on evidence acceptable under this section. Preserve any earlier record supporting it.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.209
eCFR snapshot: 2026-09-17. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.209 Birth.
Age or relationship is established by one of the following types of evidence. If the evidence submitted for proof of age or relationship indicates a difference in the name of the person as shown by other records, the discrepancy is to be reconciled by an affidavit or certified statement identifying the person having the changed name as the person whose name appears in the evidence of age or relationship.
(a) A copy or abstract of the public record of birth. Such a record established more than 4 years after the birth will be accepted as proof of age or relationship if, it is not inconsistent with material of record with the Department of Veterans Affairs, or if it shows on its face that it is based upon evidence which would be acceptable under this section.
(b) A copy of the church record of baptism. Such a record of baptism performed more than 4 years after birth will not be accepted as proof of age or relationship unless it is consistent with material of record with the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will include at least one reference to age or relationship made at a time when such reference was not essential to establishing entitlement to the benefit claimed.
(c) Official report from the service department as to birth which occurred while the veteran was in service.
(d) Affidavit or a certified statement of the physician or midwife in attendance at birth.
(e) Copy of Bible or other family record certified to by a notary public or other officer with authority to administer oaths, who should state in what year the Bible or other book in which the record appears was printed, whether the record bears any erasures or other marks of alteration, and whether from the appearance of the writing he or she believes the entries to have been made at the time purported.
(f) Affidavits or certified statements of two or more persons, preferably disinterested, who will state their ages, showing the name, date, and place of birth of the person whose age or relationship is being established, and that to their own knowledge such person is the child of such parents (naming the parents) and stating the source of their knowledge.
(g) Other evidence which is adequate to establish the facts in issue, including census records, original baptismal records, hospital records, insurance policies, school, employment, immigration, or naturalization records.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501)
Cross Reference:
Evidence of dependents and age. See § 3.204.
[26 FR 1573, Feb. 24, 1961, as amended at 27 FR 1899, Feb. 28, 1962; 40 FR 53581, Nov. 19, 1975; 47 FR 28096, June 29, 1982; 52 FR 19349, May 22, 1987; 59 FR 46338, Sept. 8, 1994]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.210: How VA establishes a child’s relationship to a veteran
- 38 CFR § 3.650: How an additional dependent can change benefit rates
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