Claim Raven explanation
What this means
The date and length of the marriage can affect eligibility for survivors pension, death compensation, or DIC, with different alternatives for each benefit.
The one-year rule is not the only possible route. A qualifying child or timely marriage after the relevant service period can satisfy the DIC or death-compensation provision, while pension also uses listed historical cutoff dates.
How this helps your claim
Common routes include marriage for at least one year, a child born to the couple, or marriage within a specified period after the service in which the death-causing condition arose. Pension also retains service-era cutoff dates. More than one legal marriage to the same veteran can use the original marriage date for periods beginning in 1958 or later.
What to check in your records
Identify the survivor benefit sought and apply only that benefit’s marriage alternatives to the complete relationship and service timeline.
- Keep marriage records, prior divorce records, and the veteran’s death certificate.
- Document any child born during or before the marriage and the parent relationship.
- For the 15-year route, identify the service period in which the injury or disease causing death was incurred or aggravated and when that service ended.
Apply the correct row of the rule
Write the benefit name at the top of the timeline. Using the DIC alternatives for a pension claim, or the pension cutoff dates for DIC, can produce the wrong answer.
If the couple married each other more than once, preserve both marriage and termination records. The original marriage date can matter under the provision for repeat marriages to the same veteran.
Must every surviving spouse have been married for one full year?
No. Depending on the benefit, the rule also includes alternatives involving a child, a marriage within 15 years after the relevant service period, or specific historical dates.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.54
eCFR snapshot: 2026-09-17. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.54 Marriage dates.
A surviving spouse may qualify for pension, compensation, or dependency and indemnity compensation if the marriage to the veteran occurred before or during his or her service or, if married to him or her after his or her separation from service, before the applicable date stated in his section.
(a) Pension. survivors pension may be paid to a surviving spouse who was married to the veteran:
(1) One year or more prior to the veteran's death, or
(2) For any period of time if a child was born of the marriage, or was born to them before the marriage, or
(3) Prior to the applicable delimiting dates, as follows:
(i) Civil War—June 27, 1905.
(ii) Indian wars—March 4, 1917.
(iii) Spanish-American War—January 1, 1938.
(iv) Mexican border period and World War I—December 14, 1944.
(v) World War II—January 1, 1957.
(vi) Korean conflict—February 1, 1965.
(vii) Vietnam era—May 8, 1985.
(viii) Persian Gulf War—January 1, 2001.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 532(d), 534(c), 536(c), 541(e), 541(f))
(b) Compensation. Death compensation may be paid to a surviving spouse who, with respect to date of marriage, could have qualified as a surviving spouse for death compensation under any law administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs in effect on December 31, 1957, or who was married to the veteran:
(1) Before the expiration of 15 years after termination of the period of service in which the injury or disease which caused the veteran's death was incurred or aggravated, or
(2) One year or more, or
(3) For any period of time if a child was born of the marriage, or was born to them before the marriage.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1102)
(c) Dependency and indemnity compensation. Dependency and indemnity compensation payable under 38 U.S.C. 1310(a) may be paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran who died on or after January 1, 1957, who was married to the veteran:
(1) Before the expiration of 15 years after the termination of the period of service in which the injury or disease causing the death of the veteran was incurred or aggravated, or
(2) For 1 year or more, or
(3) For any period of time if a child was born of the marriage, or was born to them before the marriage.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1304)
(d) Child born. The term child born of the marriage means a birth on or after the date of the marriage on which the surviving spouse's entitlement is predicated. The term born to them before the marriage means a birth prior to the date of such marriage. Either term includes a fetus advanced to the point of gestation required to constitute a birth under the law of the jurisdiction in which the fetus was delivered.
(e) More than one marriage to veteran. For periods commencing on or after January 1, 1958, where a surviving spouse has been married legally to a veteran more than once, the date of the original marriage will be used in determining whether the statutory requirement as to date of marriage has been met.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 103(b))
[26 FR 1567, Feb. 24, 1961, as amended at 27 FR 6498, July 10, 1962; 32 FR 13224, Sept. 19, 1967; 40 FR 16064, Apr. 9, 1975; 40 FR 48680, Oct. 17, 1975; 41 FR 18300, May 3, 1976; 44 FR 22718, Apr. 17, 1979; 54 FR 31829, Aug. 2, 1989; 56 FR 5756, Feb. 13, 1991; 56 FR 57986, Nov. 15, 1991; 65 FR 3392, Jan. 21, 2000]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.50: Who VA recognizes as a spouse or surviving spouse
- 38 CFR § 3.52: When VA may deem an attempted marriage valid
- 38 CFR § 3.205: Evidence VA can use to establish a marriage
- 38 CFR § 3.22: DIC when a veteran was totally disabled before death
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