Alright, I have a very techincal question for yall

[Wentworth]

Here are the specifics:

Veteran and wife A marry
Veteran serves and becomes eligible for pension benefits
Veteran divorces wife A
Veteran remarries wife B. Wife A never remarries
Veteran reaches age for pension to be payable to him and starts to received pension benefits
Veteran dies

So, in this situation, who gets survivor benefits? Wife A, who he is divorced from, or wife B, who he died married to? 

[hoffjeff]

My understanding is that divorce severs any eligibility for these benefits.  Wife B should qualify.

[vetadmin]

We can only speak to this pension benefit.

Wife "B" was married to him at the time of his death and is entitled.

If the veteran had not remarried, and wife "A" never remarried, and their divorce was prior to November 1, 1991, then the VA would have considered wife "A"'s application for this pension.

In this case, wife "B" can apply.

[Wentworth]

Ok, let me ask you this...

same facts

but, wife B never remarried, but in their divorce decree she was entitled to surviving spouse benefits unless she remarries.

However, she co-habitates with another man for over 10 years. Are there rules against former spouses co-habitating?

[vetadmin]

This is out of the scope of this site and forums, but "married", and co-habitating are two different things.

[Fit2009]

You have to be married to a veteran at the time of his death to even be at the starting block.  So anyone divorced who did not reconcile, or subsequently marry another veteran, is out of luck with this pension.