[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3542 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3542

    To amend title 38, United States Code, to allow dependency and 
indemnity compensation to be paid under certain circumstances to former 
     spouses of veterans dying from service-connected disabilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 29, 1996

    Mr. Baker of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 38, United States Code, to allow dependency and 
indemnity compensation to be paid under certain circumstances to former 
     spouses of veterans dying from service-connected disabilities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN FORMER SPOUSES FOR DEPENDENCY AND 
              INDEMNITY COMPENSATION.

    (a) Eligibility.--Section 1301 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 1301. Definitions
    ``As used in this chapter--
            ``(1) the term ``veteran'' includes a person who died in 
        the active military, naval, or air service; and
            ``(2) the term `surviving spouse' includes a former spouse 
        of a veteran--
                    ``(A) who but for divorce would qualify as the 
                surviving spouse of the veteran; and
                    ``(B) whose divorce from the veteran was due to the 
                misconduct of, or was procured by, the veteran without 
                the fault of the spouse.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) applies 
with respect to payments of dependency and indemnity compensation by 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for months beginning after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
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