38 U.S.C. § 1121
Section 1121 · Basic entitlement
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Darrow v. Derwinski (1992)
Most recently applied in Vazquez-Flores v. Shinseki (September 2009)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The surviving spouse, child or children, and dependent parent or parents of any veteran who died before January 1, 1957 as the result of injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military, naval, or air service, in line of duty, during a period of war, shall be entitled to receive compensation at the monthly rates specified in section 1122 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1991—Pub. L. 102–83, §5(a), renumbered section 321 of this title as this section.
Pub. L. 102–83, §5(c)(1), substituted “1122” for “322”.
1976—Pub. L. 94–433 substituted “spouse” for “widow”.
1971—Pub. L. 92–197 struck out eligibility clause when the veteran died after April 30, 1957, under circumstances described in section 417(a) of this title.
Effective Date of 1976 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 94–433 effective Oct. 1, 1976, see section 406 of Pub. L. 94–433, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.
Effective Date of 1971 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 92–197 effective Jan. 1, 1972, see section 10 of Pub. L. 92–197, set out as a note under section 1311 of this title.