The validity of a divorce decree regular on its face, will be questioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs only when such validity is put in issue by a party thereto or a person whose interest in a claim for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits would be affected thereby. In cases where recognition of the decree is thus brought into question:

(a) Where the issue is whether the veteran is single or married (dissolution of a subsisting marriage), there must be a bona fide domicile in addition to the standards of the granting jurisdiction respecting validity of divorce;

(b) Where the issue is the validity of marriage to a veteran following a divorce, the matter of recognition of the divorce by the Department of Veterans Affairs (including any question of bona fide domicile) will be determined according to the laws of the jurisdictions specified in § 3.1(j).

(c) Where a foreign divorce has been granted the residents of a State whose laws consider such decrees to be valid, it will thereafter be considered as valid under the laws of the jurisdictions specified in § 3.1(j) in the absence of a determination to the contrary by a court of last resort in those jurisdictions.

Cross Reference:

Evidence of dependents and age. See § 3.204.

[27 FR 6281, July 3, 1962, as amended at 35 FR 16831, Oct. 31, 1970; 40 FR 53581, Nov. 19, 1975; 52 FR 19349, May 22, 1987]