Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act”.
Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to amend the definition of the term spouse to recognize new State definitions of such term for the purpose of the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 2 Definition of spouse for purposes of veteran benefits to reflect new state definitions of spouse
Section 101 of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
in paragraph (3), by striking “of the opposite sex”; and
by striking paragraph (31) and inserting the following new paragraph:
“(31) Notwithstanding section 7 of title 1, an individual shall be considered a spouse if the marriage of the individual is valid in the State in which the marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage is valid in the place in which the marriage was entered into and the marriage could have been entered into in a State. In this paragraph, the term State has the meaning given that term in paragraph (20), except that the term also includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”