SSR 66-44: SECTION 216(h)(1)(B). -- RELATIONSHIP UNDER THE DEEMED MARRIAGE PROVISIONS -- CONVERSION FROM WIFE'S TO WIDOW'S BENEFITS -- SPOUSE NOT LIVING IN SAME HOUSEHOLD AT TIME OF WORKER'S DEATH
20 CFR 404.1101
SSR 66-44
- Where a woman not validly married to an insured individual became entitled to benefits as his "wife" on the basis of the "deemed marriage" provisions of section 216(h)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act but was not "living in the same household" with such individual at time of his death, held the woman may not, upon the insured individual's death, be found entitled to widow's insurance benefits on his earnings account.
R, a fully insured worker, died on February 8, 1965. At the time R and B were ceremonially married in 1954, B had in good faith believed herself divorced from her first husband in February 1953. However, that marriage was not legally dissolved until May 12, 1955. After removal of this impediment in 1955, R and B took no action to legalize their marriage and did not subsequently live in any State recognizing common-law marriages. In February 1964, B became entitled to benefits as the wife of R under the "deemed marriage" provisions of section 216(h)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act. The parties separated late in 1964 and B was not living in the same household with R at the time of his death.
The issue is whether a woman not validly married to an insured individual, but previously entitled to wife's insurance benefits as his "wife" on the basis of the 'deemed marriage" provisions of section 216(h)(1)(B) of the Act, may become entitled to benefits as his "widow" upon the insured individual's death, even though the parties were not "living in the same household" at the time of his death.
Section 202(e) of the Act sets forth the requirements for entitlement to widow's insurance benefits and requires, inter alia, that a woman claiming such benefits must be the insured individual's "widow" (as defined in section 216(c) of the Act). In turn, section 216(h)91) of the Act sets forth the criteria for determining whether an applicant for widow's benefits is "the widow of an individual" as required by section 216(c).
Under section 216(h)(1)(A) of the Act, a woman is the widow of a worker for purposes of widow's insurance benefits if the courts of the State in which he was domiciled at the time of his death would find either (1) that the worker and she were validly married at that time, or (2) that she wold have the same status as a widow for purposes of sharing in the distribution of his intestate personal property.
Under section 216(h)(1)(B), a claimant who does not meet the requirements of section 216(h)(1)(A), may nevertheless qualify as a widow. This section provides in pertinent part:
- (B) In any case where under subparagraph (A) an applicant is not (an is not deemed to be) the wife, widow, husband, or widower of a fully or currently insured individual, or where under subsection (b), (c), (f), or (g) such applicant is not the wife, widow, husband, or widower of such individual, but it is established to the satisfaction of the Secretary that such applicant in good faith went through a marriage ceremony with such individual resulting in a purported marriage between them which, but for a legal impediment not known to the applicant at the time of such ceremony, would have been a valid marriage, and such applicant and the insured individual were living in the same household at the time of the death of such insured individual or (if such insured individual is living) at the time such applicant files the application, then, for purposes of subparagraph (A) and subsections (b), (c), (f), and (g), such purported marriage shall be deemed to be a valid marriage. (Emphasis supplied.)
Section 202(b)(1)(G) of the Act specifically provides that the entitlement of a wife-beneficiary will terminate with the month preceding the month in which her husband dies. Consequently, B's entitlement to wife's insurance benefits based on a status given her by the "deemed marriage" provisions of section 216(h)(1)(B), terminated with January 1965, the month preceding the month in which R died. In order to become entitled thereafter to widow's insurance benefits as the "widow" of R, she must meet the requirements set forth in section 202(e) of the Act. If she does not qualify as his widow (as defined in section 216(c)) because she was not validly married to him (and she does not have inheritance rights as a widow, as prescribed in section 216(h)91)(A)), and where her marriage to him may not be deemed valid under section 216(h)(1)(B) because she was not "living in the same household" with him at the time of his death, she cannot be found entitled to benefits as his widow.
Had the intent of the Congress been to automatically entitle to widow's insurance benefits a woman whose status as "wife," for purposes of entitlement to wife's benefits, was predicated upon the "deemed marriage" provisions of the law, then section 202(e) of the Act would have been drafted differently. It would have provided, in effect, that for a woman to qualify for benefits as the widow of an insured individual, she either would have to be his "widow" (as defined in section 216(c)) or have been entitled to benefits as his "wife" at the time of his death. Since no such alternative provision was drafted into the law, it must be concluded that the Congress did not intend to provide widow's insurance benefits for a woman who was not validly married to the insured individual at the time of his death, had no inheritance rights as his widow, and was not even "living in the same household" with him as his wife at that time.
Accordingly, it is held that B does not qualify as R's "widow" and is not entitled to widow's insurance benefits.