S.C

The newest claimant applied for disabled widow’s insurance experts towards the worker’s income number, however the Assistant rejected their particular app as claimant don’t meet with the 9-day years-of-matrimony demands in the 42 You. 416(c). Which assertion are upheld by the district courtroom. The fresh claimant upcoming appealed with the You.S. Legal out of Is attractive into First Circuit. New judge out-of is attractive listed you to definitely Puerto Rico will not accept common-rules marriages hence the requirements to have establishing a valid matrimony from inside the Puerto Rico are set onward in the Article 69 of one’s Civil Code, 29 L.P.Roentgen.An effective. § 231. The new legal unearthed that, in this case, the requirements of Article 69 was certainly maybe not met 9 months prior to the worker’s passing. The courtroom subsequent learned that the fresh claimant’s constitutional « equivalent cover » attack with the 9-times duration-of-matrimony requirement try invalid lower than Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 95 S.Ct. 2457, forty-five L.Ed.2d 522 (1975), and you may Mathews v. de Castro, 429 You.S. 181, 97 S.Ct. 431, 50 L.Ed.2d 389 (1976). This new claimant in addition to contended that, once the she try the new worker’s concubine, she got a right significantly less than Puerto Rican law in order to inherit regarding the new worker’s estate as the their widow, and she might be deemed is the brand new widow of one’s worker under 42 U. 416(h)(1)(A). The fresh legal out-of is attractive learned that, lower than Puerto Rican law, good concubine off an employee possess a right to a percentage of the home acquired during the period of concubinage but really does n’t have a directly to inherit an effective widow’s show of lifeless worker’s intestate private possessions. Therefore, the latest claimant couldn’t become deemed getting the latest widow out-of the new employee around 42 U. 416(h)(1)(A) because of the applying of regulations from Puerto Rico to your intestate succession. Inside upholding new section court’s choice affirming the new Secretary’s denial regarding that it allege for widow’s pros, the new judge from is attractive held the claimant wasn’t titled so you can professionals while the handicapped widow of one’s staff.

She debated you to definitely, while the she and also the staff got cohabited to have 2 decades earlier in the day with the date of their ceremonial relationships, its cohabitation had switched its relationship towards a legal marriage well through to the 9-week months

Appellant Esther Ayuso Morales sought for Social Cover disability gurus depending her position while the « widow » of one’s covered staff member Honorio Montanez Figueroa. Below 42 You. § 416(c) so you can qualify as a « widow » a lady need to have become hitched for at least nine days in the course of her husband’s dying. Appellant’s relationship happened from inside the 9-few days period. Masters was indeed refuted.

Toward focus, she appetite one the woman is nevertheless qualified since the she cohabited having their unique partner having two decades ahead of their wedding. She contributes you to definitely, in any event, under 42 U. § 416(h)(1)(A) a candidate was a widow in the event that she’d, « under the rules . . . [regarding Puerto Rico] deciding the devolution out of intestate personal possessions, have a similar status . . . given that a wife . . . [or] widow. . . . » See fundamentally, Rombauer, Relationship Reputation and you can Qualifications for Government Statutory Earnings Benefits: An old Survey, 52 Wash.L.Rev. 227, 257 ainsi que. seq. (1977). She states your concubinage laws off Puerto Rico provides their unique including reputation.

We cannot accept appellant’s earliest dispute. We understand one to some traditional laws jurisdictions recognize low-ceremonial otherwise « common-law marriages. » These marriage ceremonies are available by the agree of your events given that every other bargain. F.W. Kuchlar, Rules from Engagement and you may Relationships step 1-5 (2d ed. 1978); pick O.Elizabeth. Koegel, Common law ent in the united states (1922). But common-law marriage ceremonies aren’t acknowledged inside Puerto Rico. The brand new requisites away from a legitimate relationship from inside the Puerto Rico are set forth inside Post 69 of one’s Municipal Password, 30 L.P.Roentgen.An effective. § 231. Integrated of those requisites ‘s the « [a]uthorization and celebration regarding an effective matrimonial price according to models and you can solemnities given by-law. » About lack of hongkongcupidA these forms and you will solemnities, there was zero marriage. Rivera v. District Judge away from San Juan, 58 P.R.Roentgen. 352, 354 (1941); Vazquez Bote, Notas acerca de el matrimonio durante derecho puertoriqueno, 49-56 Rev. P.R. 491, 493-94, 510-a dozen (1973-75). Elizabeth. Lalaguana Dominguez, Estudios de- derecho matrimonial 244-forty five (1962).