On September 29, 2014, the surviving widow of a same-sex marriage filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island against the Social Security Administration (SSA). The plaintiff, represented by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, asked the court to declare that ...
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On September 29, 2014, the surviving widow of a same-sex marriage filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island against the Social Security Administration (SSA). The plaintiff, represented by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, asked the court to declare that several SSA regulations were invalid and contrary to the governing Social Security statutes, affirm that the plaintiff met the marriage requirements, declare that a person previously married to someone of the same sex met the marriage requirements for Social Security Survivor benefits, so long as the courts of the state the individual resided in would find that the marriage valid, declare that the plaintiffs marriage would have been recognized by Rhode Island, enjoin the defendant to process the plaintiff's application for widow's and lump sum death benefits, and to award the plaintiffs any attorney's fees or costs of suit.
At the time of her wife's death, the plaintiff had been in a same-sex marriage that was formalized in Massachusetts. The plaintiff claimed that on January 17, 2012, the SSA informed her that her marriage did not meet the marriage requirements, and denied her application for benefits. The SSA decision was partially due to the reasoning that the plaintiff's marriage was never a valid marriage under Rhode Island State law. The plaintiff alleged that the SSA violated the rights guaranteed to her by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution by discriminating on the basis of sex and refusing to recognize same-sex marriages that occurred out-of-state. She further claimed that though Rhode Island had not legalized same-sex marriage, it still recognized marriages validly performed in other states.
According to
a press release by GLAD, the plaintiff received $30,000 in back benefits from SSA as a part of a private settlement on December 1, 2014. On December 15, 2014, the plaintiff filed a notice of dismissal with the court.
Megan Dolan - 10/07/2014
Sean Mulloy - 11/06/2017
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