R and E began living together in Puerto Rico as husband and wife in 1949, although they never entered into a formal marriage ceremony before R’s death in 1963.

The couple raised and supported a child, C, born in 1952.

After R’s death, E applied for child’s social security benefits for C based on R’s earnings record. She alleged that R had always supported C and had acknowledged the child as his own.

Puerto Rican law recognized a child who had been acknowledged by a father, and such child was eligible to inherit personal property from the acknowledged father pursuant to Puerto Rico’s laws of intestate succession. Because of this, C was entitled to child’s social security benefits based on R’s earnings record.

See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 64-46.