Mathilda Rocker and Louis Rocker were married in New York in 1918. They raised several children together. In April 1960 Louis wound up his business as a stockbroker, left New York, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.

After living in Nevada for five months, Louis filed for divorce from Mathilda. The residency requirement for obtaining a divorce in Nevada was six weeks. Louis filed an affidavit of service with the Nevada court, indicating that Mathilda had been personally served with a copy of the Summons and Divorce Complaint.

A divorce was granted to Louis by the Nevada court. Mathilda did not believe the Nevada divorce was valid and filed an action in the New York Supreme Court to declare the Nevada divorce decree invalid. She alleged that she had not been personally served with the divorce papers, but that instead the papers had simply been left in her mailbox. Based on this information, the New York Court ruled that the Nevada divorce was invalid.

Following this ruling, on January 8, 1963, having recently attained the age of sixty-two, Mathilda filed an application for wife’s social security benefits. After a series of administrative appeals and a hearing, the social security agency determined that Mathilda was not Louis’s wife and that she was therefore not entitled to wife’s social security benefits.

This decision was based on the fact that, under social security law, in determining the validity of a divorce decree, the agency follows the law of the jurisdiction in which the insured worker was domiciled at the time of the filing for spouse’s benefits. Nevada law would have upheld the validity of its own divorce decree in the face of a conflicting order from a different jurisdiction. Social Security followed the law of Nevada. Therefore, for purposes of wife’s benefits, Mathilda was not Louis’s wife.

Mathilda appealed to federal district court. The Judge held that there was substantial evidence to support the agency’s decision and denied her appeal. This ruling was upheld after an appeal to the 2nd Circuit Court.

See Rocker v. Celebrezze, 358 F.2d 119 (2nd Cir., 1966).

See also Social Security Ruling (SSR) 67-10c.

This material should not be construed as legal advice for any particular fact situation, but is intended for general informational purposes only. For advice specific to any individual situation, an experienced attorney should be contacted.