W married in March 1936 to a man who had a son, T, from a prior marriage. W’s husband died in 1944. In 1955 W married her stepson T in Virginia.

At the time of their marriage, T and W were residents of North Carolina and they returned to North Carolina shortly after their marriage.

In Virginia at the time, the law prohibited a marriage between a stepmother and her stepson. However, such a marriage was considered voidable, meaning that it could be nullified by judicial action. But otherwise, unless it was affirmatively annulled, it was considered a valid May.

T died in August 1965 while married to W and domiciled in North Carolina. In September 1965 W applied for widow’s social security benefits based on T’s earnings record. The question was whether or not she was considered T’s widow for social security purposes. In order to make this determination, social security relied upon the law of the state in which the decedent was domiciled at the time of his death, which in this case was North Carolina.

Under North Carolina law at the time, the typical rule was followed which gave marriages validly contracted in another state full faith and credit unless they were against a strong public policy of the state.

In North Carolina there was no strong public policy against a marriage where the parties were related only by affinity and not by blood. Because the marriage between T and W was only voidable and there was no evidence that it had ever been annulled, W was considered to be T’s widow and therefore entitled to widow’s social security benefits.

See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 67-25.

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.