Man Sues Social Security Administration Over Denial of Benefits

A man recently announced legal action against the Social Security Administration for failure to pay survivor benefits after the death of his husband.

A man in Tucson recently announced legal action against the Social Security Administration for failure to pay spousal survivor benefits after the death of his same sex partner. The man claimed that he would have married his deceased partner in the early 1970s if it had been legal to do so. Instead, the two men were required to wait until 2014 to get married. Unfortunately, the deceased partner passed away in 2015 after being diagnosed with liver cancer. This case provides an excellent example of how same sex couples are still experiencing difficulties in obtaining equal rights.

The Lambda Legal group is helping the partner pursue the award of these benefits on the basis that denial is unconstitutional because laws in place at the time prohibited the couple from getting married.

The Opinion of the Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration requires couples to be married for a period of at least nine months to be eligible for survivor’s benefits. As a result, given the brevity of the two men’s marriage, they were viewed by the Social Security Administration as not qualified to receive benefits. In 2015, a Social Security representative sent an email stating that same sex benefits were being paid to some individuals when they were due.

The Value of Survivor Benefits

Survivor benefits are one of the reasons why Social Security planning is particularly difficult. The amount of survivor benefits that a person can receive is based on the earnings of the deceased individual. A widow or widower is able to receive full benefits at their full retirement age if they take care of children who are younger than the age of 16 or are disabled. Individuals are also able to claim reduced survivor benefits beginning at the age of 60. If a person remarries at the age of 60 or later, a person can collect survivor benefits from a former spouse if the former spouse is deceased.

Before 2015, same sex couples experienced difficulties in obtaining Social Security benefits. At this point in time, some states allowed same-sex marriage while others did not. As a result, Social Security benefits were particularly confusing. Decisions about benefits were greatly influenced on the state where a couple lived. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage became federally recognized. Since this time, many same sex spouses have had a much easier time obtaining Social Security benefits.

Keeping Readers Up to Date on LGBTQ Issues

While the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same sex couples are allowed to marry, there are still many issues to be decided regarding the rights of those couples. Each month, the Universal Life Church’s blog strives to document the most noteworthy legal developments regarding LGBTQ rights.

(image courtesy of clem-onojeghuo)