Last updated: 10/15/2018
Peter W. Martin
Cornell Law School

Benefits Payable to an Insured Worker's Spouse

A Social Security Law Guide

1. Overview

Benefits are available to spouses of deceased workers and to spouses of workers who are receiving old-age insurance (retirement) or disability benefits. To receive spouse or surviving spouse benefits, it is necessary that the claimant be the wife, husband, widow, widower, divorced spouse, or surviving divorced spouse of an insured worker as those terms are defined in the Social Security Act.

To meet the definition of wife, husband, widow, or widower, the spouse benefit claimant must meet one of two state law tests or an independent Social Security definition. The independent Social Security definition of spouse can result in the Agency recognizing a "deemed valid marriage" with the insured worker in a situation where state law tests are not satisfied. 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1).

To meet this independent federal test, individual must demonstrate that she or he:

  1. went through a marriage ceremony in good faith that would have resulted in a valid marriage had there not been a legal impediment of which the spouse benefit claimant was unaware, and
  2. was living in the same household as the worker at the critical time.

Those who qualify for spouse benefits under either of the state law tests need not, at the time of claiming benefits, be living with or supported by the insured worker.

Except in the case of survivors benefits received by a parent caring for an eligible child, to meet the definition of divorced spouse or surviving divorced spouse, the individual must have been validly married to the insured worker for ten years. In all cases there must have been a final decree of divorce.

Prior to a series of Supreme Court decisions, handed down during the 1970s, the Act's spouse benefit provisions were quite different for men and women. Further, until the Supreme Court decisions holding same-sex marriage to be constitutionally protected, spouses in such marriages, even though recognized by state law, could not qualify.

Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Martial Status under State Law
    1. In General
    2. Common Law Marriage
    3. Validity of Ceremonial Marriage
    4. Validity of Divorce or Annulment
    5. Putative Spouses, Domestic Partners, etc.
    6. Same-Sex Marriages
  3. Social Security Act Recognition of Spouses Who Do Not Qualify under State Law
    1. In General
    2. Requirement of “Good Faith”
    3. Living in the Same Household
  4. Divorced Spouse Eligibility
    1. In General
    2. Duration of Marriage Prior to Divorce
  5. Additional Requirements
    1. Duration of Marriage in Cases Other than Divorce
    2. The Need to File an Application
    3. Age at Which Benefits Become Available
    4. Effect of Disability
    5. Caring for a Child Benefit Recipient
    6. Effect of Remarriage
  6. Competing Spouse Benefit Claims
  7. Benefit Amount
    1. Before Adjustments
    2. Adjustment Based on Age at which Benefits Are Begun
    3. Reduction as a Consequence of Entitlement to Benefits on the Individual’s Own Account
    4. Reduction Due to Family Maximum
    5. Reduction Due to Continuing Earnings
    6. Reduction Due to Public Pension
  8. Supporting and Elaborating References

2. Marital Status under State Law

a. In General

The primary test of marital status is whether the courts of the state in which the insured worker was a legal resident at the time of the application (or the worker's death in the case of survivor benefits) would recognize the marriage. An alternative test is whether the person seeking spouse benefits would enjoy the same status as a spouse under the law of that state governing intestate succession to personal property. 42 U.S.C. § 416(a). Since both tests are framed in terms of what state courts would determine they incorporate state evidentiary law including presumptions. For example, in cases where the insured has married more than once, the issue of spouse benefit entitlement may reduce to one of fact: Was the first marriage dissolved prior to the worker's entering into the second one? In dealing with such fact questions, presumptions can play a major role. See, e.g., Stokes v. Heckler, 773 F.2d 990 (8th Cir. 1985); Smith v. Heckler, 707 F. 2d 1284 (11th Cir. 1983).

b. Common Law Marriage

Some states, although far fewer than a majority, recognize the validity of marriage by agreement – generally termed "common law marriage." Such a marriage is valid in these states if the parties making the marriage agreement are of sufficient age and capacity to marry and have no prior undissolved marriages. On the other hand, no license or particular ceremony or set of witnesses or officiating personnel are required.

Typically, a state recognizing common law marriage will require proof of an exchange of words in the present tense that reflect the parties' intent to marry one another. A couple that has a future intention to marry will generally not qualify, even though they have told others that they are married. However, the critical issues tend to be matters of proof. Some states allow proof of an agreement through a rebuttable presumption that arises upon evidence of cohabitation and a couple's holding themselves out to others as husband and wife. See generally POMS GN 00305.060, 00305.075

A combination of standard conflicts of law principles and very tolerant common law marriage doctrine can produce a recognized legal marriage in situations involving very little contact with the common law marriage state. In Renshaw v. Heckler, 787 F.2d 50 (2d Cir. 1986), one couple's infrequent travels from their home in New York (a state not recognizing common law marriage) through Pennsylvania (a tolerant common law marriage state) were held to establish a marriage which New York courts and therefore the Social Security program had to recognize.

c. Validity of Ceremonial Marriage

Under some circumstances state law will characterize a ceremonial marriage as "void," under others as "voidable.” A void marriage is one that has no legal effect and requires no legal action to dissolve. A voidable marriage by contrast is one that, although involving some defect, has legal effect until and unless one of the two parties obtains a court order of dissolution or annulment.

The distinction bears on the state law qualification for Social Security spouse benefits. A void marriage fails to create the status under state law required by Social Security. A voidable marriage, on the other hand, establishes the requisite status so long as the marriage has not, subsequently, been dissolved. Examples of marriages that state law may characterize as voidable, but not void, include marriage to a stepchild or to a person who, because of severe developmental disability, lacks the legal capacity to marry. Some situations, such as marriages that occur during a period of restriction following a divorce, may be treated differently depending on whether the second marriage takes place in the state that imposed the restriction or in a different state.

d. Validity of Divorce or Annulment

When a prior marriage has ended in a divorce of doubtful legality, that doubt infects the validity of any subsequent marriage, so long as the first spouse is alive. If the second marriage is void due to a defective divorce, it is as if the divorce had not taken place and the prior marriage remains undissolved. Whether or not the second marriage is valid often involves the issue of whether one state will or must recognize a divorce granted by another state or national jurisdiction under the particular circumstances.

In all states, the existence of a prior undissolved marriage with a living spouse will cause a second marriage to be void. Moreover, the subsequent death of the first spouse does not give validity to a ceremonial marriage that it lacked at the outset. In states and situations where common law marriage may be recognized, that doctrine may give validity to the second marriage after death of the first spouse. But so long as the partner to the first marriage is alive, that marriage's initial and continuing validity are inconsistent with the validity of a second one.

e. Putative Spouses, Domestic Partners, Members of Civil Unions, and the Like

A second state law test is met by those who, although not generally recognized or designated as spouses under state law, are, nonetheless, accorded the same status as spouses in the intestate succession of personal property. 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(A)(ii); 20 C.F.R. § 404.346. (The Act originally combined these two tests with the consequence that one could not qualify for spouse benefits without having the full status of spouse under state law and also the right to inherit. A spouse who could not inherit did not qualify.) The now disjunctive intestacy test has been held to be satisfied by those entitled to inherit "quasi-community property" as "putative spouses" under state law, i.e., individuals who, in good faith, entered into a marriage that could not be valid because a divorce was not final or effective. See POMS GN 00305.085.

In those few states that grant rights of inheritance to such so-called "putative spouses" they can qualify for spouse status under the provision of the Act that defines a spouse as anyone who would have spouse status under state law governing the intestate succession to personal property. The doctrine of "putative spouses" protects individuals who, in good faith, enter into a void marriage – typically, void because of a prior undissolved marriage of the other party. (Although the Act has a provision similar to the putative spouse doctrine, its test carries conditions that do not apply to individuals who qualify under state law so it is still generally to a person's advantage to meet the state law test.)

The same reference to state intestacy law can enable domestic partners, members of a civil union, or reciprocal beneficiaries to qualify for spouse benefits. The intestacy law that will determine eligibility on this basis is that of the state in which the covered and insured individual is or was a legal resident.

f. Same-Sex Marriages

Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 744 (2013), the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) blocked spouse benefit eligibility for same sex couples, even when governing state law recognized the marital relationship or granted the parties equivalent intestacy rights.  The DOMA provision in question limited the meaning of "spouse" as used in all federal statutes to couples consisting of a man and a woman. Windsor held that to be unconstitutional. Two years later in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) the Court held that states could not constitutionally bar same-sex couples from marrying nor could they decline to recognize same-sex marriages validly entered into elsewhere. The Social Security Administration (the Agency) has taken the position that those decisions govern prior as well as subsequent spouse benefit applications and valid marriages or state equivalents entered into before they were handed down. Social Security Ruling 17-1p, 82 Fed. Reg. 12270 (Mar. 1, 2017); POMS GN 00210.002.

3. Social Security Act Recognition of Spouses Who Do not Qualify under State Law

a. In General

Individuals who do not qualify as a spouse under the state law tests may, nonetheless, qualify on the basis of a Social Security test that is, essentially, independent of state law. This test can result in the Agency recognizing a "deemed valid marriage" with the insured worker where state law does not. To meet this alternative test the claimant must demonstrate that: she or he 1) in good faith went through a marriage ceremony that would have resulted in a valid marriage had there not been a legal impediment of which the claimant was unaware, and 2) was living in the same household as the insured individual at the time of the latter's death or time of the application in the case of a person claiming as the spouse of an old-age insurance or disability benefit recipient. The impediment must either be procedural (e.g., the marriage ceremony was flawed) or the existence of an undissolved prior marriage. If the parties are too young to marry or otherwise lack "capacity" this route to spouse benefits is unavailable. 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(B).

Prior to a 1990 amendment, an individual eligible for spouse benefits on the basis of this "deemed valid" marriage test ceased to be entitled to benefits if another person qualified under state law for spouse benefits on the same worker's account. The amendment removed this section, which had received conflicting interpretations in the courts. Under the current provision a competing state law spouse and a spouse qualifying under the "deemed valid" marriage test can both receive benefits. In cases where there are both types of spouse claimants, the state law spouse receives benefits outside the family maximum. As a result those benefits have no effect on the benefits received by the "deemed" spouse or any others whose benefits are subject to the maximum. 42 U.S.C. § 403(a)(3)(D); 20 C.F.R. § 404.403.

b. Requirement of "Good Faith"

The statute specifies both that the claimant must have participated in a marriage ceremony in "good faith." The claimant is not eligible if it is determined that he or she entered "the purported marriage ... with knowledge that it would not be a valid marriage." 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(B)(ii). In contrast with the putative spouse doctrine as applied in some states, this "good faith" test is not a continuing one. If the claimant later learns that the marriage was not valid, but otherwise continues to qualify as the spouse by way of a "deemed ... valid marriage" the test is met.

c. Living in the Same Household

Those who qualify as a spouse under state law need no longer be living with the insured at the time of the worker's retirement, disability, or death or their own benefit application. They are still entitled to spouse benefits. Those seeking to qualify on the basis of a marriage "deemed valid" under the independent Social Security test, however, must be living in the insured's household at the time critical for benefits. That is the time of the insured's death in the case of survivor's benefits or the time of application if the spouse benefit claimant seeks benefits in relation to a worker's retirement or disability. This test is not always easy to apply since the Act considers the parties to be "living in the same household" despite temporary absences due to business, employment, illness or incarceration. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.347. A particularly difficult situation involves a short absence of one of the parties immediately prior to the worker's death accompanied by evidence of discord between the two of them.

4. Divorced Spouse Eligibility

a. In General

The Act's special treatment of divorced spouses requires, at minimum, a two point reference to state law. To qualify as a divorced spouse or surviving divorced spouse, one must first have been "married" to the insured "for a period of 10 years immediately before the date the divorce became effective." In determining whether that marriage test is met, state law applies. The second point of reference, of course, has to do with the existence and timing of the divorce.

In two respects benefits for divorced spouses are less dependent on actions taken by the insured worker than benefits for those who are still married, even those living apart. While the insured individual is still living a divorced spouse is eligible for spouse benefits even though the insured former spouse has not yet applied for retirement benefits so long as that individual is old enough to do so and the divorce occurred at least two years before. 42 U.S.C. § 402(b)(4); 42 U.S.C. § 402(c)(4). Secondly, divorced spouse benefits are not reduced if and when the primary beneficiary has continuing earnings that would have that effect on a still-married spouse. 20 C.F.R. § 404.415.

In addition, benefits paid divorced spouses and surviving divorced spouses are not subject to the family maximum. 42 U.S. Code § 403(a)(3)(C); 20 C.F.R. § 404.403(a)(3).

A 1990 amendment of the Act extended divorced spouse benefits to those who, although not validly married under state law, meet the Act's "deemed valid" marriage test. 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(B).

b. Duration of Marriage Prior to Divorce

The divorced spouse must prove marriage to the deceased worker for ten years before the divorce became effective. 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(D).This duration test does not apply to a surviving divorced spouse caring for an eligible child.

5. Additional Requirements

a. Duration of Marriage in Cases Other than Divorce

To qualify for spouse benefits, it is not sufficient for the individual to meet the marital relationship test at the time of application. In the case of spouses of old-age or disability benefit recipients the marital relationship must have existed for at least 1 year. (This requirement is met as of the beginning of the month in which the anniversary of the marriage occurs.) In the case of surviving spouses the marital relationship must have existed for at least 9 months. (In this case the 9 months must have run by the date the insured died.) 42 U.S.C. § 416.

Exceptions to the duration requirement exist for situations in which the claimant and the insured are the parents of a child or in which the insured died accidentally or in which the claimant was already eligible for Social Security or Railroad Retirement Act benefits as spouse, parent or child prior to the marriage.

In Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749 (1975), the Supreme Court upheld the 9 month duration of relationship requirement that the Act applies to surviving spouses. The Court found the resulting categories to be free from invidious discrimination and rationally based.

Surviving spouses who were married to the deceased worker for less than 9 months before his or her death are not disqualified from receiving benefits if, at the time of marriage, the insured was expected to live for 9 months and the subsequent death was accidental or in the line of military duty or the two had previously been married for at least 9 months. 20 C.F.R. § 404.335.

b. The Need to File an Application

Filing an application is a precondition to Social Security benefit entitlement. However, a person receiving spouse benefits on the account of a retired worker need not apply for widow or widower's benefits if that worker dies. 20 C.F.R. 404.335(b).

Eligible claimants can in many cases elect to have benefits paid for a period of months (6 months or 12 months depending on benefit type) prior to the month of application. Generally this election is not available when payment of benefits for the pre-application period would, because of the claimant's age, give rise to a reduction in the monthly benefit amount. 20 C.F.R. § 404.621.

The requirement that an individual apply for benefits puts the timing of benefits in his or her control. Since the monthly amount received by those entitled to retirement benefits, benefits for surviving spouses, and benefits for spouses of individuals receiving retirement benefits is, in many cases, affected by the age at which benefits are begun, deciding whether to file an application at the earliest possible date or to delay benefits by putting it off can be complicated. It can become even more complicated for those who are eligible for more than one type of benefit, most commonly retirement and surviving spouse benefits. While an application for one type is generally treated as an application for all benefits to which the individual is entitled, there are circumstances under which the applicant can limit the initial application to one type and may find it advantageous to do so. This is, however, not an option for an individual eligible for retirement benefits and wife or husband benefits who applies prior to his or her full retirement age. 20 C.F.R. § 404.623.

c. Age at Which Benefits Become Available

Husband or wife benefits are available to the spouse (age 62 or over) of a person eligible for and receiving Social Security old-age insurance (retirement) or disability benefits. Spouse benefits are also available to younger spouses who have children of the retired or disabled worker in their care. 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(b), 402(c). 42 U.S.C. § 402(g). The children must be entitled to child benefits and must meet certain additional age requirements. Surviving spouse benefits ("widow benefits" and "widower benefits") are available at age 60, earlier if they have children of the deceased worker in their care ("mother benefits" and "father benefits." 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(e), 402(f).

d. Effect of Disability

Surviving spouse benefits are normally limited to those age 60 or over and spouses caring for eligible children. However, disability can drop the age threshold for a surviving spouse from 60 to 50 years old. To qualify, though, the disability must have commenced within seven years of the insured worker's death or the survivor's last receipt of mother or father benefits. 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(e)(1)(B), 402(f)((1)(B).

Although the test of disability applied to surviving spouse claimants was once stricter than the standard applied to disabled workers, that was altered by a 1990 amendment. The tests are now the same.

e. Caring for a Child Benefit Recipient

Spouse benefits and surviving spouse benefits (including benefits for a surviving divorced spouse) are available prior to the respective age thresholds of 62 and 60, to spouses caring for a child of the insured who is entitled to child benefits. Such benefits end when the child becomes 16 or ceases to be entitled to child benefits or the spouse ceases to care for the child. 42 U.S.C. § 402(b), (c), (g).

The requirement that the spouse care for the child can sometimes prove difficult to apply. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.348, 404.349.

In Mathews v. De Castro, 429 U.S. 181 (1976), the Supreme Court upheld the provisions of the Act that extend spouse benefits to younger spouses of retired or disabled workers who are caring for children also eligible for benefits but deny comparable benefits to younger divorced spouses. The differential treatment had been attacked as a violation of the equal protection component of the Due Process clause of the 5th Amendment.

f. Effect of Remarriage

There is a general rule that an individual receiving benefits as a surviving spouse or divorced spouse not be married. The rule applies, without exception, to divorced spouses and those claiming mother or father benefits. As to others, however, it contains a major exception. For the rest it disregards marriages that occur after age 60 (or between 50 and 60 if the surviving spouse is disabled). 42 U.S.C. § 402(e)(3), (f)(3).

In all cases, a subsequent marriage ended by death or divorce poses no impediment once it is over. The requirement is not that the individual not remarry, but rather that he or she be unmarried.

6. Competing Spouse Benefit Claims

The spouse benefit sections create the possibility of more than one eligible spouse. This is explicitly the case with those who are eligible as divorced spouses. But if state law allows, it is also conceivable that there may be a legal spouse and a putative spouse both eligible for benefits. Commonly, though, the presence of two or more individuals who claim marriage to an insured worker creates a situation in which state law will recognize only one as spouse or the equivalent of spouse for inheritance purposes and will also lay down the relevant rules of evidence, burden of proof, and presumption with which the incompatible claims must be resolved.

If, under state law, the first of two competing spouses is still the legal spouse even though the insured had been separated from that claimant and living with the second spouse, with or without children, the second may still claim under a "deemed ... valid marriage."

Prior to a 1990 amendment, an individual eligible for spouse benefits on the basis of the "deemed valid" marriage test ceased to be entitled to benefits if another person qualified under state law for spouse benefits on the same worker's account. The amendment removed this eligibility provision, which had received conflicting interpretations in the courts. Under current provisions, a competing state law spouse and a spouse qualifying under the "deemed valid" marriage test can both receive benefits. In cases where there are both types of spouse claimants, the state law spouse receives benefits outside the family maximum so that those benefits have no effect on the benefits received by the "deemed" spouse and any others whose benefits are subject to the maximum. 20 C.F.R. § 404.403(a)(4).

7. Benefit Amount

a. Before Adjustments

The pre-adjustment benefit amount for a spouse is set at a percentage of the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) of the covered and insured worker. That percentage figure is 50% for wife and husband benefits, 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(b)(2), 402(c)(2); 100% for widow and widower benefits, 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(e)(2)(A), 402(f)(2(A); and 75% for benefits received as a widower or widower caring for a child benefit recipient, 42 U.S.C. § 402(g)(2).

b. Adjustment Based on Age at which Benefits Are Begun

Throughout most of the Social Security program's history, its benchmark retirement age was 65. Over time, amendments extended age-based benefits to earlier ages, but only those waiting to start benefits until 65 or later received benefits based on the full percentage of the P.I.A. In 1983, as part of a comprehensive program revision, Congress enacted a long-term progressive adjustment of what has come to be called the "full retirement age" (previously the "normal retirement age"). A schedule of incremental increases beginning with the cohort of individuals who reached 62 in the year 2000 moves the "full retirement age" from 65 to 67. 20 C.F.R. § 404.409. As the age moves back according to the statutory schedule, the total reduction for beginning benefits at the earliest possible age, e.g., 62 for old-age and spouse benefits, 60 for widow or widower benefits, increases. By the time 67 becomes the "full retirement age" in 2022, the total reduction for an individual beginning old-age or spouse benefits at 62 will have risen from the 2000 maximum of 20 percent to 30 percent. Claiming widow or widower benefits prior to “full retirement age” also leads to a reduction. There is no reduction however for claiming spouse benefits at a younger age while caring for a child who is eligible for child benefits. 20 C.F.R. § 404.410. There is no upward adjustment for postponing benefits beyond "full retirement age."

c. Reduction as a Consequence of Entitlement to Benefits on the Individual's Own Account

Spouse benefits are auxiliary benefits and as such they are reduced by any primary benefits received by the same individual. A person who is potentially entitled both to an old-age insurance (retirement) benefit and a spouse benefit will receive only the former if it is greater than the auxiliary spouse benefit. If the spouse benefit is greater than the primary benefit, the individual will receive a full primary benefit and a reduced spouse benefit. The reduction will be calculated to bring the total of both benefits up to the unreduced spouse benefit amount.

Prior receipt of other auxiliary benefits will not affect the level of benefits the individual can receive as a spouse. On the other hand, an individual cannot receive two auxiliary benefits at once. In such cases, the individual will receive only the higher one.

d. Reduction Due to Family Maximum

Like other auxiliary benefits, benefits for the spouse of a worker receiving disability or retirement benefits or a surviving spouse are subject to the family maximum. 20 C.F.R. § 404.403. For retired or deceased workers, that cap is calculated by a formula that yields a figure between 150% and 188% of the worker's P.I.A. With disabled workers it is a somewhat lower figure. The family maximum operates to reduce a spouse benefit when additional family members are entitled to benefits. Since the worker's benefit is paid in full out of the maximum, it does not take many additional family members entitled to benefits before the total exceeds the family maximum, triggering a reduction of the individual amounts for all recipients of derivative benefits. Since they can be residing in different households the maximum has the potential to pit derivative benefit claimants against one another. The existence of eligible children in a separate household, for example, can cause a family maximum reduction.

In cases where two individuals are both claiming benefits as the worker's spouse their claims have more direct impact on one another. Their claims may be directly competitive under the relevant state law. However, if one of the two is claiming benefits as a spouse on the basis of the Social Security Act's provision deeming valid certain ceremonial marriages which state law does not recognize, the Act allows payment of spouse benefits to both and in such cases places the benefit of the "state law" spouse outside the family maximum. 42 U.S. Code § 403(a)(3)(D); 20 C.F.R. § 404.403(a)(4). Benefits paid to a divorced spouse are also paid outside the maximum. 42 U.S. Code § 403(a)(3)(C); 20 C.F.R. § 404.403(a)(3).

f. Reduction Due to Continuing Earnings

Prior to a spouse or surviving spouse benefit recipient's reaching full retirement age their receipt of earnings above an annually adjusted exempt amount ("excess earnings") will lead to a benefit reduction. The reduction is equal to 50% of total earnings above that exempt amount. The receipt of excess earnings by the insured worker on whose account spouse benefits are being paid will also cause a reduction in spouse benefits. Benefits to a divorced spouse are, however, not affected. 20 C.F.R. § 404.415.

g. Reduction Due to Public Pension

Spouse benefits and divorced spouse benefits are subject to a reduction when the recipient is also entitled to a pension based on government work (for the federal government or a state or local government) that was not covered by Social Security. The reduction equals two-thirds of the monthly public pension amount. If the pension is paid in a lump sum, that lump sum is converted into a monthly amount for purposes of this calculation.

Prior to 2004 the determination of whether or not the government work on which the pension is based was covered by Social Security was made as of the last day of the individual's work for the governmental organization. The Act was amended that year to require five years of uncovered work, with that stricter requirement being phased in.

8. Supporting and Elaborating References

Social Security Act:

Regulations:

Social Security Rulings:

POMS:

Agency Guidance:

Selected Cases:

Reliance on State Law

Deemed Valid under Social Security Law

Divorced Spouse

Younger Spouse Caring for Child

Duration or Timing of Marriage

Timing of Application

Effect of Remarriage

Articles and Notes:

About this Guide:

How to work with the linked source materials

All publications of the Social Security Administration are linked directly to the Agency's site.

Links of citations to provisions of the U.S. Code and regulations codified in C.F.R., together with those to Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions, employ the Read It Online or RIO service of the Cornell Legal Information Institute. They, thereby, present users with a choice among legal information providers. Choices include the comprehensive fee-based services, Westlaw and Lexis, and a number of free options. To see how this works follow one or more of the following linked references:

In varying ways and to varying degrees the services to which the links provide access include tools for checking on the currency of the cited section or case. (Has the cited section been amended or the cited decision overruled or questioned since this guide was written?) They also provide the best means for retrieving directly relevant decisions of the U.S. District Courts. The “precedential” decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals represent only a slim portion of Social Security case law. Following key regulations or appellate decisions into and through Lexis and Westlaw, on the one hand, or Google Scholar, on the other, can lead you to district court decisions that have interpreted them.

Other Guides in this Series

History

This is the fifth electronic format in which the materials integrated here have appeared. The work was first launched in 1991 on LEXIS where it lived awkwardly and for only a short time. (At that point LEXIS lacked hypertext capability and delivered all content through small screen-fulls of character-based monochrome display.) That company's decision not to proceed with its original plan of placing the treatise and its accompanying library of primary law materials on CD-ROM, prompted their migration to the Thomson Corporation's Clark Boardman Callaghan division, which released "Social Security Plus" in 1994. Thomson's acquisition of the West Publishing Company in 1997 brought "Social Security Plus" and a competing West CD-ROM into uncomfortable proximity. Rather than allow their merger, the author brought the compilation to the open Web, as part of the Legal Information Institute's online collection. It lived there for a decade, evolving as the legal resources on the open Web expanded. In 2012, it morphed into a wiki format. The closure of the wikispaces.com site in 2018 prompted the latest conversion.

This segmented form (a series of topical guides) is offered in hopes that some or all of the guides will provide a useful base on which others can build, update, and improve. Note the licensing terms below.

Copyright and license, plus an affirmative invitation

© Peter W. Martin, 2018. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. As noted above the author not only authorizes redistribution, reuse, revision, and adaptation of this material (with attribution, please) but encourages it.