Smith v. Heckler
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
707 F.2d 1284 (1983)
- Written by Mary Katherine Cunningham, JD
Facts
In 1938, Lucille Smith (plaintiff) entered a relationship with Darryl Knight, who was listed as the father of Smith’s five children. Smith and Knight never married and separated in the mid-1940s. In 1949, Lucille Smith began cohabiting with Yarbrough Smith in Florida. Lucille adopted the surname Smith, made insurance and business decisions with Yarbrough, and filed joint tax returns. When Yarbrough filed for retirement benefits, he listed Lucille as his wife. Yarbrough died in 1975, and in 1979, Lucille Smith applied for Social Security widow’s insurance benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 402(e)(1). Through an administrative-law judge, Heckler, the secretary of the Social Security Administration, (defendant) denied Smith’s claim, stating Smith had not dissolved a previous common-law marriage to Knight before her marriage to Yarbrough Smith. Smith sought judicial review in the District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The district court upheld the decision of the Social Security Administration, and Smith appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Henderson, J.)
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