## Facts

- Esther Ayuso-Morales and Honorio Montañez Figueroa cohabited in Puerto Rico for about twenty years.
- The couple entered into a civil marriage less than nine months before Montañez Figueroa died.
- After his death, Ayuso-Morales applied for Social Security widow’s insurance benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 402(e).
- The Social Security Act required, as relevant, that the claimant be married to the insured for at least nine months immediately before the insured’s death. 42 U.S.C. § 416(c).
- The agency denied benefits because the ceremonial marriage lasted less than nine months.
- Ayuso-Morales argued her long-term cohabitation should be treated as marriage, or as the legal equivalent of widowhood under Puerto Rico concubinage law, for federal benefit purposes.

## Issues

1. Whether long-term cohabitation in Puerto Rico could be treated as a marriage to satisfy the federal nine-month marriage requirement for “widow” status.
2. Whether Ayuso-Morales could be deemed a “widow” under 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(A) because Puerto Rico intestacy law, including concubinage doctrines, would give her the same status as a legal wife or widow.

## Decision

- The First Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment upholding the Secretary’s denial of widow’s benefits.
- Puerto Rico does not recognize common-law marriage; cohabitation could not create a valid marriage before the civil ceremony.
- Puerto Rico concubinage law did not confer the same intestate-succession status as that of a lawful spouse, so § 416(h)(1)(A) did not apply.

## Legal Principles

- For Social Security widow’s benefits, the federal nine-month marriage requirement in 42 U.S.C. § 416(c) is not satisfied by cohabitation where the relevant jurisdiction requires formalities for a valid marriage and does not recognize common-law marriage.
- Under 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(1)(A), an applicant may be treated as a spouse only if the jurisdiction’s intestacy law would give the applicant the same status as a wife or widow; limited property protections for concubines do not equal full spousal status for general intestate succession.
- When local law distinguishes lawful marriage from concubinage and does not treat the concubine as a spouse for intestate inheritance, the claimant cannot be deemed a “widow” for Social Security purposes through the intestacy-law provision.

## Conclusion

Because Puerto Rico required formal solemnization for marriage, did not recognize common-law marriage, and did not treat concubinage as equivalent to spousal status for intestate succession, Ayuso-Morales failed to meet both the federal nine-month marriage requirement and the intestacy-law pathway to “widow” status; the denial of benefits was affirmed.


Ayuso-Morales v. Sec’y of Health & Hum. Servs., 677 F.2d 146 (1st Cir. 1982)