## Facts

- Sharon Everetts married Joseph Everett in Missouri in 1953 after her mother consented to the marriage; Everett left the next day and was not heard from again.
- Everetts continued using the surname “Everetts” for herself and her children.
- In 1983, Everetts went through a marriage ceremony with Mitchell Reid.
- Reid died in 1990.
- In 1996, a Missouri court entered an ex parte annulment decree for the 1953 marriage, stating the marriage was “null and void” and “ab initio.”
- Everetts applied for Social Security widow’s insurance benefits in 1996 on Reid’s earnings record.
- An ALJ denied benefits, concluding that under Missouri law the annulment did not retroactively validate the 1983 marriage to Reid for purposes of determining marital status at Reid’s death.
- The Appeals Council denied review; the district court affirmed; Everetts appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether, under the Social Security Act’s state-law marital-status rule, Everetts was Reid’s “widow” at the time of Reid’s death.
2. Whether the Commissioner properly treated a Missouri annulment decree entered after the wage earner’s death as effective only from the date of entry, despite “ab initio” language, when determining eligibility for widow’s benefits.

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment upholding the Commissioner’s denial of benefits.
- The court held the Commissioner reasonably applied Missouri law by treating the annulment as not retroactively establishing that Everetts was free to marry Reid at the time of Reid’s death.
- Because Everetts was not validly married to Reid when he died, she did not qualify as his “widow” for widow’s insurance benefits.

## Legal Principles

- Eligibility for Social Security widow’s insurance benefits depends on whether state courts in the wage earner’s domicile state would find a valid marriage existed at the time of the wage earner’s death.  
- State annulment decrees with “ab initio” wording do not necessarily control federal benefit determinations when state law treats annulment effects as prospective for purposes affecting third parties or benefit rights.
- In reviewing Social Security determinations, courts assess whether the Commissioner applied the correct legal standards and whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that Missouri law did not require the Commissioner to treat Everetts’s post-death annulment as retroactively validating her earlier marriage to Reid, so the SSA properly denied widow’s insurance benefits.


Everetts v. Apfel, 214 F.3d 990 (8th Cir. 2000)