Louisiana: Gay widower denied Social Security survivor benefits

[DonViejo]

Source: Associated Press

By KEVIN McGILL, Associated Press · Wednesday, August 3, 2016

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A civil rights group said Tuesday it is seeking Social Security survivor benefits for a Louisiana man who legally married his husband in California before a 2015 Supreme Court ruling established a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said Gerald Allen Beem and William Floyd Conley had lived together since 1982. Louisiana residents since 1997, they were legally married in California in 2014.

Conley died in February 2015, before the Supreme Court decision. The ACLU said in a news release that the Social Security Administration in Lafayette denied benefits to Beem even after the court decision.

“Gerald Beem is the surviving spouse of William Conley, and is entitled to the same social security benefits of any other surviving spouse,” Marjorie Esman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a news release. “The law is clear that his marriage must be recognized. Mr. Beem, having lost his husband and his partner of more than three decades, deserves the respect that any other spouse would receive.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/08/louisiana-gay-widower-denied-social-security-survivor-benefits/

[anoNY42]

1. Cue more legal fees

paid by LA due to conservative tantrums...

[yeoman6987]

3. Louisiana can't say no

Social security is a federal program. Now he could have gone to a local SS office but they are not bottom line.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. I am not an expert, but isn't there a time requirement?

Last edited Wed Aug 3, 2016, 08:04 PM - Edit history (1)

I mean, you can't get married one day and die the next, and your survivor is eligible for benefits, right? The marriage - opposite sex, same sex - has to have been in effect for a while.

I'm probably wrong. Someone will let me know.

[spinbaby]

4. Good question

Looks like they were married only about a year, if that. They were together long enough, though, that you might be able to argue common-law marriage.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. 9 months

So since the husband died in February 2015, the question is when did they marry in California in 2014.