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Administering Marriage: Marriage-Based Entitlements, Bureaucracy, And The Legal Construction Of The Family, Kristin A. Collins

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1985, Gertrude Thomas sought Social Security survivors' benefits as Joseph Thomas's widow. Gertrude had been married to Joseph-or thought herself to have been-for forty-seven years. She bore and raised ten children over the course of their marriage. Gertrude knew Joseph had been married briefly before they wed, but she thought that his first marriage had ended in divorce. When the Department of Health and Human Services asked Gertrude for proof of her marriage to Joseph, she could not produce a marriage certificate or any other record of her marriage. She did have a statement signed by Joseph acknowledging their …