{"data":{"id":"us/20-cfr-222.14","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"20 CFR 222.14","heading":"Deemed marriage relationship.","body":"If a ceremonial or common-law marriage relationship cannot be established under State law, a claimant may still be found to have the relationship as spouse of an employee based upon a deemed marriage. A claimant is deemed to be the wife, husband, or widow(er) of the employee if the person's marriage to the employee would have been valid under State law except for a legal impediment, and all of the following requirements are met:\n(a) The claimant married the employee in a civil or religious ceremony.\n(b) The claimant went through the marriage ceremony in good faith. Good faith means that at the time of the ceremony the claimant did not know that a legal impediment existed, or if the claimant did know, he or she thought that it would not prevent a valid marriage.\n(c) The claimant was living in the same household as the employee (see § 222.16) when he or she applied for the spouse annuity or when the employee died.","path":["Title 20—Employees' Benefits","CHAPTER II—RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD","SUBCHAPTER B—REGULATIONS UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT","PART 222—FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS","Subpart B—Relationship as Wife, Husband, or Widow(er)"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-20.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:24:45Z","sha256":"0a8f5f68b4fed06d1b0eafe965401409fb1f6db70a3c3a19345b0ac0fc5d66c8","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/20-cfr-222.13","next":"us/20-cfr-222.15"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}