{"data":{"id":"us/20-cfr-404.344","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"20 CFR 404.344","heading":"Your relationship by marriage to the insured.","body":"You may be eligible for benefits if you are related to the insured person as a wife, husband, widow, or widower. To decide your relationship to the insured, we look first to State laws. The State laws that we use are discussed in § 404.345. If your relationship cannot be established under State law, you may still be eligible for benefits if your relationship as the insured's wife, husband, widow, or widower is based upon a deemed valid marriage as described in § 404.346.","path":["Title 20—Employees' Benefits","CHAPTER III—SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION","PART 404—FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950- )","Subpart D—Old-Age, Disability, Dependents' and Survivors' Insurance Benefits; Period of Disability"],"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":"3cf1eda0bfba7c4de37a83c9e8fd4f4585c475ca63c195ef0bf1b922ba1c4547","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/20-cfr-404.342","next":"us/20-cfr-404.345"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}