Hi Larry I been with spouse for 44 year he.pass away but we not married but.common law do I.get widow benfit

Hi,

You must normally have been married for at least 9 months to qualify for widow's benefits, or at least 10 years to qualify for surviving divorced spousal benefits. A common law marriage can count as a valid marriage if it takes place in a state that recognizes common law marriages, and if it meets that state's requirements. Each state that recognizes or recognized common law marriage has it's own regulations for what factors are required in order to establish a common law marriage. I don't have enough information about your circumstances to know if you have or had a valid common law marriage, but the following section of Social Security's operations manual has a digest of the individual state laws on common law marriage: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200305075.

Best, Jerry