Can my step mother receive my deceased father's SS benefits if they were "married" in a non-legally binding church ceremony 11 years ago? She is also an Oregon PERS recipient.

Thank you in advance!

Hi. I can't be sure based on that limited amount of information. A person must normally have been legally married to the deceased worker in order to be able to qualify for widow's benefits. Social Security recognizes state law when determining whether or not a legal marriage existed, so your step-mother likely wouldn't be able to qualify unless her marriage was recognized as a legal marriage in the state in which it took place.

Technicalities and state variations can affect Social Security's determination, though, so your step-mother may want to file a claim with Social Security in order to get a formal determination of her eligibility for widow's benefits. For specifics on the marriage requirements for widow's benefits, refer to the following section of Social Security's operations manual: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300207001.

However, even if your step-mother does qualify for widow's benefits her benefits would likely be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of any pension that she collects that's based on her earnings from a governmental agency that was exempt from withholding Social Security taxes on her earnings. That's due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Best, Jerry