QUESTION
You asked whether the effective date of a judgment setting aside claimant's adoption,
for purposes of Claimant's entitlement to child's insurance benefits (CIB), was the
date of the judgment or the date of the adoption decree.
ANSWER
The effective date of the judgment setting aside an adoption is the date the judgment
is entered (unless the judgment sets forth a different date). Claimant's entitlement
to CIB on his adoptive father's Social Security record would terminate as of the effective
date of the judgment setting aside an adoption.
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE
Claimant was born on April 17, 1992 in the State of California. Claimant's natural
grandparents, Ray E. K~ and Wanda L. K~ (hereinafter, grandparents), petitioned the
Superior Court of the State of California, County of Tulare (hereinafter, the state
court) for the adoption of Claimant from his natural mother and father, Dena Carol
L~ (hereinafter, natural mother) and John E. H~. The state court granted Claimant's
grandparents' petition for adoption in a Decree of Independent Adoption filed on April
27, 1998.
The available evidence in this case indicates that Claimant's adoptive father, who
became entitled to Social Security disability insurance benefits in April of 1991,
filed an application for child's insurance benefits for Claimant as his adopted child
on April 27, 1998. Claimant became entitled to benefits as his adopted child in May
of 1998. The state court set aside the adoption decree and restored Claimant's natural
mother's parental rights in a judgment apparently filed on August 4, 2000. Child's
insurance benefits on Claimant's adoptive father's Social Security record have since
ceased, and Claimant has been receiving benefits on his natural mother's Social Security
record.
We have been unable to obtain a complete and fully-legible copy of the state court
judgment apparently filed on August 4, 2000, and have proceeded on the assumption
that the adoption was legally set aside and that the judgment was actually signed
and entered. However, as noted below, we recommend obtaining a complete copy of the
judgment to verify actual entry and the effective date of the judgment.
ANALYSIS
The state court set aside the 1998 adoption decree as to Claimant's natural mother
and restored her parental rights to Claimant in the judgment filed on August 4, 2000.
The effect of setting aside an adoption decree is the termination of a status created
by the decree. Adoption of Sewall, 242 Cal.App. 2d 208, 220, 51 Cal.Rptr. 367, 377 (1966). (As stated, we have been
unable to obtain a complete and legible copy of the state court judgment apparently
filed on August 4, 2000. Although the bases for the state court's judgment are unclear
from the copy received, as noted, we have proceeded on the assumption that the adoption
was legally set aside.) According to the Program Operations Manual System (POMS),
[e]ntitlement to a child's benefit based on legal adoption will terminate if the adoption
is annulled, and the effective date of the termination to benefits is the month in
which the annulment becomes effective.( POMS RS 00203.035B.3.) In regard to the effective date of the set-aside judgment, we know of no practical
difference or legal distinction, pertinent here, between a judgment to set aside an
adoption and an annulment of the adoption. Therefore, the provision of POMS appears
to be the closest instruction we have with respect to termination of child's insurance
benefits in the adoption set-aside context. Claimant's adoption was set aside on the
effective date of the state court's judgment, and therefore entitlement to child's
insurance benefits ceased in the month in which the adoption was set aside.
CONCLUSION
Entitlement to child's insurance benefits on Claimant's adoptive father's Social Security
record terminates on the effective date of the state court judgment setting aside
the adoption. The effective date of the state court judgment is the date of entry,
unless the court specifies a different date. However, we recommend obtaining a complete
copy of the judgment to confirm the actual date of entry of the judgment and the effective
date. Claimant is not entitled to child's insurance benefits on his adoptive father's
Social Security record after the effective date of the state court judgment, because
Claimant is no longer his adopted child, as defined under ' 402(d) of the Social Security
Act and 20 C.F.R. ' 404.358(b) (2004).