QUESTION PRESENTED
This is in response to your February 24, 2004, request for an opinion on whether Tam
N~ ("the Number Holder") and Tam T. D~ ("the claimant") had a valid marriage under
the law of the State of Delaware, given that she and the Number Holder were married
through a parent-arranged marriage in South Vietnam on May 15, 1964.
SUMMARY
We reviewed the information you provided and researched the relevant provisions of
Delaware law as it pertains to the validity of a foreign marriage. Delaware law follows
the general principle that a marriage valid under the law of the place where it was
contracted ("lex loci contractus") is valid in Delaware. As noted in Program Operations
Manual System GN 00307.930 (TN 31, 08/05), only civil marriages were valid in South
Vietnam in 1975, and marriages were usually performed by civil authorities and entered
into their records at that time. Given the claimant's representation of the nature
of parent-arranged marriages in South Vietnam, we contacted the Law Library of the
Library of Congress (Law Library) to obtain information on parent-arranged marriages
in South Vietnam in 1964. Based on its review of its archived reports, the Law Library
advised that the fact that a union is the result of a parent-arranged marriage did
not appear to be relevant to the requirement that a marriage had to be registered
under South Vietnam law. Inasmuch as the claimant averred that there was no proof
of her marriage to the Number Holder, including no documentation of her parent-arranged
marriage, this suggests her parent-arranged marriage was never registered in South
Vietnam. As such, the claimant does not appear to have a valid legal marriage under
South Vietnam law. Accordingly, the claimant's parent-arranged marriage to the Number
Holder would not be considered valid under Delaware law.
BACKGROUND
The claimant applied for widow's insurance benefits on January 28, 2004. As we understand
the facts, the claimant reported that she and the Number Holder were married on May
16, 1964, in South Vietnam. The claimant and the Number Holder did not have a ceremonial
marriage and there was no formal marriage ceremony. The claimant said she and the
Number Holder had a parent-arranged marriage. The claimant stated the Number Holder's
father went to her family and arranged for the marriage. In May 1964, the claimant
and her family went to the Number Holder's house. They celebrated the marriage with
a party for all of their relatives and friends. The party included the claimant's
sister, brother-in-law and nephew, all of who currently reside in Delaware. After
that, the claimant reported that she went to live with the Number Holder and his family
in his family's home. When asked to supply proof of her marriage, the claimant reported
there were no newspaper accounts of the wedding and no photos were taken of the marriage.
Claimant averred there was no proof of her marriage to the Number Holder. The claimant
stated there was never any recordation or documentation of a parent-arranged marriage
in South Vietnam. Outside of the circumstances surrounding the claimant's parent-arranged
marriage, no secondary proof of the marriage was developed. The marriage ended when
the Number Holder, a Delaware domiciliary, died on January 23, 2004.
DISCUSSION
Pursuant to section 216(h)(1)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act (Act), an applicant
is considered the widow of an insured individual if the courts of the insured individual's
domicile at the time of his death would find that the applicant and the insured individual
were validly married when he died. In this case, the Number Holder died a Delaware
domiciliary. Thus, the issue of whether the claimant was validly married to the Number
Holder must be evaluated under Delaware law.
Delaware law follows the general principle that a marriage valid under lex loci contractus
is valid in Delaware. Anonymous v. Anonymous, 85 A.2d 706, 715 (Del. Super. Ct. 1951). Inasmuch as Delaware law follows the usually
accepted principle that the law governing the validity of the marriage is generally
that of the place where the marriage was contracted, the validity of the marriage
between the claimant and the Number Holder is dependent on whether their parent-arranged
marriage would be considered valid under South Vietnam law. We contacted the Law Library
to obtain information on parent-arranged marriages in South Vietnam. Walter G. S~,
Sr., the Director of Legal Research of the Law Library, initially informed us that
the Law Library was unable to provide the Agency with assistance in this matter because
it did not have an attorney on staff with a specialized knowledge of South Vietnam
law. However, Mr. S~ told us that the Law Library was in the process of developing
a list of qualified foreign attorneys that it could contact in the future, on an as-needed
basis, to respond to inquiries like ours. Pursuant to our request, Mr. S~ ordered
a review of the Law Library's existing reports to see whether there was anything in
its archives that may be of assistance to us in this case.
Based on its review of the reports written by the recently-retired Vietnamese legal
specialist, the Law Library told us that South Vietnam required the registration of
a union and issuance of a marriage certificate or, in the alternative, the union's
notation in the Civil Status Registry as legal proof of a valid marriage. The Law
Library also advised us that under the laws of registration of civil status, a court
of the first-instance could issue a certificate recognizing an unregistered union
as a marriage and a copy of such a certificate would be considered a valid proof of
marriage. The Law Library reported that a common-law marriage was not recognized as
a valid marriage under South Vietnam law, no matter how long the union lasted or how
many children may have resulted. Thus, given its review of South Vietnam law, the
Law Library informed us that the fact that a union is the result of a parent-arranged
marriage did not appear to be relevant to the requirement that a marriage had to be
registered. Here, the claimant averred that there was no proof of her marriage to
the Number Holder, including no documentation of her parent-arranged marriage, because
there was never any documentation of parent-arranged marriages in South Vietnam. Her
statement suggests her parent-arranged marriage to the Number Holder was never registered
in South Vietnam. As such, the claimant does not appear to have a valid legal marriage
under South Vietnam law. Accordingly, the claimant's parent-arranged marriage to the
Number Holder would not be considered valid under Delaware law under the principle
of lex loci contractus.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the claimant's foreign marriage to the Number Holder
would not be considered valid under Delaware law because the fact that a union is
a result of a parent-arranged marriage does not appear to negate the requirement under
South Vietnam law that a marriage had to be registered.
Donna L. C~
Regional Chief Counsel
By:_________________________
Lori K~
Assistant Regional Counsel