TN 7 (01-23)

PR 01705.005 Arkansas

A. PR 23-001 Status of Void or Voidable Marriage Subject to Annulment for Re-Entitlement to Child's Insurance Benefits

Date: January 10, 2023

1. Syllabus

Under Arkansas law, a marriage obtained by fraud is a voidable marriage and such a marriage remains valid unless and until it is annulled pursuant to section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code.  Once annulled, it is considered to have never existed.

The Claimant’s marriage that was subject to the annulment under section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code was voidable. Thus, there is legal support for the agency’s determination that the marriage was a terminating event for the Claimant’s child’s insurance benefits and determination that she was re-entitled to child’s insurance benefits as a full-time student (student’s benefits) effective May 2022, after the annulment.

2. Question Presented

The claimant C~ (Claimant) received child’s insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act (Act) on the record of the disabled number holder A~ (NH) from October 2011 until February 2022, when the Claimant married a non-Title II beneficiary in Arkansas and the agency terminated her benefits. The Claimant obtained an annulment of her marriage in April 2022 pursuant to Arkansas law. For purposes of determining re-entitlement to child’s insurance benefits, you asked whether her marriage that was subject to the annulment was void or voidable under Arkansas law.

3. Answer

Under Arkansas law, the Claimant’s marriage that was subject to the annulment under section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code was voidable. Thus, there is legal support for the agency’s determination that the marriage was a terminating event for the Claimant’s child’s insurance benefits and determination that she was re-entitled to child’s insurance benefits as a full-time student (student’s benefits) effective May 2022, after the annulment.

4. Background

You advised that the Claimant received child’s insurance benefits on the record of the disabled NH from October 2011 until February 2022, when the Claimant married Z~, a non-Title II beneficiary, in Arkansas. The Claimant subsequently filed an action in the Circuit Court of Crawford County, Arkansas seeking an annulment of their marriage on the basis that her consent to marry Z~ was obtained by fraud. See C~ v. Z~, Circuit Court, Domestic Relationship Division, Crawford County, Arkansas. Z~ filed a waiver and agreement “acknowledg[ing] that the plaintiff is entitled to an annulment pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. Section 9-12-201.” The Claimant provided the agency with the Decree of Annulment entered by the court on April XX, 2022, in which the court awarded the Claimant “an annulment from the defendant Z~, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-201” and decreed that “the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing between the plaintiff and defendant shall be declared void and set aside.”

You stated that the agency terminated the Claimant’s child’s insurance benefits effective February 2022 based upon her marriage to Z~ but entitled her to child’s insurance benefits as a full-time student (student’s benefits) effective May 2022, after the annulment of their marriage. You noted that if the marriage was voidable and ended with the annulment in April 2022, the agency correctly determined the marriage to be a terminating event and entitled her to student’s benefits effective May 2022, after the annulment. However, you noted that if the marriage was a void marriage from the beginning, the Claimant would be due child’s benefits for a retroactive period of February 2022 through April 2022. Thus, your question is whether the marriage subject to the annulment in April 2022 was a voidable or void marriage under Arkansas law.[1]

5. Analysis

a. Federal Law: The Termination and Re-Entitlement to Child's Insurance Benefits based on a Marriage Subsequently Annulled

Under Title II of the Act, a claimant may be entitled to child’s insurance benefits on the record of an insured individual who has died or an individual who is entitled to old-age or disability benefits if, he or she applies, is the individual’s child, is dependent on the individual, is unmarried, and is under age 18 (or 18 and older with a disability that began before age 22; or 18 or older and a full-time student). See 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1); 20 C.F.R. § 404.350(a); Program Operations Manual System (POMS) RS 00203.001. Once the agency awards child’s insurance benefits, the Act sets forth specific circumstances under which the agency must terminate those benefits, which includes when the child marries (with certain exceptions). See 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1)(D)-(H); 20 C.F.R. § 404.352(b)-(e); POMS RS 00203.035.

Here, the agency terminated the Claimant’s child’s insurance benefits effective February 2022 based on her marriage to a non-Title II beneficiary. See 42 U.S.C. 402(d)(1)(D); 20 C.F.R. § 404.352(b)(4). The Claimant obtained an Arkansas annulment of her marriage in April 2022 on the basis of fraud. You asked whether the marriage that was subject to the annulment was void or voidable under Arkansas law as it impacts the Claimant’s re-entitlement to child’s benefits. See POMS GN 00305.125 (setting forth policy regarding void marriages), GN 00305.130 (setting forth policy regarding voidable marriages), GN 00305.135 (setting forth policy on when an annulment permits initial entitlement or re-entitlement), RS 00203.015 (setting forth the requirements for re-entitlement to child’s benefits); Social Security Ruling (SSR) 84-1 (annulment of a voidable marriage and the effect on entitlement or re-entitlement to benefits).

A void marriage is a marriage that is legally nonexistent from the beginning under State law, and thus, parties to a void marriage are considered never to have been validly married. POMS GN 00305.125A. Agency policy states that a prior determination terminating benefits based on a remarriage now determined to be void may be reopened and revised. POMS GN 00305.125B.2.a. The agency is to reinstate benefits previously terminated because of a marriage that is determined to be void as of the month of the prior termination, subject to the rules of administrative finality. POMS GN 00305.125C.

A voidable marriage is a marriage that is defective and can be annulled but is considered valid unless and until declared void as a result of a court action on its validity. POMS GN 00305.130A. Agency policy instructs that where a voidable marriage has been annulled, benefits previously terminated because of such marriage may be resumed upon the taking of a new application. POMS GN 00305.130B.1.a. Benefits are payable no earlier than the month the annulment decree is issued subject to the usual provisions of retroactivity. POMS GN 00305.130B.1.a.

Thus, we turn next to your question as to whether the Claimant’s marriage that was subject to the annulment was void or voidable under Arkansas law.

b. Arkansas State Law: Annulment of Voidable Marriage Due to Lack of Consent

The Claimant has presented the agency with a Decree of Annulment, entered on April XX, 2022, finding that she was entitled to an annulment from Z~ under section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code because her consent to marry Z~ was obtained by fraud. The court awarded an annulment and ordered that “the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing between the plaintiff and defendant shall be declared void and set aside.”

Under Arkansas law, “[m]arriage is considered in law a civil contract to which the consent of the parties capable in law of contracting is necessary.” Ark. Code Ann. § 9-11-101. Marriage “may be annulled only for causes set forth by statute.” Stuhr v. Oliver, 363 S.W.3d 316, 320 (Ark. 2010).

At issue here, section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code provides:

When either of the parties to a marriage is incapable from want of age or understanding of consenting to any marriage, or is incapable of entering into the marriage state due to physical causes, or when the consent of either party shall have been obtained by force or fraud, the marriage shall be void from the time its nullity shall be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-201. The Arkansas Supreme Court has expressly addressed the issue presented. Although the statute is titled “void marriages” and declares a marriage “void,” the Arkansas Supreme Court has explained that the term “void” as used in section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code’s “annulment statute means that such a marriage is voidable.” Stuhr, 363 S.W.3d at 320; Vance v. Hinch, 261 S.W.2d 412, 414 (Ark. 1953). The Arkansas Supreme Court explained that the statute states that “the marriage shall be void only from the time it is declared a nullity by a court of competent jurisdiction,” and thus, “[t]he only reasonable interpretation . . . is that such a marriage is voidable, not void.” Vance, 261 S.W.2d at 414. Thus, under Arkansas law, a marriage obtained by fraud is a voidable marriage and such a marriage remains valid unless and until it is annulled pursuant to section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code. See id. Once annulled, however, it is considered to have never existed. See id.

Accordingly, under Arkansas law, the Claimant’s marriage subject to the annulment under section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code was voidable. See POMS PR 06315.005 Arkansas, A. PR 11-014 Whether a Decree of Annulment Renders a Marriage Void or Voidable under Arkansas Law – NH Charles R. B~ - Reply (Nov. 15, 2010) (advising that a marriage that a court annuls for failure to consent by virtue of a want of understanding was a voidable marriage under section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code). Upon entering the Decree of Annulment on April 11, 2022, Arkansas law considers the marriage to never have existed.[2]

As stated above, a gency policy instructs that where a voidable marriage has been annulled, benefits previously terminated because of such marriage may be resumed upon the taking of a new application. POMS GN 00305.130B.1.a. Benefits are payable no earlier than the month the annulment decree is issued subject to the usual provisions of retroactivity. POMS GN 00305.130B.1.a.

6. Conclusion

Under Arkansas law, the Claimant’s marriage that was subject to the annulment under section 9-12-201 of the Arkansas Code was voidable. Thus, there is legal support for the agency’s determination that the marriage was a terminating event for the Claimant’s child’s insurance benefits and determination that she was re-entitled to child’s insurance benefits as a full-time student (student’s benefits) effective May 2022, after the annulment.


Footnotes:

[1]

You have not asked and we have not considered any other issues related to the Claimant’s entitlement to child’s insurance benefits as a full-time student (student’s benefits).

[2]

The agency is generally not bound by a state court’s determination if it involves a proceeding to which the agency was not a party. See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 83-37c, 1983 WL 31272, at *3 (adopting Gray v. Richardson, 474 F.2d 1370 (6th Cir. 1973) as national policy). However, the agency is not free to ignore a state court adjudication on an issue in a claim for Social Security benefits if the four Gray factors are satisfied. See SSR 83-37c. Although the agency does not appear to be bound by the state court’s Decree of Annulment because the issue of annulment of the marriage was not “genuinely contested” (the second Gray factor) given that the husband acknowledged that the Claimant was entitled to an annulment pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-201, it would be reasonable for the agency to follow this Decree of Annulment in determining marital status and finding the Claimant unmarried given that it appears to comply with Arkansas law. SeeHanson v. Astrue, 733 F.Supp.2d 214, 218 (D. Mass. 2010) (“It would not be inconsistent with [SSR 83-37c] for the Commissioner to follow a state adjudication even though fewer than all the conditions were met, subject to bounds of reason and good faith.”).


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PR 01705.005 - Arkansas - 01/27/2023
Batch run: 01/27/2023
Rev:01/27/2023