Winifred E. Barron v. Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security

POSNER, Chief Judge.

Winifred Barron applied for disabled widow’s benefits as the widow of Paul Raymond. 42 U.S.C. § 402(e). She was turned down on the ground that she had not been Raymond’s common law wife, and appeals to us from the district court’s refusal to set aside the denial of her application.

Barron, now age 64, has made a career of marriage. We count seven, but the validity of several, including the common law marriage with Raymond, is critically in issue. She claims that three days after she divorced her second husband, she became Raymond’s common law wife under the law of Michigan.…