Long v. Finch

321 F. Supp. 857, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14833
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedJanuary 29, 1971
DocketCiv. A. No. 69-C-53-R
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 321 F. Supp. 857 (Long v. Finch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Long v. Finch, 321 F. Supp. 857, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14833 (W.D. Va. 1971).

Opinion

OPINION

WIDENER, District Judge.

On July 12, 1966, claimant, Mary V. Long, filed an application as a widowed .mother with children for benefits under § 202(g) (1) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 402(g) (1), alleging that she was the widow of the deceased wage earner, Lambert L. Long, who died on May 28, 1966. She also claimed as a widow without regard for children. 42 U.S.C. § 402(e) (1).

On October 31, 1966, the Social Security Administration notified claimant that her claim for benefits as the widow of Lambert L. Long was denied on the ground that claimant was divorced from Lambert Long on April 8, 1965. Upon reconsideration by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the claimant’s application was again denied on the same ground.

On September 18, 1968, a hearing was held before a Hearing Examiner. The Hearing Examiner’s decision, dated October 24, 1968, held that claimant’s marriage to Lambert L. Long was terminated by a divorce granted to Lambert L. Long on April 8, 1965, and therefore the claimant was not the wage earner’s widow and not entitled to mother’s insurance benefits.

[858]*858On March 17, 1968, the Appeals Council affirmed the decision of the Hearing Examiner.

On May 16, 1969, claimant brought this action pursuant to § 205(g) of the Social Security Act, as amended, 42 U. S.C. § 405(g), seeking judicial review of the final decision of the Secretary.

Claimant was married to Lambert Leon Long on May 10, 1959, in Sullivan County, Tennessee. At the time of this marriage, claimant had two children, Alfred Lee Keister and Diana Long. Neither child was ever adopted by Lambert L. Long, and there were no children born of the marriage between claimant and Lambert Long. The claimant and the wage earner lived at 406 Jackson Street, Blacksburg, Virginia, from 1960 until Long left Blacksburg in June, 1963. During the time that they lived at 406 Jackson Street, Long was often away from the residence on trips outside of the state, but he returned to the Blacksburg address between trips. The claimant still lived at 406 Jackson Street at least until July, 1966, two months after Long’s death.

Mary V. Long and Lambert Long did not live together as husband and wife after June, 1963. The claimant testified that the wage earner returned periodically to the residence at 406 Jackson Street after June, 1963 but did not remain there because of an order of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Montgomery County directing Lambert Long to pay support payments of fifteen dollars per week to Mary V. Long, the claimant here, for a period of one year. The record contains a copy of an order of the Montgomery County Court dated August 12, 1963 ordering Long to pay the claimant the sum of fifteen dollars weekly.

The claimant testified that Lambert L. Long last visited her on August 21, 1964 at the residence at 406 Jackson Street, Blacksburg, Virginia.

On September 21, 1964, Lambert L. Long filed suit for divorce in the Superior Court of Muscogee County, Georgia, in which he swore that he did not know the claimant's address. The wage earner made this oath only one month after visiting the claimant at the address which had been his residence for more than three years. There is nothing in the record that suggests that Lambert Long might have had reason to believe that the claimant had moved away from Blacksburg, Virginia. The claimant testified that on September 21, 1964, she was residing at 406 Jackson Street, Blacksburg, Virginia, and that, at, that time, Lambert L. Long was still receiving mail at that address. Long’s oath, sworn to in order to obtain the Georgia divorce, is incredible and not worthy of belief.

The court would not ordinarily be disposed to find that a party, now deceased, once swore to a false statement, but the evidence in this case leads to no other conclusion. It is more than unlikely that Long could forget the address which had been his residence for three years and which he had visited only one month prior to making the oath. Further, it is virtually inconceivable that, on September 21, 1964, Lambert L. Long had absolutely no knowledge of the claimant’s address.

By alleging before the Superior Court of Muscogee County, Georgia that the claimant’s address was unknown, Lambert Long was assured that the claimant would receive no notice of the divorce proceedings. Notice of the suit was published in the Columbus Ledger, a newspaper circulated in and around Columbus, Georgia, more than five hundred miles from Blacksburg, Virginia (1960 pop. 7,070 including several thousand VPI students).

Lambert Long had at least two reasons for preventing the claimant from receiving notice of the divorce proceedings. First, there was the order of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Montgomery County ordering him to pay support to the claimant. Any notice to the claimant of Long’s presence in Georgia would have made him subject to enforcement of the support order since [859]*859both Georgia and Virginia had adopted the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act. Second, any notice to claimant would have allowed her to contest the Georgia divorce. On October 10, 1964, nineteen days after he had filed for divorce, Lambert Long purportedly married Virginia Mae Atchley in Phenix City, Alabama. The claimant’s contest of the Georgia divorce proceeding could have prevented, and certainly would have delayed, Lambert Long’s remarriage. • ■ -

Section 216(h) (1) (A) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 416(h) (1) (A) states:

“An applicant is the * * * widow * * * of a fully or currently insured individual for purposes of this subchapter if * * * the courts of the State in which he (the insured individual) was domiciled at the time of death, * * * would find that such applicant and such insured individual were validly married * * * at the time he died.”

It is conceded by both parties that wage earner was domiciled in Alabama at the time of his death. Thus, the question for decision is: What effect would an Alabama court give to the Georgia divorce decree ?

Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution, U.S.Const., Art. IV, Section 1, and under 28 U.S.C. § 1738, a decree of divorce granted in one State “should have the same credit, validity, and effect in every other court in the United States which it had in the State where it was pronounced.” Hampton v. McConnell, 16 U.S. (3 Wheat.) 234, 235, 4 L.Ed. 378 (1818). Thus, the Alabama court would be required to look to Georgia law to determine the validity and effect of the Georgia divorce decree.

This court finds as a fact that Lambert L. Long had knowledge of claimant’s address. The testimony of claimant that the wage earner had visited her in Blacksburg, Virginia one month prior to his filing for divorce is not challenged by the Secretary. Even if Long were unable to remember the street address, and this is incredible, he was required to furnish an address “to the best of his information and belief * * Stiles v.

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Bluebook (online)
321 F. Supp. 857, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14833, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-v-finch-vawd-1971.