Content Last Revised: 1/19/01 ---DISCLAIMER---

20 CFR 725.204 - Determination of relationship; spouse.

• Section Number: 725.204
• Section Name: Determination of relationship; spouse.

    (a) For the purpose of augmenting benefits, an individual will be 
considered to be the spouse of a miner if:
    (1) The courts of the State in which the miner is domiciled would 
find that such individual and the miner validly married; or
    (2) The courts of the State in which the miner is domiciled would 
find, under the law they would apply in determining the devolution of 
the miner's intestate personal property, that the individual is the 
miner's spouse; or
    (3) Under State law, such individual would have the right of a 
spouse to share in the miner's intestate personal property; or
    (4) Such individual went through a marriage ceremony with the miner 
resulting in a purported marriage between them and which, but for a 
legal impediment, would have been a valid marriage, unless the 
individual entered into the purported marriage with knowledge that it 
was not a valid marriage, or if such individual and the miner were not 
living in the same household in the month in which a request is filed 
that the miner's benefits be augmented because such individual 
qualifies as the miner's spouse.
    (b) The qualification of an individual for augmentation purposes 
under this section shall end with the month before the month in which:
    (1) The individual dies, or
    (2) The individual who previously qualified as a spouse for 
purposes of Sec. 725.520(c), entered into a valid marriage without 
regard to this section, with a person other than the miner.