20 CFR § 404.344 - Your relationship by marriage to the insured.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s404.344"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 404.344 - Your relationship by marriage to the insured."
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "404.344"
section_name: "Your relationship by marriage to the insured."
chapter_name: "SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION"
part_number: "404"
part_name: "FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950-  )"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
cfr_part: "404"
---


# 404.344 Your relationship by marriage to the insured.

You may be eligible for benefits if you are related to the insured person as a wife, husband, widow, or widower. To decide your relationship to the insured, we look first to State laws. The State laws that we use are discussed in § 404.345. If your relationship cannot be established under State law, you may still be eligible for benefits if your relationship as the insured's wife, husband, widow, or widower is based upon a *deemed valid marriage* as described in § 404.346.