Number: 117-12
Date: December 14, 2022
The President Signs H.R. 8404, the
“Respect for Marriage Act”
On December 13, 2022, the President signed H.R. 8404, the Respect for Marriage Act, which became Public Law 117-228. The House previously passed the bill on December 8, 2022, and the Senate amended and passed it on November 29, 2022.
This law generally revokes a 1996 law that had defined marriage as between one man and one woman, until it was struck down by the Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor. The Respect for Marriage Act replaces that 1996 law with a new definition of marriage for Federal programs, as described below. This new definition is different than the Social Security Act’s definitions for the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs.1 However, we do not expect this new definition to change in practice how we evaluate marriages in most claims. We will continue to analyze this bill and provide additional guidance.
Section 5 - Marriage Recognition
- U.S. Marriage––A person is considered married if the marriage was between two people and it was valid in the State, territory, or possession where and when it occurred
- Foreign Marriage––A person is considered married if the marriage was:
- between two people;
- valid in the foreign jurisdiction where and when it occurred; and
- a type of marriage that could have been entered into in at least one U.S. State, territory, or possession at the time it occurred.
- Effective Date––This provision is effective upon enactment.
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1 For Social Security benefits, the Social Security Act generally requires us to apply the law of the worker’s domicile State (or the law of the District of Columbia if the worker is domiciled outside of a State) to determine marital status (please see sec. 216(h); 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)). For Supplemental Security Income benefits, the Act generally requires us to apply appropriate State law (please see sec. 1614(d); 42 U.S.C. § 1382c(d)) to determine marital status, and our regulations say that we use the law of the State of residence (please see 20 CFR § 416.1806).