Capato v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 10-2027

Denial of a widow's application for surviving child's insurance benefits

Capato v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 10-2027, concerned a widow's application for surviving child's insurance benefits on behalf of her twins based on her husband's earnings record, born eighteenth months after her husband's death from in vitro fertilization using the frozen sperm of her husband.


In vacating the district court's affirmance of the Social Security Administration's denial of her claim, the court remanded the matter in concluding that, under the discrete set of circumstances and the narrow question posed by those circumstances, the undisputed biological children of the deceased wage earner and his widow are "children" within the meaning of Title II of the Social Security Act.

Related Link:

• Read the Third Circuit's Full Decision in Capato v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 10-2027