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B-229295 1 (1988-08-10)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadneb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The Comptroller General of the United States Washington, D.C. 20548 Decision Private Calvin A. Allen, USA, Deceased - Matterof: Death Gratuity - Invalid Marriage File: B-229295 Date: August 10, 1988 DIGEST A woman's claim for a death gratuity as the widow of a deceased service member is denied since she never obtained a divorce from her first husband and legally was not a surviving spouse. Also, her alternative claim for the death gratuity to be paid to her children as the stepchildren of the deceased is denied since her invalid marriage to the deceased precludes her children from having become the deceased's stepchildren. DECISION This decision is in response to an appeal on behalf of Margaret A. Allen and her children from our Claims Group's settlement of August 28, 1987. The Claims Group denied her claim for a death gratuity as the widow of Private Calvin A. Allen, a deceased member of the Army and the alternative claim of her children for a death gratuity as the step- children of the deceased. Since Margaret A. Allen was never divorced from her first husband she is not the widow of the deceased, and her children are not his stepchildren. Accordingly, Mr. Allen's mother is the rightful recipient of the death gratuity under 10 U.S.C. S 1477. Therefore, we uphold the Claims Group's denial of both Mrs. Allen's claim and the claim of the children. The record indicates that Calvin A. Allen and Margaret Nalani Fogas were married in New York on January 5, 1983. Margaret A. Allen (apparently the former Ms. Fogas) admits that she married Ruben Parker prior to her marriage to Mr. Allen, and has no evidence of a legal divorce from Mr. Parker. Moreover, she states her belief that they had not been divorced. At the time of her marriage to Mr. Allen she had four children, who thereafter resided with them. Mr. Allen died of unknown causes on January 25, 1987. Mrs. Allen claims that she should receive the death gratuity as a surviving spouse. In the alternative, she claims that C4-_C l~G3

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