Held V. Colvin

Hugh Held has been married to his spouse Orion Masters since 2008 when same-sex marriage became legal in California. Unfortunately his legal marriage was not taken into account by Social Security when it calculated his SSI benefits. Even though he informed Social Security of his marriage three times, it took the agency over a year to realize they overpaid him. Potentially hundreds of other low-income individuals were affected.

Update: In April 2016 SSA instructed its local offices to presume that a waiver of overpayment had been requested by such individuals, providing a significant win. Read the press release