Beeler v. Astrue

United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
___________

No. 10-1092
___________

Patti Beeler, as parent and natural *
guardian of her minor child, *
*
Appellee, *
* Appeal from the United States
v. * District Court for the
* Northern District of Iowa.
Michael J. Astrue, Social Security *
Commissioner, *
*
Appellant. *
___________

Submitted: December 17, 2010
Filed: August 29, 2011
___________

Before WOLLMAN, BRIGHT, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.
___________

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

The Social Security Act authorizes the payment of benefits to the dependent
children of deceased workers. This case requires us to determine whether a child
conceived through artificial insemination more than a year after her father’s death
qualifies for benefits under the Act. The Commissioner of the Social Security
Administration (“SSA”) interprets the Act to provide that a natural child of the
decedent is not entitled to benefits unless she has inheritance rights under state law
or can satisfy certain additional statutory requirements. We conclude that the
Commissioner’s interpretation is, at a minimum, reasonable and entitled to deference,
and that the relevant state law does not entitle the applicant in this case to benefits.
We therefore reverse the district court’s contrary judgment.

I.

A.

Bruce and Patti Beeler met in February 2000, became engaged five months
later, and planned to marry in May 2001. Before the wedding date, however, Bruce
was diagnosed with acute leukemia and admitted to the University of Iowa Hospitals
and Clinics (“UIHC”) in Iowa City, Iowa. Doctors advised Bruce to undergo
chemotherapy.

Before the treatments commenced, Patti read a brochure about chemotherapy
and learned that it could cause sterility. Because Bruce and Patti wanted to have
children, they arranged for Bruce to bank semen at the UIHC Fertility Clinic on
November 6, 2000. Bruce began chemotherapy shortly thereafter and was
hospitalized. His doctor advised him that chemotherapy would not succeed, and that
a bone marrow transplant would be his only chance for survival. While Bruce was
in the hospital, Bruce and Patti decided to reschedule their wedding to December
2000.

In December, Bruce was released from the hospital and returned to work.
Bruce and Patti were married at home later that month. In January 2001, Bruce
developed an infection and returned to the hospital. Bruce’s doctor informed him that
his life expectancy without a bone marrow transplant was approximately six months,
and that even with a transplant, his chances of long-term survival were only about 50
percent. Bruce began making plans for his death, including funeral arrangements.

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 In February 2001, the Beelers turned their attention to the disposition of
Bruce’s banked semen. On February 12,1 Bruce signed the hospital’s Form 61, in
which he bequeathed the semen to Patti and provided that the semen could be used
only by Patti in the event of his death. On the same day, the Beelers also signed the
hospital’s Form 151. Entitled “Agreement of Understanding,” Form 151 provides
that the signatories “desire[] the female partner to be artificially inseminated or
oocytes inseminated in vitro for the purpose of conceiving a child.” The form also
states that the “[m]ale partner hereby agrees to accept and acknowledge paternity and
child support responsibility of any resulting child or children.”

Two days after the Beelers signed the forms, Bruce underwent a bone marrow
transplant. The transplant was unsuccessful, and by late April, it became clear that
Bruce would not survive. Patti later stated that Bruce was comforted during this time
by his belief that Patti would have his children after he died. Bruce’s mother averred
that Bruce hoped that Patti would bear his children after his death. Bruce died on
May 4, 2001, at the age of 37. At the time of his death, he was domiciled in the State
of Iowa.

After Patti lost her employment in August 2001, she decided to wait until she
secured a new full-time job with benefits before she attempted to conceive a child
using Bruce’s frozen semen. On July 25, 2002, Patti conceived a child after
undergoing intra-uterine insemination. Her daughter, B.E.B., was born on April 28,
2003. Bruce is listed as B.E.B.’s father on her birth certificate, and it is undisputed
that B.E.B. is Bruce’s biological daughter.

1
In an affidavit, Patti Beeler indicated that Bruce signed Form 61 in November
2000, shortly before he began chemotherapy. The only signed copy of Form 61 in the
record bears a date of February 12, 2001.

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 On June 2, 2003, Patti Beeler filed an application for child’s insurance benefits
on behalf of B.E.B. The SSA denied the application and a request for
reconsideration, and Beeler requested a hearing before an administrative law judge
(“ALJ”). Following a hearing in March 2008, the ALJ sent the case to the agency’s
Appeals Council with a recommended decision concluding that B.E.B. was not
entitled to benefits. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.953(c). On December 22, 2008, the Appeals
Council, based on its review and application of the Act, regulations, rulings, and
acquiescence rulings, issued an opinion determining that B.E.B. “is not the child of
the wage earner within the meaning of the Social Security Act (Act) and is not entitled
to benefits.” This opinion is the agency’s final decision on the matter.

On February 13, 2009, Beeler sued the Commissioner of Social Security,
seeking review of the SSA’s denial of benefits. The district court reversed the SSA’s
decision and remanded the matter to the agency with instructions to calculate and
award benefits for B.E.B. The district court denied the Commissioner’s motion to
alter or amend the judgment, and the Commissioner filed a timely notice of appeal.

B.

In 1935, Congress enacted the Social Security Act, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620
(codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 301 et seq.), which provides for monthly benefit
payments to workers who reach a certain age and who meet other established criteria.
Four years later, Congress amended the Act to provide for benefit payments to the
family members of deceased wage earners. The Social Security Act Amendments of
1939, ch. 666, 53 Stat. 1360, included a provision, currently codified at 42 U.S.C.
§ 402(d), that authorizes the payment of “child’s insurance benefits” to the children
of deceased workers if certain conditions are met. See id. § 201, 53 Stat. at 1364-65
(amending section 202(c) of the Social Security Act).

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 To be eligible for child’s insurance benefits, a minor child of a deceased wage
earner must satisfy several criteria outlined in 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1). Specifically,
an applicant is eligible for benefits if she is (1) a “child (as defined in section 416(e)
of this title),” (2) of a fully insured individual, (3) who has filed an application for
child’s insurance benefits, (4) is unmarried and under 18 years old, and (5) was
dependent upon the fully insured individual at the time of the insured individual’s
death. 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1)(A)-(C). The Commissioner contends that B.E.B. is not
eligible for benefits, because she is not a “child” within the meaning of the Act, and
was not dependent on the wage earner at the time of his death. There is no dispute
that Bruce Beeler was a fully insured individual at the time of his death, that an
application for benefits has been filed on B.E.B.’s behalf, and that B.E.B. is
unmarried and under 18 years old.

As noted, to qualify for child’s insurance benefits, an applicant must be a “child
as defined in” 42 U.S.C. § 416(e). 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1) (parenthesis omitted).
Section 416(e) enumerates three categories of persons who are a “child,” only the first
of which is at issue here: “The term ‘child’ means (1) the child or legally adopted
child of an individual.” Id. § 416(e). The statute continues that “child” also means
a stepchild, grandchild, or stepgrandchild under certain circumstances, but Beeler
does not invoke those aspects of the definition. The agency’s regulations refer to
“child” in the first enumeration as a “natural child,” to distinguish such an applicant
from an adopted child, stepchild, grandchild, or stepgrandchild. See 20 C.F.R.
§ 404.354; Application of State Law in Determining Child Relationship, 63 Fed. Reg.
57,590, 57,592 (Oct. 28, 1998) (equating the term “natural child” with the term “child
(as opposed to a legally adopted child, a stepchild, or other type of individual who
can qualify under section 216(e) of the Act as a ‘child’ for purposes of section 202(d)
of the Act)”); cf. Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 781 n.12 (1975) (using the term
“natural child” to refer to a “child,” as that word is used in the definition of “child”
in § 416(e)).

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 After defining other terms, the statute includes a subsection entitled
“Determination of family status,” 42 U.S.C. § 416(h). One provision thereunder
states:

In determining whether an applicant is the child or parent of a fully or
currently insured individual for purposes of this subchapter, the
Commissioner of Social Security shall apply such law as would be
applied in determining the devolution of intestate personal property
. . . , if such insured individual is dead, by the courts of the State in
which he was domiciled at the time of his death . . . . Applicants who
according to such law would have the same status relative to taking
intestate personal property as a child or parent shall be deemed such.

42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(2)(A) (emphasis added). If an applicant “is not (and is not
deemed to be) the child” of such insured individual under § 416(h)(2), but is the “son
or daughter” of an insured individual, then the applicant “shall nevertheless be
deemed to be the child of such insured individual” if before the wage earner’s death,
the wage earner “acknowledged in writing that the applicant is his or her son or
daughter.” Id. § 416(h)(3)(C)(i)(I).2

2
Section 416(h) specifies other situations in which an applicant may be deemed
a “child,” none of which is at issue here: An applicant may be deemed a “child” if the
insured individual and the child’s other parent “went through a marriage ceremony
resulting in a purported marriage between them which, but for a legal impediment . . .
would have been a valid marriage,” id. § 416(h)(2)(B), if the Commissioner
determines that the wage earner is the parent of the applicant and the wage earner was
living with or supporting the applicant at the time of the wage earner’s death, id.
§ 416(h)(3)(C)(ii), or if the applicant is the son or daughter of an insured individual
who while living was decreed by a court to be the parent of the applicant, or was
ordered by a court to pay child support for the applicant’s benefit. Id.
§ 416(h)(3)(C)(i)(II)-(III).

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 An applicant for child’s insurance benefits also must show that she was
dependent on the wage earner at the time of his death. Id. § 402(d)(1)(C)(ii). The
parties agree that if B.E.B. qualifies as a “child” under any provision of § 416(h), then
she will automatically satisfy the Act’s dependency requirement. See 42 U.S.C.
§ 402(d)(3); Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U.S. 495, 514 n.17 (1976); 20 C.F.R. § 404.361.

The dispute in this case centers on the relationship between § 416(e) and
§ 416(h), and the SSA regulations implementing those provisions. The Appeals
Council concluded that B.E.B. is not a “child” of Bruce Beeler within the meaning
of the Social Security Act.3 The Commissioner argues that this decision was correct,
because § 416(h) is the exclusive means by which an applicant can qualify as a
“natural child” – that is, a “child” under the first enumeration in § 416(e). Beeler
argues that the provisions in § 416(h) are mere “savings clauses,” which allow an
applicant who does not qualify as a “child” under § 416(e) to be deemed a “child”
nonetheless. Under Beeler’s interpretation, which was adopted by the district court,
an applicant who is the undisputed biological child of an insured individual
necessarily qualifies as a “child” within the meaning of § 416(e), and no reference to
§ 416(h) is necessary.

II.

We review de novo a district court’s decision reversing a denial of social
security benefits, Reutter ex rel. Reutter v. Barnhart, 372 F.3d 946, 950 (8th Cir.

3
The Appeals Council also addressed whether B.E.B. was “dependent” on the
deceased at the time of his death, within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1). As
part of this analysis, the Appeals Council determined that B.E.B. did not satisfy the
criteria for “natural child” status under 42 U.S.C. §§ 416(h)(2)(A), 416(h)(2)(B), or
416(h)(3). We understand the agency’s decision to conclude both that B.E.B. is not
a “child” of a wage earner within the meaning of §§ 402(d)(1) and 416(e), and that
B.E.B. was not “dependent” on a wage earner within the meaning of § 402(d)(1)(C).

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2004), and we will affirm the Commissioner’s denial of benefits if substantial
evidence in the record as a whole supports the decision, and the Commissioner
correctly applied the relevant legal standards. See 42 U.S.C. § 405(g); Mason v.
Barnhart, 406 F.3d 962, 964 (8th Cir. 2005). Whether § 416(h) is the exclusive
means by which an applicant can qualify for “child” status as a natural child within
the meaning of § 416(e) is a question of statutory interpretation that we review de
novo. Crane v. Sullivan, 993 F.2d 1335, 1336 (8th Cir. 1993). When Congress has
delegated authority to an administrative agency to interpret and implement a federal
statute, we give the agency’s interpretation deference pursuant to Chevron, U.S.A.,
Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984). Under
Chevron, the agency’s “view governs if it is a reasonable interpretation of the statute
– not necessarily the only possible interpretation, nor even the interpretation deemed
most reasonable by the courts.” Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., 129 S. Ct. 1498,
1505 & n.4 (2009).

A.

Chevron deference is appropriate “when it appears that Congress delegated
authority to the agency generally to make rules carrying the force of law, and that the
agency interpretation claiming deference was promulgated in the exercise of that
authority.” United States v. Mead Corp., 533 U.S. 218, 226-27 (2001). Here, the
relevant regulations are the product of notice-and-comment rulemaking, and the
regulations were issued pursuant to the Commissioner’s statutory authority to
promulgate rules that are “necessary or appropriate to carry out” his functions and the
relevant statutory provisions. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 405, 902; Application of State Law
in Determining Child Relationship, 63 Fed. Reg. at 57,593. As such, they are
controlling if reasonable. See Mead, 533 U.S. at 230.

The agency’s general regulation regarding the criteria for “child” status under
§ 416(e) is 20 C.F.R. § 404.354. This provision states in part: “You may be related

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to the insured person in one of several ways and be entitled to benefits as his or her
child, i.e., as a natural child, legally adopted child, stepchild, grandchild,
stepgrandchild, or equitably adopted child.” 20 C.F.R. § 404.354 (emphasis added).
Section 404.354 refers the reader to subsequent sections of the Code of Federal
Regulations, 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.355 to 404.359, “[f]or details on how we determine
your relationship to the insured person.” Id. Section 404.355 – entitled “Who is the
insured’s natural child?” – provides that “[y]ou may be eligible for benefits as the
insured’s natural child if any of the following conditions is met.” Id. § 404.355(a).
That statement is followed by a list of four conditions for “natural child” status that
closely track the statutory criteria for “child” status in § 416(h)(2)(A), § 416(h)(2)(B),
and § 416(h)(3). The regulations provide different sets of qualifications for adopted
children, stepchildren, grandchildren, and stepgrandchildren, who – unlike natural
children – are not required to satisfy one of the relevant provisions of § 416(h). See
id. §§ 404.356 to 404.359. According to the Commissioner, the regulations confirm
that an applicant can qualify as a natural “child” within the meaning of § 416(e) only
by meeting one of the criteria outlined in § 416(h). The SSA restated this view, albeit
without notice and comment, in an acquiescence ruling issued after a decision
unfavorable to the agency’s position in Gillett-Netting v. Barnhart, 371 F.3d 593 (9th
Cir. 2004). See Social Security Acquiescence Ruling 05-1(9), 70 Fed. Reg. 55,656,
55,657 (Sept. 22, 2005) (“Section 216(h) provides the analytical framework that we
must follow for determining whether a child is the insured’s child for the purposes of
section 216(e).”).

Beeler argues that § 404.354’s reference to “a natural child” supports her view
that an undisputed biological child of the insured is necessarily a “child” within the
meaning of § 416(e). Beeler acknowledges that § 404.355 applies to natural children
and effectively repeats the relevant provisions of § 416(h). But she asserts that the
regulation does not exclude the possibility that “natural child” status can be
established by other means, such as an undisputed biological relationship. Beeler
emphasizes that the regulation says “you may be eligible for benefits as a natural

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child” if certain conditions are met, and argues that if the four listed criteria were
meant to be the exclusive means of acquiring “natural child” status, then the
regulation would have said so.

We see no latent ambiguity. The regulations make clear that the SSA interprets
the Act to mean that the provisions of § 416(h) are the exclusive means by which an
applicant can establish “child” status under § 416(e) as a natural child. It would be
passing strange for the agency to promulgate a regulation dedicated specifically to
answering the key question – “Who is the insured’s natural child?” – and then to omit
one prominent answer. The agency’s acquiescence ruling in reaction to Gillett-
Netting reaffirmed its longstanding position. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1101 (Supp. 1952)
(“Whether an applicant for benefits or a lump sum is the . . . child . . . of the
individual upon whose wages and self-employment income the application is based
. . . is determined by ‘applicable State law.’ By this is meant the law the courts of the
State of the domicile of such individual would apply in deciding who is a . . . child
. . . when determining the devolution of such individual’s intestate personal
property.”). And the rule’s use of the term “may” is consistent with this
interpretation, because the word “may” refers to an applicant’s “eligib[ility] for
benefits,” not to her status “as the insured’s natural child.” Id. § 404.355(a). The
applicant “may be eligible” (not will be eligible) for benefits if she satisfies the
conditions for “natural child” status, because a successful applicant for child’s
insurance benefits also must meet other requirements concerning dependency, age,
and marital status. See 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1). Even if there were a sliver of
ambiguity in the regulations, an agency’s interpretation of its own ambiguous
regulation is “controlling unless plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the
regulation.” Auer v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452, 461 (1997) (internal quotation omitted);
see also Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U.S. 410, 413-14 (1945); Fast v.
Applebee’s Int’l, Inc., 638 F.3d 872, 878-79 (8th Cir. 2011); Thomas v. Jackson, 581
F.3d 658, 664 (8th Cir. 2009); cf. Talk Am., Inc. v. Mich. Bell Tel. Co., 131 S. Ct.

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2254, 2266 (2011) (Scalia, J., concurring). The Commissioner’s interpretation easily
passes muster under Auer.

Beeler also argues that the Commissioner’s position does not deserve deference
because the agency adopted a contrary position in the preamble to a 1998 revision of
the relevant regulations. The 1998 preamble recognized that “[a] child of a valid
marriage has inheritance rights under the laws of all States,” implying that such a
child always will qualify as a natural child by satisfying § 416(h)(2)(A). Application
of State Law in Determining Child Relationship, 63 Fed. Reg. at 57,591. Beeler
contends that a posthumously conceived child whose parents were validly married
comes within this preamble. But the agency could not have meant for “child of a
valid marriage” to include a posthumously conceived child, because a number of
States refused to grant such children intestate inheritance rights at all or unless they
satisfied additional requirements. See Vernoff v. Astrue, 568 F.3d 1102, 1111 & n.9
(9th Cir. 2009) (collecting state statutes). The agency’s reference to “child of a valid
marriage” was limited to a class of children that “has inheritance rights under the laws
of all States.”

Beeler is also incorrect that the preamble “implies that state intestacy law will
matter only with regard to children ‘born out of wedlock.’” The preamble speaks of
all biological children, not merely a subset: “Our policy for determining whether an
applicant qualifies as the ‘child’ of an insured individual has always been that we
apply State law on inheritance rights to determine the status under the Act of a
natural child, i.e., biological child . . . .” Application of State Law in Determining
Child Relationship, 63 Fed. Reg. at 57,592 (emphasis added); see also 20 C.F.R.
§ 404.1101 (Supp. 1952); Social Security Acquiescence Ruling 05-1(9), 70 Fed. Reg.
at 55,657.

Finally, Beeler contends that the agency’s position is not entitled to deference
because it conflicts with the agency’s own policy manual and the ruling of the

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agency’s Appeals Council. The manual states that a “natural legitimate child” –
defined as “a child who is born to the parent, i.e., biological child . . . who was born
of a valid marriage” – “[h]as inheritance rights in the parent’s estate under the laws
of all States.” Social Security Administration, Program Operations Manual System
(“POMS”) § GN 00306.010(A)-(B). It further provides that a birth certificate with
the parents’ names “may [be] accept[ed] . . . as proof that a natural legitimate parent-
child relationship exists.” Id. § GN 00306.010(D)(2)(a). In Beeler’s view, because
B.E.B.’s birth certificate bears her father’s name, the agency’s policy manual provides
that B.E.B. is necessarily a “natural legitimate child” with inheritance rights who is
entitled to benefits.

As with the 1998 preamble, the agency could not have intended to include a
posthumously conceived child when the manual speaks of a “natural legitimate
child.” The manual states as a factual matter that all natural legitimate children –
defined as biological children born of a valid marriage – have inheritance rights under
the laws of all States, but a number of States do not provide such rights to all
posthumously conceived children. See Vernoff, 568 F.3d at 1111 & n.9. Another
provision of the manual, moreover, expressly requires posthumously conceived
children seeking benefits to qualify under § 416(h). See POMS § GN
00306.001(C)(1)(c) (“A child conceived by artificial means after the [insured’s] death
. . . can only be entitled if he or she has inheritance rights under applicable State
intestacy law.”). Although Beeler portrays this provision as “cryptic” and “based on
a mistake of fact or law,” it addresses the precise question at issue, and there is no
inconsistency between the agency’s manual and the Commissioner’s interpretation
of the governing regulations. As for the ruling of the Appeals Council, which held
that B.E.B. was not entitled to benefits because she could not satisfy any of the
relevant provisions of § 416(h), we see no conflict with the agency’s longstanding
position.

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 In sum, the agency’s regulations and policy statements interpreting the relevant
statutory provisions constitute an authoritative construction of the Act that is entitled
to Chevron deference. The SSA has construed the Act to provide that applicants may
attain “child” status as a natural child, within the meaning of § 416(e), only by
satisfying the criteria outlined in § 416(h)(2)(A), § 416(h)(2)(B), or § 416(h)(3).
“[T]he interstitial nature of the legal question, the related expertise of the Agency, the
importance of the question to administration of the statute, the complexity of that
administration, and the careful consideration the Agency has given the question over
a long period of time all indicate that Chevron provides the appropriate legal lens
through which to view the legality of the Agency interpretation here at issue.”
Barnhart v. Walton, 535 U.S. 212, 222 (2002).

B.

We next consider whether the agency’s interpretation of the statute is
reasonable. There is a conflict in the circuits on that question. In a case involving
a posthumously conceived child, the Ninth Circuit held in Gillett-Netting, 371 F.3d
593, that natural children whose parentage is undisputed necessarily qualify as
“children” under § 416(e), and that § 416(h) applies only to applicants whose
parentage is in dispute. Id. at 596-97. The Third Circuit adopted that view in Capato
ex rel. B.N.C. v. Commissioner of Social Security, 631 F.3d 626 (3d Cir. 2011),
petition for cert. filed, 2011 WL 3511023 (U.S. Aug. 8, 2011) (No. 11-159). Most
recently, the Fourth Circuit, in a thorough opinion, disagreed with the Ninth and
Third Circuits, and held that the SSA’s interpretation of the statute is correct. Schafer
v. Astrue, 641 F.3d 49 (4th Cir. 2011); see also Finley v. Astrue, 601 F. Supp. 2d
1092, 1108 (E.D. Ark. 2009) (questioning whether the Eighth Circuit would follow
Gillett-Netting). This court has suggested that all natural children applying for
benefits must satisfy one of the § 416(h) criteria in order to attain the requisite “child”
status, but we have not addressed the question in the context of posthumous
conception. See Voss v. Shalala, 32 F.3d 1269, 1271 (8th Cir. 1994); Cooper ex rel.

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Cooper v. Sullivan, 985 F.2d 390, 390 (8th Cir. 1993) (per curiam); Zahradnik v.
Sullivan, 966 F.2d 355, 356 (8th Cir. 1992); Sherrill ex rel. Sherrill v. Bowen, 835
F.2d 166, 168 (8th Cir. 1987) (per curiam).

The text of the statutes favors the Commissioner’s position. On its face,
§ 416(h)(2)(A) clearly directs the Commissioner to determine the status of a
posthumously conceived child by reference to state intestacy law: “In determining
whether an applicant is the child . . . of a fully or currently insured individual for
purposes of this subchapter, the Commissioner of Social Security shall apply [state
intestacy law].” 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(2)(A) (emphasis added). “The text in short could
hardly be more clear.” Schafer, 641 F.3d at 54.

Beeler contends that a biological child is necessarily a “child” under § 416(e),
and that § 416(h) is thus irrelevant to B.E.B.’s situation. She emphasizes that neither
subsection refers to the other and that § 402(d)(1) requires an applicant to qualify as
a “child” “as defined in section 416(e),” without mentioning § 416(h). These points
are insufficient to establish unambiguously that a posthumously conceived biological
child is necessarily a “child” under § 416(e). Section 416(h) does not expressly refer
to § 416(e), but it plainly says that the Commissioner “shall” use state intestacy law
in determining whether an applicant is the “child” of an insured individual “for
purposes of this subchapter,” and § 416(e) is part of the subchapter. If natural “child”
in § 416(e) is further defined by § 416(h), then Congress can incorporate the
definitional provisions of § 416(h) without an explicit cross-reference to that
subsection. It is reasonable for the Commissioner to conclude that § 402(d)(1)’s
cross-reference to § 416(e) picks up all subsidiary provisions that flow back through
§ 416(e). This interpretation is fortified by the fact that Congress elsewhere required
proof beyond undisputed biological parentage to obtain “child” status under § 416(e).
See 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(2)(B), (h)(3)(C)(ii). If Beeler were correct that undisputed
biological parentage alone were sufficient, then the statutory provisions requiring
more evidence in some cases would be superfluous. See Schafer, 641 F.3d at 55.

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 Beeler also focuses on the last sentence of § 416(h)(2)(A), which provides:
“Applicants who according to such [state intestacy] law would have the same status
relative to taking intestate personal property as a child or parent shall be deemed
such.” 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(2)(A). Beeler contends that this sentence demonstrates
that § 416(h)(2)(A) is designed solely to “deem” nonchildren to be children, and that
it has no relevance to an applicant whose status as a “child” is undisputed. The
opening sentence of the subsection, however, directs the Commissioner to apply state
intestacy law “[i]n determining whether an applicant is the child” of an insured
individual. Id. (emphasis added). Section 416(h)(2)(A) must be construed as a
whole, and the first sentence is reasonably read as an all-encompassing directive for
determining whether an applicant is a natural child. The last sentence is reasonably
understood as making clear that an applicant who is permitted to inherit from the
insured individual as his “child” under state intestacy law qualifies as a “child” for
purposes of § 416(h)(2)(A), even if the applicant is not actually a child of the insured
individual. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.355(b)(1); id. § 404.1102 (Supp. 1952).

The Ninth Circuit relied heavily on the Act’s legislative history to conclude
that biological paternity alone is sufficient to establish that an applicant is a “child”
within the meaning of the Act, and the Third Circuit cited this analysis in its opinion.
See Capato, 631 F.3d at 630; Gillett-Netting, 371 F.3d at 596-97. The Ninth Circuit
believed that the relevant provisions of § 416(h) “have no relevance to the issue
before us,” because those provisions “were added to the Act to provide various ways
in which children could be entitled to benefits even if their parents were not married
or their parentage was in dispute.” Gillett-Netting, 371 F.3d at 596.

Aside from whether legislative history would be sufficient to render
unreasonable an interpretation that is amply supported by the statutory text, the
Gillett-Netting opinion misreads the legislative history. A provision directing the
Commissioner to apply state intestacy law to determine whether an applicant is a
“child” has been part of the Social Security Act all along. When Congress first

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established a system of child’s insurance benefits in 1939, the relevant statutory
language was similar to the current § 402(d)(1), § 416(e), and § 416(h). The
predecessor of § 402(d)(1) provided that an applicant for benefits had to be a “child
(as defined in section 209(k)).” Social Security Act Amendments of 1939, § 201, 53
Stat. at 1364 (amending § 202(c) of the Act). Section 209(k) of the Act, the precursor
to 42 U.S.C. § 416(e), stated that the “term ‘child’ . . . means the child of an
individual, and the stepchild of an individual . . . , and a child legally adopted by an
individual.” Id. at 1377 (amending the Act to add § 209(k)). Congress also included
§ 209(m) – the forerunner of the current 42 U.S.C. § 416(h) – providing that “[i]n
determining whether an applicant is the wife, widow, child, or parent of a fully
insured or currently insured individual for purposes of this title, the [Social Security]
Board shall apply such law as would be applied in determining the devolution of
intestate personal property.” Id. at 1378.

In 1965, when Congress added the language now codified at 42 U.S.C.
§ 416(h)(3), see Social Security Amendments of 1965, Pub. L. 89-97, 79 Stat. 286,
409-410, the relevant committee report explained that state intestacy law already
governed: “Under present law, whether a child meets the definition of a child for the
purpose of getting child’s insurance benefits based on his father’s earnings depends
on the laws applied in determining the devolution of interstate personal property in
the State in which the worker is domiciled.” S. Rep. No. 89-404, at 109 (1965)
(emphases added); see also 111 Cong. Rec. 18,383, 18,387 (1965) (statement of Rep.
Mills). The report indicates that the committee believed the existing eligibility
requirements were too strict, because they disqualified many illegitimate natural
children who lacked inheritance rights under state intestacy law. S. Rep. No. 89-404,
at 109-10. By adding the language now codified at § 416(h)(3), the committee hoped
to provide alternative means for natural children to qualify as “children,” even if they
lacked inheritance rights under state intestacy law. Id. But this does not mean the
committee thought § 416(h) applied only to illegitimate children or to children whose
parentage is disputed. The preexisting statutory framework already established that

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a natural child must show an ability to inherit under state law in order to receive
child’s insurance benefits under the Act. See Schafer, 641 F.3d at 57 (citing cases).

III.

We thus turn to the question whether B.E.B. qualifies as a natural child of the
decedent under § 416(h). We consider state law in effect at the time of the final
agency decision. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.355(b)(4). The first question is whether B.E.B.
would have inheritance rights as a child under Iowa intestacy law. 42 U.S.C.
§ 416(h)(2)(A). The Iowa Code includes a section entitled “Afterborn heirs – time
of determining relationship,” which reads as follows:

Heirs of an intestate, begotten before the intestate’s death but born
thereafter, shall inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of the
intestate and had survived the intestate. With this exception, the intestate
succession shall be determined by the relationships existing at the time
of the death of the intestate.

Iowa Code § 633.220.

With one exception – heirs “begotten” before the intestate’s death – the statute
limits intestate inheritance for afterborn heirs to those who had a “relationship” with
the decedent at the time of his death. “As generally used, the word ‘beget’ means to
procreate, to produce.” Ault v. Hillyard, 115 N.W. 1030, 1031 (Iowa 1908). B.E.B.
was not “begotten” before Bruce Beeler died, because she was not conceived until
more than a year after his death. For the same reason, she did not have an existing
“relationship” with Bruce Beeler at the time of his death, and she is not entitled to
inheritance rights under Iowa law.

The district court agreed that Beeler could not inherit under § 633.220, but
thought she qualified under Iowa Code § 633.222. That section, entitled “Biological

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child – inherit from father,” provides that a biological child inherits from her
biological father if [1] “the evidence proving paternity is available during the father’s
lifetime, or [2] if the child has been recognized by the father as his child.” Iowa Code
§ 633.222. We do not construe § 633.222 to provide for inheritance by an afterborn
heir who cannot meet the criteria of § 633.220. Section 633.220 specifically
addresses when an afterborn heir may inherit, and this specific section governs over
the more general provision concerning all biological children. See McElroy v. State,
637 N.W.2d 488, 494 (Iowa 2001). In any event, even applying § 633.222, Bruce
Beeler had not “recognized” B.E.B. as his child before his death. Unlike the unborn
child in Evjen v. Novotny (In re Estate of Evjen), 448 N.W.2d 23 (Iowa 1989), who
had been “recognized” in utero by his father, B.E.B. had not been conceived at the
time of Bruce Beeler’s death. It would stretch the statutory language too far to say
that a child not yet in existence can be “recognized” by a man as “his child.”

Beeler also contends that B.E.B. qualifies as a “child” under
§ 416(h)(3)(C)(i)(I). This provision allows an applicant who does not qualify as a
natural child under § 416(h)(2)(A) or § 416(h)(2)(B) to be “deemed” a natural child
if the insured individual, prior to his death, “acknowledged in writing that the
applicant is his . . . son or daughter.” 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(3)(C)(i)(I). Beeler points
to Bruce Beeler’s statements that he hoped his wife would have his children after his
death, and his signature on a hospital form stating that he “hereby agrees to accept
and acknowledge paternity and child support responsibility of any resulting child or
children” that were created by using his frozen semen. The agency reasonably
concluded that these statements are insufficient to satisfy § 416(h)(3)(C)(i)(I). The
hospital form does not directly acknowledge paternity of a child. The signatory only
“agrees to . . . acknowledge paternity . . . of any resulting child or children” at some
point in the future. J.A. 53 (emphasis added). Even if Bruce Beeler had sought to
acknowledge in February 2001 paternity of all potential future children conceived
from his semen after his death, the statute’s use of the definite article – requiring an
“acknowledg[ment] in writing that the applicant is his . . . son or daughter” –

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indicates that the insured must acknowledge a particular child in order for that child
to be deemed a natural child. See Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe v. United States, 197
F.3d 949, 952 (8th Cir. 1999). No such acknowledgment was possible here, because
B.E.B. was not yet conceived when Bruce Beeler died.

* * *

The death of Bruce Beeler at a relatively young age before he and Patti Beeler
could conceive children is profoundly sad. But whether the granting of child’s
insurance benefits to B.E.B., a posthumously conceived child, would further the
purposes of the Social Security Act is debatable, given the Act’s “basic aim of
primarily helping those children who lost support after the unanticipated death of a
parent.” Schafer, 641 F.3d at 58 (emphasis added). It is unlikely that Members of
Congress contemplated this precise question when enacting the relevant provisions
of the Act in the 1930s and 1960s. At a minimum, however, the Act permits the
longstanding position of the SSA, if the Act does not require it. Cf. id. at 60. As the
law now stands, it resolves the question of eligibility for child’s insurance benefits
by reference to state intestacy law, and Iowa law did not provide B.E.B. with
intestacy rights at the time of the agency’s final decision in this litigation.4

4
While this appeal was pending, the State of Iowa enacted a law that provides
intestate succession rights to posthumously conceived children under certain
circumstances. See 2011 Iowa Legis. Serv. H.F. 245 (West), § 2 (codified at Iowa
Code § 633.220A). Beeler does not contend that this new statute grants intestate
succession rights to B.E.B., and the governing federal regulations advise an applicant
that in construing state intestacy law, the Social Security Administration will consider
“any version of State law in effect from the first month for which you could be
entitled to benefits up until our final decision on your application.” 20 C.F.R.
§ 404.355(b)(4) (emphasis added). The decision of the Appeals Council on
December 22, 2008, was the agency’s final decision in this case, see Hulsey v. Astrue,
622 F.3d 917, 922 (8th Cir. 2010), and the new Iowa statute does not indicate that it
is retroactive to the time of Bruce Beeler’s death. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.355(b)(4)(i).

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 For these reasons, the Commissioner’s denial of benefits was supported by
reasonable construction of the governing statutes and regulations, and by substantial
evidence on the record as a whole. The judgment of the district court is reversed, and
the case is remanded with directions to enter judgment for the Commissioner.
______________________________

The new Iowa law is therefore not applicable.

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