Can I receive Survivor Spouse benefits under Common law status in nyc. We were both born in South Carolina and have three adult children together.

New York law does not allow parties to contract a common-law marriage. However, if you validly contracted a common-law marriage elsewhere, either before or during your New York residency, you may have a valid common-law marriage. You do not provide enough facts from which it can be determined whether you contracted a common-law marriage elsewhere. The facts that you were born in another state, or had multiple children with your deceased partner, or were named as a beneficiary under a life insurance or pension, are all insufficient to constitute a "marriage." For you to have been "married" under the laws of a state other than New York, you must, most importantly, have held yourselves out as being married. Those facts are not evident from your inquiry.