Widow told husband's not dead, she owes $90K

SPOKANE — Eight years after a judge declared him dead, the Social Security Administration says Judy Sullivan's husband is alive, and it wants back more than $90,000 in widow's benefits she has received.

But Sullivan doesn't think the person who applied for a new Social Security card and driver's license in an unspecified Eastern state is Jack Sullivan, her husband of 25 years who disappeared without a trace in 1991.

Larry Weiser, director of Gonzaga University School of Law's legal assistance clinic, said Monday that Sullivan, who is disabled and lives in a rented single-wide trailer, doesn't have the resources to wait the year or more Social Security appeals can take.

Social Security officials have not responded to her requests to prove the person is not an identity thief, Weiser said.

"Their position is that he's alive, and they have a policy to 'resurrect' an individual," he said. "That policy is very strict and rigorous. However, we have not received any information from them indicating what kind of information they have. We would like that information."

Joy Chang, a spokeswoman in the Social Security regional office in Seattle, said Monday she had no new information on the case.

"In general, we do get proof of identity, but this is such an unusual case we will have to look into the specifics," she said. "Because we have multiple offices involved, I just think we should look into it more closely."

Judy Sullivan, 64, lives in rural Chattaroy, north of Spokane. Facing a demand that she return nearly $91,000 in "overpayments" she received the last eight years, she said Monday she doubts her husband is alive.

"I can tell you it's devastating because I don't know now. I just can't believe that my husband is alive," she said. "I just can't believe he would do something this way. It's not him. He's just not this kind of a person."

Jack Charles Sullivan, a well driller who would be 65, called to ask his wife to join him for lunch in Temecula, Calif., on June 11, 1991. She was unable to meet him and never saw or heard from him again.

Nor did any of his brothers, a partner in a well-drilling company or lifelong friends, according to Social Security administrative-law records.

The Oldsmobile that Jack Sullivan was driving has never been found and apparently has not been registered again with any state licensing agency, Weiser said. Three company checks Sullivan had with him that day have never been cashed.

In 1997, Judy Sullivan applied to Social Security for widow's insurance benefits but was rejected because there was no evidence her husband was dead.

She appealed and an administrative-law judge granted her claim in 1999, ruling that Jack Sullivan was presumed to have died on the day he disappeared.

That he could have surfaced after 16 years without a trace gnaws at her, Sullivan said.

"I'd like to know if he is alive; show me some kind of proof," she said Monday amid sobs. "I was pretty well getting situated. And then all this. I just don't know how to handle it."

In May, the Social Security Administration stopped paying the $867 a month widow's benefit that had been Sullivan's sole source of income.

The agency sent her letters saying it expects payment of nearly $91,000 she has received since 1999 and threatening to garnish $400 of the $623 she now receives each month through her own Social Security account and Supplemental Security Income.

Citing privacy laws, Social Security refuses to say where Jack Sullivan is living or working. Judy Sullivan has received letters from the agency from offices in New Jersey, Chicago and Kansas City, Mo. The Gonzaga law clinic also has information that offices in West Virginia and Pennsylvania also may be involved.

The clinic has written to Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both D-Wash., as well as Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wash., asking assistance in expediting Sullivan's appeal.

Weiser said he hopes the case will be fast-tracked so he can subpoena Social Security records or even the person who applied for a Social Security card.

Meanwhile, the legal clinic has asked for a waiver of the benefits "overpayment" until the matter can be resolved. Allen Gilbert, an official of the agency's Spokane office, told The Spokesman-Review the chances of the waiver being approved are good because Sullivan applied for and received the benefit money in good faith.

Since a Social Security investigator approached her with the news in February, Sullivan said she has suffered a stroke and cannot walk without assistance. She also suffers from Parkinson's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

"I would like to know if he is alive, where he's been, what happened to him, or if he's not alive," Sullivan said. "I have to know something. This is just destroying me."