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Long-'dead' husband turns up alive
By Associated Press
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CHATTAROY, Wash. -- A woman fighting to regain widow's benefits that were cut off long after her husband was declared dead has learned that Social Security Administration officials were right - he really is still alive.

Judy Sullivan, 66, was recently given proof that a man who identified himself as Jack Sullivan in an undisclosed East Coast location was the same man who vanished 16 years ago after 25 years of marriage, The Spokesman-Review of Spokane reported Tuesday.

Jack Sullivan disappeared on June 11, 1991, after asking his wife to meet him for lunch. The couple lived in Temecula, Calif., at the time.

His brothers, a business partner and lifelong friends all said they had not heard from him since.

A judge declared him legally dead in 1999, and his wife began receiving monthly Social Security checks of $867.

Earlier this year, Social Security officials stopped sending the checks and demanded that Judy Sullivan repay more than $90,000, saying Jack Sullivan had been found.

The investigation that led to the cutoff of benefits was triggered by a man's application for a Social Security card and driver's license, and identification was confirmed through interviews and a distinctive scar on his nose, said Joy Chang, regional Social Security communications director in Seattle.

"We do a thorough investigation before we make a determination like that," Chang said.

Loss of the checks meant Judy Sullivan was unable to pay her debts with the $623 a month she continued getting in Supplemental Security Income, she told the newspaper.

However, Social Security officials have cleared her of fraud allegations and waived the demand for repayment of the $90,000.

She is hospitalized because of illness and cannot comment, said Lawrence A. Weiser, clinical law program director at Gonzaga University, where she had gone for help in getting her widow's benefits restored.

"It's pretty devastating to her," Weiser said.

Officials said privacy laws bar Social Security from putting her in contact with her husband or disclosing his whereabouts or other personal information, but Weiser said federal investigators learned that, since leaving his wife, Jack Sullivan had worked as a truck driver and lived in the Middle East for a time.

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Reader comments on this story - 19 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Deb wrote on Oct 24, 2007 11:23 PM:

" The one that should pay back to cash is her husband for leaving her and letting her think he was dead. His family had surely talked to him. If he was a truckdriver, why did social security not catch that alittle earlier? I would say SS is out of luck because he is a deadbeat and this is enough to kill her. What a blow to greive someones death and then find out there alive but just didn't want you.... "

To: I say wrote on Oct 24, 2007 5:39 PM:

" Like it was stated earlier...nobody has to repay anything. And, how did he commit fraud? Maybe he was just fed up with the life he had, walked away, and started over. Assuming children aren't involved, he may have done nothing wrong. Sure, it's fishy...but just from this story, I don't think you can say this guy's breaking any laws. "

Eve wrote on Oct 24, 2007 3:32 PM:

" I'd kill him LOL "

I say wrote on Oct 24, 2007 2:59 PM:

" Sue him to repay it. He's the coward that disappeared & wanted to be "dead". He's the one who committed fraud. "

TO: NOTE wrote on Oct 24, 2007 9:42 AM:

" She collected this money after he disappeared for 8 YEARS! He disappeared in 91 and was legally declared dead 8 years later. Who said they didn't look for it during the 8 years. "

To: in other words wrote on Oct 24, 2007 8:31 AM:

" Men don't get super mad we leave that up to women over 50. It appears he tried to stay dead but the Social Security brought him back to life. As usual it was all about the money. "

If... wrote on Oct 24, 2007 8:30 AM:

" you had been married for 25 years, and you were suddenly widowed it's likely that financial status will change dramatically and scare you to death. You can't comfortably rely on two steady paychecks, or just one paycheck and suddenly there is only one, or none at all. It would be scary and that is when people have to toughen up and get help if they need it and that is exacly what she did. You have no idea how she felt when he dissapeared and was declared dead. Assuming does nothing. "

To NOTE wrote on Oct 24, 2007 7:34 AM:

" How do you know she didn't try to find the body or the whereabouts of her husband? Just because it doesn't say it in the article doesn't mean it didn't happen. They probably declared him as a missing person first rather than dead. I for one would like to hear his side of what happened and why he just up and left like that. "

Candy wrote on Oct 24, 2007 7:19 AM:

" Sounds like something my ex would do where ever he is at. Wonder why he left in the first place, had to be a reason for him to just take off. Only a woman knows how hard it is to trace a man down when he is hiding from having to pay child support. "

To Note wrote on Oct 24, 2007 6:37 AM:

" Tell us how she could find the body. "

chubbyalaskagriz wrote on Oct 24, 2007 6:36 AM:

" Folks- read the whole article... The Social Security Administration waived the pay-back demand for the $90,000.00. "

I'm a guy... wrote on Oct 24, 2007 12:43 AM:

" ... and I too feel the man should be responsible for the big pay-back! I've recently assisted my elderly father thru social security difficulties made more complicated due to he having an ex-wife and re-marrying... It has been a mess and at times the government's logic has seemed clouded. In this woman's case, I feel it's appalling that she should have to pay the funds back, afterall she received it resulting from legally-declared death resulting from the man's actions. At the very least she ought to be able to sue the long-gone husband who abandoned his family. "

In other words......... wrote on Oct 23, 2007 11:10 PM:

" he should have remained DEAD! Leave it to a man to try to screw up a woman's life by re-appearing somewhere. OH, OH - I just made a lot of men super mad!! "

Idea wrote on Oct 23, 2007 10:48 PM:

" Why doesn't he have to pay back the money? He caused the problem by not telling his wife he was leaving. "

NOTE wrote on Oct 23, 2007 10:45 PM:

" that she fought for widow benefits but did not bother to try to find the body for burial. What a loving wife that was distraught ove rher husbands death. Only now is she distraught because he is alive. "

I'm 51 wrote on Oct 23, 2007 8:09 PM:

" And still living with, and loving my wife. The reason this stuff makes headlines is because it's so rare. So, Just move on, cheer up. If he's that impossible to live with, then maybe you need to move on! "

To: Just... wrote on Oct 23, 2007 7:00 PM:

" Something I have to look forward to then, huh? Thanks for the warning... "

... wrote on Oct 23, 2007 6:59 PM:

" I think I saw this movie on Lifetime Satruday! "

Just move on wrote on Oct 23, 2007 6:21 PM:

" Another case of when they hit fifty they are impossible to live with. "
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