Man, 23, marries 91-year-old great-aunt and launches legal fight for her pension
A lawyer aged 23 who married his 91-year-old great aunt tried to claim a widower’s pension when she died just over a year later.
Mauricio Ossola, from Argentina, was studying law in February, 2015, when he married in a “discreet civil service” Yolanda Torres, his great aunt who died in April, 2016, from sepsis. He claimed that the marriage was a “genuine and legitimate decision”. When he then went to claim a widower's pension the following summer, the authorities rejected his application after his neighbours told investigators they knew nothing about the marriage.
Mauricio, from the city of Salta, in the north west of Argentina, had lived with his mother, sister, grandma, and great aunt, after his parents separated in 2009. And it was after Yolanda’s death in 2016 that he went to the social services that he tried to register for the pension.
An investigation was launched that also saw officials speak to people who knew the family and this included neighbours who reportedly said that they knew nothing about the marriage. As a result the claim was turned down and Mauricio said he would go to the highest court in the country to prove he should get the weekly payment.
His claim for a widower's pension was rejected (Linkedin)He told his local paper El Tribuno de Salta: “She was an important support in my life and us getting married was her last wish. I loved Yolanda in the purest way you can love someone and that feeling, along with the pain her loss caused me, will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
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“When I began to apply for the pension I presented all the necessary paperwork and complied with all the legal requirements. Yolanda might have been over 90 but she was extremely lucid. But she wasn’t an expert when it came to the law and she wanted to be sure there were no legal problems with our marriage.”
Mauricio said their decision to marry came after she promised to help him continue his law studies which he had planned to abandon after his parents’ split. He said that he gave all the papers and every detail that they asked for when he presented his claim for a pension in 2016.
“Next to our house they’ve built a block where I know no one at all. What could these neighbours know about us and our discreet civil marriage,” he said of the rejection on the basis that the neighbours knew nothing of the marriage. “If I have to go all the way to the Supreme Court I will because the rejection of my petition is totally unfounded. I said to Yolanda after the separation of my parents: ‘Look Ulita, I’m going to have to abandon my studies. Those were the circumstances that led to us getting married. Yolanda insisted I had to finish my studies.
"She would say to me, ‘I’m going to help you because you always take care of me, you go with me to the doctor’s and you’re always helping me with my problems. After some time had gone by, I asked her what she would think if I asked her to marry me.’”
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