Wilder (hereinafter decedent) died on September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center. When P applied for a workers' compensation death benefit as decedent's surviving spouse, Elisa Gomez Escalante (D) objected and likewise sought a death benefit as decedent's surviving spouse. It appears that Wilder married Escalante (D) in his native Colombia in 1984 and, following his solitary emigration to the United States in 1991, decedent married P in New York in 1992. A Workers' Compensation Law Judge concluded that P was decedent's surviving spouse and awarded benefits. The Workers' Compensation Board affirmed, prompting this appeal.

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