A New Jersey mom is seeking Social Security survivor benefits for twins conceived in vitro after her husband's cancer death.

Karen Capato has been fighting the agency's rejection of her claim in federal court.

And this week, a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia sided with her, ordering a federal judge who rejected her claim to reconsider.

The court says there's no doubt the 7-year-old twins are the biological children of Capato and her husband, Robert, who died in 2002. They were conceived using sperm frozen before he started treatment.

The three-judge panel says Capato must now prove they were

"dependent or deemed dependent"

at the time of his death.

U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, in her opinion, says it is

"indeed, a new world."