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My girlfriend was caring for her disabled brother in her home, she made doctors appointments, filed paperwork with Social Security as well as filing suit when he was turned down for disability. Her brother was unable to do anything for himself, and she took on the daunting task of securing an attorney to have the disability denial overturned.Two years into the suit, the brother died with no Will or tangible estate. He was receiving Social Security benefits and had no solvency at the time of death, and was cremated by the state of Washington. A year after his death, she was contacted by the disability attorney and subsequently testified in court to his state of being at the time of filing. The federal judge sided with her brother and awarded back payment from the time he first applied. How did she go about receiving the judgment, and what paperwork needs to be filed with the state ensuring that the federal fund can be administered to her? Her brother had two sons who like himself are currently heroin addict addicts, and continued cashing your Social Security checks after he had passed away. They did not help their father in any way, prior to his death, he started using again and moved in with one of his sons, making the Social Security check accessible. Just looking for options as she is very deserving of the settlement. Selflessly giving of her time and her meager earnings to the betterment of her brothers living conditions, as well as facilitating care for her brother

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IMO, your GF is not entitled to anything. His sons are. When there is no Will, the state determines who inherits and children come first.

I would think the money will need to go in the bank and become part of his estate. GF can become administrator but Probate will determine who inherits.

I too wonder how sons could keep cashing his check. At time of his cremation SS should have stopped. The Funeral home has to tell SS about the death.

Are you saying brother was receiving SS and sued for Social security Disability? You do realize that he will only get the difference between what he got in regular SS and what he would have gotten in disability which would maybe only be a little higher. And if your right that sons cashed a check after he died, SS may clawback that check and the money received will be even less. It all depends on when he passed.

The check deposited monthly is for the month before. So the check I receive in March is February's payment. If I died in Feb, I am not entitled to my March deposit. If I die in March, I am entitled to March deposit but not Aprils deposit.
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I agree with Geaton. This is attorney work. So girlfriend should continue to work with attorney. If this is substantial in amount the attorney may agree to work on contingency which may be wise given attorney hourly costs these days.

Good luck.
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My Aunt who was a FL resident recently passed away but still had an uncashed annuity check and EE bonds. She did have a Will and I am her Executor. The elder law attorney had me apply to the court as her Personal Representative. After I did this and was approved, I could then open up a special checking account for her estate, where the funds are being deposited. Out of those funds come payments for her remaining debt and certain expenses I incurred that related to her or her death. In my Aunt's case, also the inheritances she designated, but only after the other obligations are satisfied -- and they are prioritized by law. Your GF needs to continue to work with an attorney, especially if her nephews will fight over those funds. I'm not an attorney but when someone dies intestate (without a Will) the probated inheritance usually follows next-of-kin blood lines. If she had no written caregiving agreement with her brother, no signed rental agreement, didn't keep track of related expenses, I'm not sure she will be able to receive payment for "deservedness". Also she would need to prove that her brother's SS income was actually stolen. If he was a ward of the county, then his death would have been immediately recorded and the SS checks would have stopped pretty quickly, so not sure how they could have continued to receive SS checks after he died. An attorney would sort through all of this and figure out if this is a winnable case or not.
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