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My understanding is that SS doesn't "distribute partial month checks" and that all the money has to be returned to SS, so that my mother can then begin receiving widow's benefits. Can anyone clarify or shed some light? I know the gooberment has info on their website, but does anyone have any real life experience?

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Most of the time the funeral home director is the point person who contacts SSA regarding death. There is a small SS death benefit of $ 250 that is payable to the spouse if they were living together at the time of death or to a dependent child - often the funeral home gets this to pay against funeral costs. The FH may ask you to sign off on this if there is not a preneed done.

Unless they die in the first few days of the month, then the following month the regular SS will go out. Could be two months, but usually only 1. BUT check(s) will have a "full clawback" and need to be repaid. If your dad did a direct deposit then you should contact the bank that the SS check needs to be returned - this should be in writing from your mom (you can do it on her behalf) . If it's a check, then just hold the check. Doing either of these will make it faster for your mom to start getting her benefits - otherwise SSA will have to wait to make sure that the SS check is cleared and then you repaid the full amount and then the repayment check cleared (this could be 60 days as the banks and feds can move like glaciers). So don't spend the SS $. Most SSA offices have staff that are trained to deal with death so try to see that staff - most SSA staff deal with work issues.
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The funeral home has nothing to do with Social Security. If the deceased has a remaining spouse, he/she will receive (upon notificiation to the S.S. office), a check for $250.00. Not only does the deceased receive no more money, the money he received in the month in which he died will be withdrawn from the checking/savings/money market account within 60 days....usually much sooner .
There are no "partial payments." If you die on the 31st of the month, then the entire month is considered the month of death......same thing happens if you die on the first of the month. Since Medicare is billed about one month in advance, and the S.S. benefits are paid one month in arrears, usually on the fourth Wednesday of every month, it shouldn't be a problem.
The Administration will calculate the new benefit due to the remaining spouse, based on the greater amount of the two recipients. Again, a check will be forthcoming on or about the fourth Wednesday of every month, to the remaining spouse, for that month. That's why I said that it is paid about one month in arrears. Example: The entire month of March benefit will arrive on March 28, 2012. if the spouse dies, there's no more money.
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N1 - what I said was that often it is the funeral home director that contacts SSA to notify them of the death. They (funeral homes) routinely do this all the time. Most of the time the family is usually too bereaved and preoccupied with the trauma or drama of the death or traveling in for the funeral that contacting SSA is the last thing that one thinks about doing.

If there is not a pre-need done, the funeral home often suggests that the SSA death benefit of $ 250 be used towards funeral/burial expenses. That's about 1/4 of a cremation cost, so a lot of family do this.
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FUNERAL HOMES HAVE NOTHING TO DO with SS. When your dad passes, cal SS immediately. My experience with my mom was this" She died on the 15th, we did NOT have to pay back any of the month. SS pays in the rears, like if he got paid on the 3rd, it was for the prior month. yes the spouse gets $250, but YOU, or the spouse have to call SS. this was my experience in AZ with my mom. HOpe it clears up a few things. The funeral home doesnt "take out anything from" the $250, that is a benefit, not to be messed with by them.
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Igloo: I respect your opinion tremendously, however I would not let any funeral home touch S.S. funds....no matter what they say. Take the $250.00, and pay the funeral home directly yourself. You have plenty of time to call Social Security...bereavement considered. There's no timeline that I know of. (within reason). Same thing with Life Insurance. I have directed my beneficiaries to take the money. Don't let the insurance company talk you into an Annuity (they love that). Take the money... the whole thing. Put it in to your own Savings, Money Market, Checking or if allowable, your IRA. Insurance companies love to keep the payout and tell you that you'll get a better return if you leave the money with them. Perhaps so, but take the money; it's yours.....buy a house, go globetrotting, buy a business, anything you want. Peace be with you.
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roibnkp, I think the funeral home role may vary -- though based on what, I don't know. My experience with my sister -- for whom I was conservator of person and estate -- was that the funeral home notified all legal parties of her death, and deducted the benefit check from the cost of the bill, in exchange for us filing the paper work to allow that. So, you are both right. The original questioner will need to ask the funeral home how they handle this.
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JaneB, I am only going on how things went in AZ with my mom. The funeral home had nothing to do with SS. They only notified the state etc of her death. I am in WA now and set up my dads last things with a funeral home, and they told me we would have to deal with SS. We did pay in full his arrangements, so that was done. So maybe it is different in each state....not sure. But thanks for your input... R
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Here in Florida - when my mom died (widow) the funeral home called the social security office to notify them. They told us they would make notifications as well as get the certified death certificates. She had direct deposit into her savings account and when I went to the bank (about a week after her death) to notify them to take her name off the account - it was a joint account with her name and mine - it was already in their records (from the State and/or SSA) that she had died. Word gets around fast, believe me.
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Here in NY some funeral homes will do a lot of leg work for you-it is best not to pay the expenses right away-then they are more willing to do more for you-which I found out the hard way-I was only given a paper with the phone numbers of SS and such and most of the numbers were wrong-while a friend had all the calls done for her by the funeral home.
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For Social Security recipients whose checks arrive on or about the third of every month, do I understand that that money is for the previous month or the current month? This situation does not apply to those receiving checks or deposits on the fourth Wednesday of every month.
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Not to worry as soon as they know of the death they will stop payment or take back payment if it is direct deposit
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Check the social security website - at the top type in "lump sum death benefit". It will tell you who qualifies to receive this death benefit and specifically states that the $255 check can NOT be paid to a funeral home or a person's estate. The Social Security Administration will ONLY pay to a QUALIFYING survivor - a funeral home is not a survivor nor is an estate.
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Right on, Austin. Also, Elaine is correct....the pay out is $255.00 now for a qualifying spousal survivor.
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Thank you all for your help and insight.
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Is it possible to have my death benefit from social security left to my funeral home to pay for opening and closing of my grave...My preneed is paid in full and my headstone is set and I DONT want the $$ to go to any of my underserving children
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I do not know the answer to that-the funeral home should be able to give you the answer-if you call social security you may not get the correct answer but funeral homes should know the rules.
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The funeral home usually will have already drawn up (and totally legal for your state) documents that allow for the deceased assets - whether it's the SS death benefit or insurance policy - to be transferred from the estate to the funeral home in order to pay for the costs of the funeral &/or burial. The qualifying survivor signs off for the checks from SSA or insurance co in their name to be sent to the funeral home address. Then once it comes in to the FH you either go in to sign the back or do another document allowing that. I think this depends on the state as to how it get's done.

If there wasn't a preneed done, then the family has to figure out how to pay the often hefty costs of a funeral/burial, transferring the $ from insurance or SS death benefit can come in handy as a way to do this. Cost wise this is probably the most expensive way as the family is under duress in making choices or infighting on who pays for what. Even with a preneed done, there will still be some costs. For some, signing over SSA $255 is just an easy way to deal with last minute costs.

Tammy - contact the FH who did the preneed to see what they can set up.
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Do not be afraid to shop around I used a FH our families had used for years and spent thousands more than I should have and they did none of the leg work other FH's normally do for the spouse.
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Funeral Homes are not the business of distribution of Social Security funds. Pay the funeral home directly , and keep the money that the S. S. sends to the surviving spouse separate.
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My father just passed away earlier this month and was on SS disabilty retirement at the age of 62 and he died at the age 64. My father has been married three times but none has lasted more then five years. He worked in the local plants for his whole 40 plus years and paid into social security. Is their anyone other then the federal government intitled to the amount in which he paid in? Since he was never married more then ten years and did not have any children disabled?
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The government ( S. S. ) never asks for a Marriage Certificate, only a birth certificate and a death certificate. Take it from there.
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Nolen - Sorry for the loss of your dad. It must be a difficult time for you.
Any heir or family can qualify for the one time "death benefit" of $ 255.

There are 2 types of SSA benefits, retirement (usually called SS) and disability
(which is called SSI or SSDI). Retirement survivor benefits go to a qualifying spouse or even a former spouse; a child under 18 (this age can be raised to 19 - 22 if full time college or if child certified disabled). SSA has a set formula on how spouse's and children's are done and qualify for. Disability benefits usually do not transfer to surviving family. Did you dad get both?

Your dad paid into the SSA and got benefits from SSA by receiving disability. The money that workers pay into SSA are in a central trust and used for claims. Some pay into never get a disability payment.Others never leave a survivor benefit either because they die before retirement age, or never work the credits needed to get SS or had no qualifying survivors. While others do and receive lots more benefit then they ever paid into the system. It's like insurance - say you pay a 1K premium for the year and if nothing happens you don't get that $ back but if there is a hail storm, you get 5K to fix the hail damage. The insurance company uses the $ paid by others to offset the cost of your claim. Kinda the same basic theory for how SSA is set up. It's all based on probabilities.

I have two friends who's husband's died - both are 2nd wives - one 68 and gets 100% of his SS retirement, the other 52 only gets 70%. For one, the first wife is also getting his SS too as #1 never remarried and they were married 15 years so qualifies. My mom gets a SS retirement benefit based on my dad's work - my mom is mid 90's in a NH and has been collecting on my dad's SS for like 30 years. For my mom, SSA has likely paid out lots more than my dad ever paid into it as he retired and died in the 1970's but most people don't qualify for 30 years! My uncle never married & worked 40 yrs but left no qualifying survivor to get his SS. We joke that he kinda balanced what my mom has been getting all these years.
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Here in California, my mom died like 2 yrs ago and the FH made the notifications so quickly that her bank acct became frozen within days. My brother who had authorization to sign checks and to withdraw funds found out that if he had indeed written a check for her last expenses would have indeed had the check retruned to hime for INSF. SSA check and VA check was returned in less than 7 days. The whole acct was closed and life insurance the bank carried on the acct pd in less than 30 days from the date of death. So, the FH notifications worked quickly. I am thankful for all of the help given by our local FH. Sorry to for your loss.
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Good funeral home will help-that should be a consideration when choosing the one to use if you have time interview them and do not be afraid asking them what they will do for you-I made the mistake of using the one my family had always uses and also paying they right away and they only gave me a list of phone numbers-most of which were wrong a friend got much help with SS and others -they did all the work for her but her husband was sick for a long time and mine died unexpectedly after a few days so she had the time and I think her husband arranged things for her before he died.
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SS is paid in arreard. My sister died mid-January. FH in MA did get Death Ceter. but SS was not notified, unlike my Mom and dad in NY state. Her check for Jan stayed in her account, but because of the delay in notification the Feb. check for Feb. had been paid and then withdrawn by SS. The $250. benifit is only available to the first spouse, nothing after that. Mom's benifit will go up as Dads will no longer be available. My Mom received the amount Dad had received, her amount was no longer available. Hope that helps. I was surprised when I had to notify SS myself, since it had not been the case with my parents. Different FH and different state. Hope this helps, if not I believe the 800# above is the correct #.
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I'm amazed at the long involved answers to this simple question. The S. S. check goes away! When one dies, and I am assuming that you mean the monthly S.S. check, not the one-time payout ( $255.00), the Social Security Administration stops paying that S.S. number. The number is " retired" into the archives. Boom.
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as a social security receipient can I select who gets my payments when I die
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stay on same topic
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Leonard: There ain't no S.S. payments after you die. Nobody gets anything.
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I was wondering since my father took care of me and my boys,i was wondering if i get his ssi checks because i was tooking care of bye my fathers ssi and his retirement.my income was coming from my father that passed away on me,and we lost my mother in 03.what happens sinces my father took care of me do i get his ssi checks bc im not able to work?
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