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My dad passed away Dec. 1. His Social Security payment posted to his account on Dec. 3, like usual. My understanding is that these payments are for the prior month. On Dec. 11, Social Security took the payment back. If the payment was for November, why would they take it back? He was alive for all of November. Is my understanding wrong?

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Yes, my mom died Nov 2 in 2021 and they told me the payment sent was to go to her estate, as it was payment for October.
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Reply to ArtistDaughter
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Call Social Security and tell them Dad is entitled to that Dec 3 payment because it is for November and he died in Dec. Just like working, your are paid aftervyou do the job. This happens alot.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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"...no benefits are payable for the month of death, regardless of when within that month death occurs." www.ssa.gov
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Reply to Geaton777
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Rosered6 Dec 12, 2025
Yes, so no benefits are payable for the month of December. But benefits for the month of December would not be paid until January 2026.
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I interpret the Social Security rules differently than Riverdale. Here is an excerpt from USA.gov: "The SSA cannot pay benefits for the month of a recipient’s death. That means if the person died in July, the check or direct deposit received in August (which is payment for July) must be returned." And this is from the relevant Code of Federal Regulations section: "Payments are terminated effective with the month after the month of death." I interpret these to mean that the direct deposit received in December (which is payment for November) belongs to the estate of the deceased person because the month of the recipient's death is DECEMBER, and the SSA should not have clawed back the payment. Do a search online for the following: Form SSA-1724-F4, "Claim For Amounts Due In The Case Of Deceased Beneficiary,"
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Patrice2 Dec 13, 2025
Thank you rosered. This is how I understood it. I will give it some time to see if SS figures it out and sends it back again. If not I will file that form.
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Yes. He would have to have died November 30th in order to be eligible for the November payment. Sorry for your loss.
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