my neighbor told me the $255 death benefit is only for spouses not children is that true???

I was able to report my mother's death to Social Security today. They confirmed they'll be reclaiming the October payment. The agent also helped me apply for the lump sum death benefit since I paid for her funeral expenses. They said I'll receive a decision in about 30 days. Thanks to everyone for your guidance - it made this process much less confusing!

A quick update on the process: once your children's benefits are approved, they'll each receive a separate award letter. You'll be designated as representative payee, which means you'll receive their funds and manage them on their behalf. The children's payments will be sent separately from your own benefit payment. Once a year, you'll need to complete a Representative Payee Report (Form SSA-623) accounting for how you spent their benefits, so keep good records showing you're using the money for their needs (food, housing, clothing, education, medical expenses, etc.).

dont listen to bad advice in this thread. u ABSOLUTELY need to apply for kids separately, they DONT do it automatically when u get approved!!!! I learned this the hard way and lost months of payments

Off topic but does anyone know if widow benefits increase every year with cost of living like regular retirement does? My aunt is thinking about applying soon.

I went through something similar last year when I needed to replace my furnace. I was so scared of messing up my benefits that I initially put it on credit cards instead of getting a proper loan! Big mistake - the interest was killing me. After talking with an SSA rep (finally got through after multiple attempts), I learned that loans don't count as income. I got a proper home improvement loan with much better terms and have had absolutely no issues with my widow benefits. One thing to watch out for though - if you withdraw money from retirement accounts for your bathroom, THAT could potentially affect benefits if you're under FRA. But a standard loan is completely fine.

Very important: For your mother's survivor benefits, make sure to emphasize to SSA that you're requesting the "RETIREMENT INSURANCE BENEFIT and WIDOW'S INSURANCE BENEFIT." For a widow at 82, she's entitled to either her own retirement benefit or a survivor benefit based on your father's record - whichever is HIGHER. Also, do NOT wait on that appointment letter if it's been more than a week. Call again and request an appointment date. With survivor benefits, every month you delay can potentially mean lost benefits.

When my mom passed, my dad had a similar issue. The SSA kept him on hold for hours. He eventually went directly to the local office and sat there all day, but got it resolved same-day. If you can physically go to the office with your mom, sometimes that's faster than phone calls.

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I checked my MySocialSecurity account and you were right - it was labeled as my September benefit payment. It's slightly less than my regular monthly amount because I started benefits mid-month. Mystery solved! I appreciate everyone taking the time to explain this.

make sure to save the extra $$ for taxes! they might not have taken out enough depending on ur withholding choices

Update from SSA website: "Your payment will go into your bank account on your payment date. Your bank may not credit the payment to your account until the next business day. You can choose to have your payments deposited directly into your account at a financial institution or to your Direct Express Debit MasterCard account." They specifically mention "financial institution" rather than just "bank," which confirms that investment firms like Vanguard should work as long as they have proper routing and account numbers for ACH transfers. But as others mentioned, you'll want to confirm with Vanguard that they can accept government ACH deposits.

Thank you all for the helpful information! I called Vanguard this morning and they confirmed I can definitely have my Social Security deposited directly to my brokerage account. They gave me the correct ACH routing number to use (which is different from their wire transfer number). They also mentioned that the money will initially go into the settlement fund (which is basically like a money market account) and then I can set up automatic investments from there if I want to. I'm going to start with just having it deposited there, and then after a few months if everything is working smoothly, I'll set up the automatic investments. Thanks again to everyone for your advice!

wait i dont get it…if ur already on SSDI does that mean ur already getting ur full amount? why would they reduce ANYTHING?? makes no sense….

One more important point - if your disability benefit is $1,100 and 50% of your ex's PIA is $1,200, then at FRA you would receive your $1,100 disability (which converts to retirement) PLUS an additional $100 as the excess spousal amount. So waiting until FRA in your case would mean an extra $100/month for life, plus any COLAs applied to that amount. Just something to keep in mind as you're making your decision.

When my husband died last year I was told I couldn't apply for widow benefits until 60 too! Then my daughter who works in elder law told me that's only for reduced benefits and I could get them earlier since we had a disabled child. Sounds like maybe you had a similar situation? The whole system is so confusing. I had to fight for my back pay but eventually got 4 months. They said they couldn't go back further because of some rule. The lady at my local office was super helpful though once I got an appointment. Better than trying to call!!

Just to add one more important consideration - taxes. Survivor benefits are potentially taxable depending on your other income. If your provisional income (adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + 1/2 of Social Security benefits) exceeds certain thresholds, up to 85% of your benefits may be taxable. With your strategy of claiming survivor benefits now and switching to your own at 70, consider how your income might change over time and whether it makes sense to have additional tax withholding from your benefit payments. Form W-4V allows you to request voluntary withholding from Social Security.

Is anyone else confused by how Social Security calculates EVERYTHING? I swear it's like they purposely make it complicated so we don't understand what we're entitled to. My sister and I both went on disability around the same time with similar work histories and her payment is almost $300 more than mine every month!!! When I asked SSA why they just gave me some mumbo jumbo about "computation years" and "indexed earnings" that made zero sense.

Regarding the part-time work your brother-in-law did while on disability - that $10,000 might actually make a difference. Disability benefits are calculated using a "freeze period" that excludes years of low/no earnings due to disability. When converting to retirement, sometimes additional earnings during the disability period can be included in the calculation. I recommend he create an account at my.ssa.gov (if he hasn't already) where he can view his earnings history and benefit verification. Then, about 3 months before reaching FRA, he should contact SSA specifically requesting a recalculation that includes those earnings during his disability period. He should be prepared with documentation of those earnings just in case.

This happened to me too! I think it's happening more frequently because of all the retirements at SSA offices. The younger staff aren't as experienced with the calculations. In my case, they said my benefit was $320 higher than it should have been for the first 4 months. I had to repay but they let me do it in small amounts ($50/month). DEFINITELY check their math though. I requested what's called a "PEBES" statement (something like that) which shows all the calculations and when I took it to my tax guy, he found they had left out 2 years of my earnings completely!

One more thing - when you call SSA about this, ask specifically if this is due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO) since you mentioned having a government pension. If they incorrectly applied these rules or applied them twice, that could explain the reduction. There are specific exemptions and reductions to these penalties based on years of substantial earnings under Social Security. Don't let them just say "it was calculated wrong" - demand specifics!