Does it matter which Social Security office I mail Form SSA-1724 to when equidistant from 3 locations?

It doesn't actually matter which office you mail the SSA-1724 to. All Social Security offices follow the same procedures for processing forms, and they'll route it to the appropriate place. What matters more is making sure you include all required documentation with your submission. Since you're dealing with survivor benefits following your father's passing, make sure you include a certified copy of the death certificate and your own identification documents. Also keep copies of everything you send and consider using certified mail with tracking.

I had the WORST experience sending important paperwork to my local office!! They LOST my forms TWICE and I had to resubmit everything. Almost delayed my disability payments by 3 months! If I were you, I'd physically drive to whichever office has the best reviews online. Check Google reviews - some offices are HORRIBLE while others actually have competent staff. It's worth the extra drive to avoid months of delays!!!

While it technically doesn't matter which office receives your SSA-1724, here are some practical considerations: 1. If one of those offices handled your father's benefits before, sending it there might be slightly more efficient 2. You can look up estimated processing times for each office on the SSA website under 'office locator' 3. Some offices are known to be more efficient than others depending on staffing For survivor benefits, you might have a 6-8 week processing time regardless of which office you use. Make sure to include the death certificate and all supporting documentation. You could also fax the documents if the office accepts faxes, which can be faster than mail in some cases.

you need to mail it to the office that handled your dads case. my mom passed last year and they told me it has to go to the office where the person was registered. otherwise it gets forwarded anyway and takes longer.

I had to deal with this exact situation last year but with form SSA-721 for my aunt's survivor benefits. I tried calling the Social Security hotline for THREE DAYS and couldn't get through to anyone. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in under 10 minutes! The agent told me I could mail the form to any office, but recommended sending it certified mail with tracking. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - totally worth it when you need to speak to a real person at SSA.

my friend said it doesnt matter but make sure you call and follow up in 2 weeks to make sure they got it. lots of mail gets lost these days

To answer your follow-up questions: 1. You need a certified copy of the death certificate, not the original (never send originals of important documents) 2. You should call the local office directly rather than the main SSA line for follow-up 3. Each field office has its own direct phone number which you can find on the SSA Office Locator tool Also, when sending the SSA-1724 for survivor benefits, remember that there's a time limit for filing - generally within 2 years of death, though there are exceptions. Since you mentioned it's been 2 months, you're well within the timeframe, but don't delay much longer.

One more thing! Make sure you CALL AHEAD to confirm the mailing address for the SS office. The address listed online might be OUTDATED! I had forms returned to me because I used the address from Google Maps and apparently they'd moved to a new building 6 months earlier! Such a mess!