Social Security won't return my deceased husband's last check - Form 1724 nightmare for 10+ months

There's a lot of confusion about this. As a surviving spouse, you're entitled to a one-time death benefit of $255, but not the last month's check if he passed before the last day of the month. SSA's policy is to reclaim the payment for the month of death, regardless of when in the month the person died. That said, Form 1724 is actually for underpayments, not the death benefit. For the $255 death benefit, you should have filed Form SSA-8 instead. Did anyone at SSA explain this to you?

They absolutely DO take back the entire month's payment regardless of when the person died. If someone passes on the 1st or the 30th, SSA still takes back the entire month's benefit. It's one of those awful policies that feels completely unfair but is how the system works. My father passed on the 29th day of the month and they still took back his whole payment.

I just double-checked my bank records. His last deposit was made on November 3rd (he died Oct 28), and they pulled it back on November 5th. So they took back his October payment that arrived a few days after his death. Does that change anything about my situation?

OMG the EXACT same thing happened to me!!!! My wife passed and they yanked back her last check even though i was told i could keep it! The 1724 form is such a JOKE - i submitted 3 times and nothing happened. SSA is completely BROKEN!!! They dont care about us at all!!

This might be a dumb question but have you tried visiting your local SSA office in person again? Sometimes that's the only way to get anything done with them. Bring all your documentation, including bank statements showing the deposit and withdrawal, death certificate, marriage certificate, and copies of the Form 1724 you submitted.

I had a similar issue trying to reach someone at SSA about my widow's benefits last year. After weeks of failed attempts, I found a service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual SSA agent in under 2 hours (instead of days of trying). It really saved me so much stress. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU if you want to see how it works. Their website is claimyr.com - might be worth checking out since you need to actually talk to someone who can look into your specific case.

teh congressmans office should help!! mine was AMAZING when i had problems with SS. call them again maybe? sumtimes they need a reminder or maybe they lost ur info. they have special ppl who only deal with SS problems

I'd recommend three specific actions: 1. File a formal appeal using Form SSA-561-U2 (Request for Reconsideration). This creates a different tracking process in their system. 2. Request a copy of your deceased husband's benefit payment history through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. This documentation shows exactly what payments were made and reclaimed. 3. When you speak with SSA again, specifically ask for a "Technical Expert" who specializes in survivor benefits and underpayments. Regular claims representatives often don't have the specialized knowledge for these situations. Persistence is unfortunately necessary with SSA, especially for widows and widowers dealing with end-of-life benefit issues.

For the FOIA request, you can submit it through SSA's website, but I recommend bringing a written request to the office that specifically states you're requesting "a complete benefit payment history for [husband's name and SSN] for the period of [relevant months]". Note that you're the surviving spouse and include your relationship and contact information. Keep a copy and ask for a receipt or confirmation that they received it. Also important: when you speak with the Technical Expert, make sure they understand that the issue is specifically about a payment for a month when your husband was alive for the entire month, which was erroneously reclaimed after his death. This is different from the standard "month of death" payment situation.