Unexpected large Social Security survivor benefits deposit after ex-husband's death - what is this?

Congratulations! That's likely your retroactive benefits (backpay). When you apply for survivor benefits, SSA will pay you for months you were eligible before you applied - usually up to 6 months worth. Since your ex passed in 2023 and you just applied recently, you're probably getting several months of payments at once. Don't worry, it's yours to keep as long as you were truthful on your application.

my aunt got somthing like this last year after her ex died. they gave her like 5 months of payments all at once. she was freaking out too lol

CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY!!! The SSA makes mistakes ALL THE TIME and if they overpaid you, they WILL demand it back, sometimes YEARS later!!! I had a friend who spent backpay and then SSA came after her for $13,000 two years later saying she wasn't eligible!! Don't touch that money until you confirm!!

I got the same thing when I applied for benefits after my sister died. She helped raise my kids and I qualified for something called "mother's benefits" and they gave me like 4 months all at once. It's normal.

If you're trying to reach SSA to confirm what the payment is for, good luck getting through their phone lines. I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) last month when I had a similar situation with unexpected SSDI backpay. They got me through to a real person at SSA in about 15 minutes instead of struggling with busy signals all day. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - totally worth it for the peace of mind of talking to someone official who could explain my payment.

This is standard procedure. SSA provides retroactive survivor benefits up to 6 months prior to your application date, regardless of when the death occurred (as long as you were eligible during that period). Since you mentioned your ex passed in 2023 and you just applied recently, you're likely receiving several months of benefits at once. A few important notes: 1. If you had no income during that period, you would qualify for the maximum 6 months of backpay 2. Survivor benefits can be taxable depending on your other income 3. The backpay is separate from any future monthly payments 4. The online MySocialSecurity account will show a breakdown of the payment This is not an error as long as you met the marriage duration requirement (10+ years of marriage before divorce) and haven't remarried before age 60.

so what are you going to do with the money??? i'd be on vacation somewhere warm lol

one thing nobody mentioned is that back in my day you couldn't get benefits from an ex... the rules keep changing so make sure your actually entitled to it