What happens to Social Security benefits when spouse dies on payment date? Both get SS on 1st

sorry for your loss. when my husband died we got his last check but had to notify SSA right away. don't spend it cause they will want it back if he wasnt alive the whole month.

I'm sorry about your father-in-law. Here's how this works with Social Security: SSA benefits are paid in arrears, meaning the payment on the 1st is actually for the previous month. Since your father-in-law was alive for the entire previous month, that payment is legitimate and your mother-in-law can keep it. However, you need to report his death to SSA as soon as possible (ideally within 1-2 days). The funeral home often handles this, but you should confirm. Your mother-in-law will eventually be eligible for survivor benefits, which would be 100% of your father-in-law's benefit amount if she's at full retirement age or older. This would replace her smaller benefit. Contact SSA to start this process after notifying them of his passing.

The same EXACT thing happened to me last year!!! My husband died on the 28th, right before our SS checks came. SSA is a NIGHTMARE to deal with when someone dies!!!! I had to wait ON HOLD for 3.5 HOURS trying to report his death. Then they told me I needed to come to the office with his death certificate but the earliest appointment was SIX WEEKS away!!!! Meanwhile they deposited his check and then REMOVED IT from our account without warning me!!!!! I nearly bounced checks because of this!!! Your mother-in-law needs to be prepared for this awful process.

You should let his bank know too... when my mom died the bank froze her account even tho dad was on it too. Just a mess. Social security is slow.

To clarify some important points about Social Security survivor benefits in this situation: 1. Your mother-in-law needs to report the death promptly to SSA. While the funeral home often does this, it's important to follow up. 2. The payment coming on the 1st is for September (the previous month), so it's legitimately owed since he was alive the entire month. 3. She cannot receive both her own benefit and survivor benefits - she'll get the higher of the two amounts, which in this case would be the survivor benefit based on his record (100% of his benefit if she's at full retirement age). 4. She should apply for the lump sum death payment of $255. 5. For the survivor benefit application, she'll need his death certificate, their marriage certificate, both Social Security numbers, and banking information. The survivor benefit application cannot be done online - it must be done by phone or in person.

When my wife died last year I tried calling SSA directly and gave up after being on hold for HOURS. I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real SSA agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Totally worth it for me since I needed to talk to someone at SSA quickly about my wife's death and the survivor benefits process. The hold times with SSA are just impossible otherwise.

One additional important point: If they both received their payments via direct deposit to a joint account, your mother-in-law should leave his final payment in the account for now. SSA may reclaim it electronically depending on their death reporting timeline. If they determine it was properly due (which it sounds like it is since it's for September), they won't take it back. For the survivor benefits, she should apply as soon as possible after reporting his death, as these benefits are not always retroactive. There's typically a one-time processing delay as they switch her over to survivor benefits, so she should be prepared for that financially.

my cousin waited 2 months to report her husbands death and ssa made her pay back 2 months of his checks! be careful

Make sure she doesn't spend any of his money from SS after he died. My sister got in big trouble for this, they call it benefit fraud even if you don't mean to do it.