When do my child-in-care benefits end when daughter turns 16? Social Security payment confusion

You're right to be checking this ahead of time! The child-in-care benefit will end the month BEFORE your son turns 16. Since his birthday is in December, your November payment should be your last one. As for your son's benefit, it should automatically adjust to 50% of his father's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount), but this sometimes takes a payment cycle to update in the system. Regarding the bank account - yes, once a child turns 16, SSA prefers they have their own account, but it's not automatically required unless you're the representative payee and SSA determines separate accounts are needed. If you want to be proactive, you can contact SSA directly to update the payment information before his birthday.

this happened with my kid 2 yrs ago, don't panic! the system shows upcoming payments but they adjust them before they actually go out. ssA computers are from the stone age lol

The child-in-care benefit technically ends when the child turns 16, but SSA calculates this as the month before the child's 16th birthday. So your final payment should be for November. As for what you're seeing in the system - SSA's benefit systems often schedule payments in advance and then adjust them later. What's likely happening is that the December payment for you is still showing as scheduled, but will be removed from the system before the actual payment date. Regarding your son's benefit amount - yes, it should adjust to 50% of the worker's PIA (not necessarily 50% of what your ex-husband actually receives - those can be different if he took early retirement). This adjustment should happen automatically. For the bank account question, SSA strongly recommends children 16 and older have their own accounts, but it's not automatically required in all cases. If you're serving as a representative payee, you should contact your local office to discuss the transition.

OMG the same thing happened to me!!! I freaked out when I saw payments scheduled that shouldn't be there. Don't waste your time calling - I spent THREE DAYS trying to get through to someone at SSA and kept getting disconnected. The system eventually fixed itself right before payment day. Trust me, SSA knows what they're doing (mostly lol).

I recommend calling the SSA to confirm everything. Your understanding is correct - child-in-care benefits end when the child turns 16, which means November should be your last month of benefits. The child's benefit should automatically adjust, but it's not unusual for there to be a delay in the system updating. One important clarification: Your child's benefit will be 50% of your ex-husband's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is the benefit he would receive at full retirement age. Since your ex took early retirement, he's receiving a reduced benefit. Your child's benefit is based on the PIA, not the reduced amount. Regarding the bank account, SSA guidelines state that beneficiaries 16 and older should have their own accounts, but the implementation can vary. It's best to contact SSA directly to ensure a smooth transition.

The same thing happened when my kid turned 16 last year. The payments scheduled in MySSA were wrong for like 2 weeks, then magically fixed themselves before the actual payment date. SSA's computer systems are notoriously outdated. I wouldn't worry too much unless you actually receive an incorrect payment.

wait did u say ur ex gets $4500?? that seems WAY high for SS benefits. r u sure that's right? max benefit for 2023 is like $3600 or something

After reading through this thread, I think we've clarified the main points, but let me summarize to make sure: 1. Your child-in-care benefits will end in November (the month before your son turns 16) 2. What you're seeing in the MySSA portal about December payments is likely just the system not being updated yet 3. Your son's benefit will be based on 50% of your ex-husband's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount), not 50% of his actual reduced benefit 4. While it's recommended for 16-year-olds to have their own bank accounts for benefits, you should contact SSA to confirm how this transition should happen in your specific case The most important thing is not to worry about what you're seeing in the portal right now - those scheduled payments often adjust automatically before the actual payment date. If you're still concerned, contact SSA directly to verify everything is set up correctly for the transition.

If you do need to contact SSA about this, be prepared for a long wait. When my daughter turned 16 last year, I had to call them because her benefit amount didn't adjust properly. I spent over 4 hours on hold across multiple days before I finally got through! If you have a complicated situation like this, you really need to speak with a live person who can see all the details in your file.

@profile3 is right about those wait times! I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) when I had a similar issue with my son's benefits. They got me through to SSA in like 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours. There's a demo video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. It was totally worth it to avoid the frustration of being on hold all day.

does anyone know if the kid's benefit amount changes right away or is there a delay? my son turns 16 next month too and i'm trying to budget

I notice some confusion in this thread about PIA vs. actual benefit amount. To clarify: When someone takes early retirement (before their Full Retirement Age), they receive a reduced benefit. However, children's benefits and spouse's benefits are calculated based on the PIA (what the worker would get at Full Retirement Age), not on the reduced amount the retired worker actually receives. This is why a child might receive more than 50% of what the retired parent actually gets, especially if that parent took benefits early. It's one of the more complex aspects of Social Security that confuses many people!

i just realized something - you said your kid is turning 16, but does he have any disabilities? my nephew is disabled and he was able to keep getting benefits after 18, and my sister (his mom) kept her benefits too because she still takes care of him full time