Will using boyfriend's last name on social media jeopardize my children's Social Security survivor benefits?

You're overthinking this. Social media names have no legal bearing whatsoever on your marital status. The SSA doesn't monitor Facebook or Instagram looking for name changes! The ONLY thing that would affect your children's survivor benefits would be if you legally remarried. Your children's benefits continue until they turn 18 (or 19 if still in high school) regardless of your living situation or what you call yourself online.

OK so I'm going to disagree with the previous comment a little bit. While technically yes, social media names aren't legal documents, the SSA CAN and DOES investigate benefit fraud. If they have reason to believe you might be married and not reporting it, they could open an investigation. Living with your boyfriend + using his last name could potentially raise flags. Is it worth the risk??? Just my 2 cents.

Let me clarify the rules here. For your children's survivor benefits, the only thing that matters is YOUR marital status. If you legally remarry, your children will still receive their benefits until age 18 (or 19 if still in high school) regardless. Your living arrangement with a boyfriend doesn't affect their benefits at all. For survivor benefits that YOU might receive as a widow (which you didn't mention if you get these), those WOULD terminate if you remarry before age 60. But again, cohabitation without marriage doesn't affect this, and certainly not social media names. The SSA doesn't monitor social media for this purpose. They're concerned with legal documentation of marriage, not what name you use on Facebook.

hey just wanted to add my experience - i changed my last name on facebook to my bf's last name 3 years ago (we're engaged but not married) and I still get my ss disability payments no problem. SSA doesnt care about facebook lol

My cousin thought the same thing when she moved in with her boyfriend after her husband died. She was terrified of losing benefits for her three kids. That was SEVEN years ago and guess what? No problems at all. The SSA only cares if you legally marry. That's it. Not about living together, not about social media names, not about what you call yourself informally. You're fine!

I've been trying to reach SSA for 3 weeks to ask a similar question about my survivor benefits. After getting disconnected FIVE times and spending hours on hold, I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got through to a real person in 20 minutes. They have this video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed that using a different name on social media has no impact on benefits. Only legal marriage matters for survivor benefits. It was worth it to get a definitive answer directly from SSA.

One thing nobody's mentioned - what about the boyfriend's family? My SIL changed her facebook name to her boyfriend's last name and his family started introducing her as his wife even though they weren't married! Created all kinds of drama and misunderstandings. Just something else to consider before you make the change...

To summarize what everyone has said: 1. Your children's survivor benefits continue until they turn 18 (or 19 if still in high school) regardless of YOUR marital status 2. SSA doesn't monitor social media platforms 3. Cohabitation without legal marriage has no effect on benefits 4. Only legal remarriage would affect any widow's benefits YOU might receive (not the children's) So go ahead and use whatever name you want on social media without worrying about it affecting benefits.

I understand your concern about protecting your children's benefits - that's such an important priority as a parent. Just wanted to add that if you're still feeling anxious about this, you could also consider using a hyphenated name on social media (like Curtis-[Boyfriend's Last Name]) as a compromise. That way you're showing your relationship status without fully adopting his name, though as everyone has said, either approach is fine from a benefits perspective. The key thing is that you're being thoughtful about your family's financial security, which shows you're a great mom!