Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
Any check received after a person dies must be returned to the SSA, regardless of which month it was payment for. A deceased person cannot legally receive or cash a check, so it must be returned. The heirs may have a claim for additional money from SSA, but it cannot come from money sent to a deceased person's bank account. That is the law.
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"Say your spouse received her benefits on May 9 and died on May 30. Her family or her estate is entitled to keep the payment that arrived on May 9 because it was for April’s benefits. In fact, they would be entitled to keep that money even if she had died the day before it arrived — again, because that payment was for April’s benefits.
But her survivors are not entitled to keep the May benefit scheduled to arrive in June, even though she was alive for all but one day of May. She was not alive for the entire month, and for benefit purposes that is the determining factor. If that May payment is made because Social Security was not notified promptly of the beneficiary’s death, it will have to be returned."