Quote:
Originally Posted by Becca9800
"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."
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The survivors may be entitled to the April benefits, but they cannot remove money from the deceased's account. The money is returned to SSA, and the heirs can apply for the April benefit. It doesn't matter when the death was reported to the SSA, the April benefit is available to the heirs, but there is no benefit available for May. Note that, if the deceased received the money on June 9 and spent it or gave it to someone before death, the money would not need to be returned. But, no one can remove money from the account of a deceased person. Again, there is no SSA benefit for the month in which someone dies. It is not prorated.