Banking Problem with Social Security
 

A friend of mine lost his wife December 8th.
On the 3rd. week in December, (her social security payment date) it wasn't posted in her check book
so he thought it was because she passed in December.

I said not true, she should have received her November S/S payment in December regardless.
He check w/S/S office and found out I was right.
All S/S payments are paid from the previous month.

His bank took the privilege of stopping that December payment.
What a crock. :cus:

S/S had to send a form to his bank for the November back payment.

Now people in tv land I need to ask:
"How many people don't understand and lost out of billions of $$$$ on their spouse's
S/S check thinking no payment is paid on the month of passing??"

Why did your friend tell the bank of his wifes pssing.

Now i ask…how many people in tv land hve collected ss from a deceaased spouse before they remembered to tell the ssa the spouse died?

Their playing with a financial fire with fines and back payments.

The death certificate will have the time and date of the passing.
Social Security watches that like a hawk.

Funeral homes are generally responsible for notifying the SSA. In general, they will want the SSN of the deceased.

What bank?

If she died in Nov she is not entitled to receive a check for November, which is the one sent in December.

Sounds like someone did exactly what they should do. She is not to receive a check for November. She did not get one. The absence of a deposit in December was correct. I don't know how the SSA knew she died but obviously they were informed and correctly stopped payments. It is extremely unlikely the bank had anything to do with it.

More likely as stated above that notification came from a funeral home using form SSA 721. At the same time the funeral home possibly did the paperwork for the burial benefit of $225.

Nothing was a crock here. Your accusation is unfounded based on misunderstanding the rules. The error is yours not the bank nor the social security administration.

edit: I am correctly corrected. The death was in December not November.

Doesn't matter, S/S office said ALL the banks do this. :sad:

Hmmmm, she died in December!

I don't think the bank did anything wrong. From the SSA.gov website:

"If a beneficiary dies
If the payment is by direct deposit, notify the financial institution as soon as possible so it can return any payments received after death. Family members may be eligible for Social Security survivors benefits when a person dies."

Also, any payments of any type received for a deceased person, must be cashed by the estate executor or by someone who is designated on the account as "transfer on death", in which case, the bank would require proof of death. It would be illegal for anyone else to remove money from an account of the deceased.

A bank needs to be notified of a person's passing to properly conform to the legal post death requirements of the account. in case of a revocable trust, the account now becomes irrevocable, etc, and most conform to the legal post death requirements of the type of account. If the account needs to go through probate, I believe the account is frozen until fully probed.

thinking that everyone here followed the proper protocol, which may not be interpreted as fair or proper, but then laws are not always interpreted as fair and proper. They are what they are.

When my husband died, the SS check that had been deposited in our joint account that same month was taken back without notice. After a phone call with SSA, I was told they cannot issue payment to someone who is deceased. However, I did receive the paltry $255 death benefit rather quickly, and then the payment they took back and the next two months’ payments three months later. Then I was set up with the survivor benefit that I have been receiving regularly ever since. Had nothing to do with the bank - funeral home notified Social Security and they swiftly take money back and take their time to get things corrected.

Funeral homes generally notify SS.

If married more than 9 months when spouse passes away, surviving spouse is entitled to a portion of their ss added onto their current amount. It will require an appointment with them to include a copy of marriage license showing date and spouses death certificate. If divorced but once married for 10 years or more, the same applies.

How many times a year does this happen?

Paltry $255 is beter than 0.

If the check that was paid and then returned was for the November payment, the heirs will still receive the money. It will just take a little longer to get it from SSA. The point is that SSA cannot send money to a deceased person. A deceased person cannot cash a check, but someone else could illegally seize the money.

Paltry $255?
 

Don't blame the SSA. Blame Congress, it hasn't been increased in decades.

Short story I was the Power of Attorney for my uncle who was in a retirement home in Fort Myers.
I would made all payment from his checking account but within 48 hours of his passing his account was closed.
I had more than enough money, so I could pay for his funeral.
But since I live in TV, I had to petition the courts in Fort Meyers to get reimbursed.
Which was a process.
This happened so quickly I never had the chance to inform the bank or social security.
The way it seemed, they knew he was gone before I did.

Actually there’s a computer death record match that occurs in time. I strongly recommend that spouses and families don’t do what you’ve said. I was a federal agent who prosecuted people for doing this.

The OP state DOD was December 8th.

SS paymnets
 

the funeral home notify the agency of the passing

A Power of Attorney ends as soon as someone dies. A person with POA cannot legally withdraw any money from the deceased's account.

Don't kid yourself - Social Security knows of a person's passing in LESS than 24 hours and THEY notify the bank. I've had 3 personal experiences with this fact!

I am aware of that what amazed me was the swiftness of the bank closing the account.

GREAT topic but differing opinions leaves me confused
 

Hey All, this is a great subject matter but I'm left confused by the responses. Core question... Does the SS check received in the month of my death need to be returned to the SSA? It is my understanding that the check I receive on the 4th Wed of the month is actually payment for the next month. So if I die in January, the January check received should be returned. Do I have that right? But if I die on or after Feb 1, that check received in Jan can legally become part of my estate. Is that correct?

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.

From AARP...
 

"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."

So if you die on November 30, you don’t get any SS money for November? Even though you have to pay food, utilities, and amenity fees for the entire month.

I would think it would be prorated.

As I understand it, it is not prorated. If you die on November 30, you don't get anything for November. It may not be fair, but that is the way it works.

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.