It is undeniably a devastating happening when any family loses its breadwinner. Life is uncertain and many sad incidents take place including death, which brings a great amount of suffering and pain both emotionally and financially. This is the main reason why the Federal Government has given a chance to the family members to get benefits and support them financially. Yes, true! Social Security is the popular program in the US, controlled by the Social Security Administration, which provides survivor benefits to the troubled families but with some terms and conditions.
A deceased person’s family
can only take the support of these benefits if he or she was working and paying
for Social Security. Of course, there may be some other conditions, where
survivor benefits are given. Through the years, Social Security has been the
major source of income for those surviving children, spouses, and parents of
the employees who have died and fulfilled all the criteria designed by the
federal agency.
Who are
eligible?
The survivor’s benefits from Social Security are paid to widowers,
widows, and dependents of those workers who were involved in the Social Security
payments. The primary motive of this benefit is to help young families with
kids. If you are going to claim for survivor’s benefits from SS if your spouse
dies, then you need to realize its basics at the first step. After going
through its basics, you will know what to expect. Let’s discuss some basic
concepts of the survivor’s benefits:
Family
members may get survivor’s benefits if an employee dies
If an individual is working and making investments in Social
Security, then he/she becomes qualified for Social Security. Some of the taxes
are paid by them are for survivor benefits. His/her parents, children, and
spouse could be entitled to benefits, which are based on their earnings.
A person
may get survivors benefits when his/her family member dies
If his/her family member dies, then he/she is entitled to
get these benefits. Even, other family members are also eligible to get such SS
benefits depending on the employee’s earnings who died. The condition here is
that the deceased individual must have been in employment for longer, only he
or she can become qualified for benefits.
How a surviving a spouse can get survivor benefits?
Yes, but there are several conditions to be met and if you
meet them, then you are going to avail complete benefits of survivors when it
comes to Social Security. These are:
- You were in the marriage for at least 9 months immediately before the death of your spouse
- You should be 60 or older, 50 or older and disabled, caring for a 16-year child or getting SS disability benefits according to the earnings record of your spouse
- Your partner was ‘fully insured’ following the Social Security. It means that he/she had been in employment and invested in this system for a long time
- You have not married again before age sixty or disabled with 50 years in age
- You must be getting less Social Security benefits every month than your partner received. In case, if your own SS benefit is more than the survivor benefit you will be eligible to get, you are going to apply for survivor SS benefits, you will delay retiring on your own salary record.
Another important criterion is that a surviving divorced a spouse may also be entitled to these benefits if he or she was in the marriage
to the qualified deceased individual for at least 10 years.
Can your child get
survivor benefits?
The foremost condition your child should meet is that he or
she must not be married and one of these:
- Should not be more than 18 years
- Should have an age of 18 to 19 years with a full-time study but no greater than grade 12
- Should be 18 years old or more with a disability, which must have begun before the age of 22
In any case, if you have a stepchild, then conditions may
differ. For that, you need to contact SSA.
Can you get a lump-sum
death benefit?
Before you know the eligibility of the lump-sum death
benefit, you should understand what it is. A lump-sum benefit is a one-time
payment to a surviving partner. This payment is also eligible for a minor child
in case if there is no partner, but a minor child needs to meet certain other
conditions. If no child or spouse fulfills the requirements, this payment is
not given.
Now, if you are a surviving spouse, you are eligible to get
this lump-sum benefit, only if:
- Before your spouse’s death, you were married for at least 9 months immediately.
- You were staying together in the same house when your partner died. Nursing homes and hospital stays may have different exceptions.
- Your deceased partner was ‘fully insured’ as per SS. It states that your partner had worked and compensated for the system for a long time.
- You apply for a one-time payment or lumps-um benefit within 2 years of your partner’s death
Can your child get a lump-sum
benefit?
Your child will be able to get lump-sum benefit only if
there is no qualifying surviving partner and he/she must be availing benefits
on the dead parent’s earnings record in the month his/her parent died.
You must remember one thing that a surviving partner and
child both cannot avail a lump-sum death payment.
Documents required
When you want to apply for your survivor’s benefits, at that
time, you need to submit some documents. The type of survivor’s benefits you
are going to avail impacts the documents needed to submit. These are:
- Widowers/widows or surviving divorced spouse’s benefits
- Lump-sum death payment
- Child’s benefits
- Parent’s benefits
In all these cases, documents may be different, this is why
you need to clear it out first. The chances may be, in which you do not have
all the required documents, it does not mean that you need to delay it, don’t
do it. A local SS office can get your information online by contacting the
state Bureau of Vital Statistics.
