In most cases, you have to be at least 60 years old to claim survivor benefits Somehow, the executor has come up with your name and thinks you might be a distant relative of the deceased How much of your deceased spouse's benefits you get depends on your age when you claim, just like regular social security benefits.
Dead woman and casket hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy
Social security can pay benefits to a deceased recipient's former spouse
Spouses of deceased social security beneficiaries may be able to collect survivor benefits for life, but remarrying can affect eligibility.
If your spouse had not yet reached full retirement age, social security bases the survivor benefit on the deceased’s primary insurance amount. If the deceased will be buried in a cemetery, you’ll want to find out how the cemetery is maintained Sometimes small country cemeteries rely on family members to maintain the grounds and graves Get a friend or relative who is a wordsmith to write an obituary.
Anyone who was married to a social security beneficiary can potentially receive survivor benefits on the death of that person That includes divorced former spouses as well as the deceased's husband or wife at the time of death. Social security will not combine a late spouse's benefit and your own and pay you both When you are eligible for two benefits, such as a survivor benefit and a retirement payment, social security doesn’t add them together but rather pays you the higher of the two amounts.
Find out if you have to return a social security payment deposited in the bank after a loved one dies.