The rules for what happens to the benefit due for the month a person dies are a surprise to many.
Unlike many regular payments you make that would be due a prorated refund if you stop service in the middle of a month, a person’s last Social Security benefit is an all-or-nothing proposition. To the surprise of surviving family members, this may mean that money disappears from a loved one’s bank account in the first few weeks after their death, or never shows up when expected.
Carroll, who runs an active Facebook group on Social Security issues, says there’s often a lot of consternation about this when people realize the rule. “Usually it’s about how unfair it is. Somebody will say, ‘My husband lived for 30 days in a month that was 31 days. That was our money,” he says. Why does the system work this way? There have been legislative proposals throughout the years to change the rules to pay for the month of death, or to at least prorate payments to the date of death. But none have progressed to be law, mostly because estimates, like one from the Social Security Administration, put the cost of paying the full month of death at $1.6 billion per year. Paying just until the date of death would add $800 million per year.
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