My husband passed away. I had a little boy with him, but when I went to sign up for benefits they told me he hadn't paid in enough for me or my son to receive benefits. Why is this possible?
By Amy D
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The SS office should have given you the answer to this question when you applied but maybe the answer was not thorough enough.
The basic answer is for anyone to be eligible to receive SS benefits they must have paid money into SS over a certain period of time and completed a minimum number of what the SS calls "quarters".
If the original person did not have enough "quarters" paid in then they could not have drawn benefits and neither can anyone else draw benefits from their account. Anyone can request information about their own eligibility from the SS office.
You can obtain a booklet explaining this from your SS office or call their office and request it. They will mail it to you or you can search for SS information on the Internet and either read it on line or print out a copy. "Quarters" is explained in this booklet also.
This question also points out the problem people have who are self-employed and do not complete IRS forms and pay their SS taxes every year. They may not be eligible for SS benefits later in life unless they also work where they do pay SS taxes.
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