Social Security Survivor Benefits?

A woman was married to my brother for two years and brought 3 children from a previous marriage. My brother has a son from his first marriage. My brother died, and his first wife filed for death benefits for my nephew. A few months after my brother passed, his second wife's first husband passed away. She filed for death benefits from her first husband for her children, as well as death benefits from my brother for her children. Social security granted this and reduced my nephew's benefits by $800/month. Can she do that?

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Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts

February 3, 20190 found this helpful

Every case is different. An appointment must be made to Social Security. Bring all relevant documentation.

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Jodi Murray H.

February 3, 20190 found this helpful

www.creators.com/.../your-social-security

If you can't go to a SS office, you might contact Tom Margenau.

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Pghgirl40
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February 3, 20191 found this helpful

This is quite complicated. You can ask the Social Security Administration general questions (see the link for their contact info) but they will not give you specifics since you are not one of the affected parties.

www.ssa.gov/.../

If your nephew's mom calls them, they can answer questions for her (hopefully they can and will) since she is the party directly involved.

I have a feeling that she may benefit from having her state senator's office helping her understand what is happening since this sounds like lot is going on here.

The way to find her state senator is to put her town and state names into Google with the words state senator. When I do this, mine comes right up.

These folks can be very helpful. Their services are free (tax dollars pay for it) and they have a notary (usually) onsite for free if you have to fill out papers.

I strongly suggest getting the state senator involved from the beginning of the discussion. They can offer legitimate legal aide services if needed to help if needed.

Prayers for all.

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cybergrannie
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February 4, 20190 found this helpful

Social Security is the only agency that can help with questions like this.
It is usually very difficult to get correct answers that one can fully understand over the telephone.

Only your nephew's guardian (his mother in this case) has the legal right to ask questions and get answers from the SSA. But she can take anyone with her when she has her appointment.
A personal visit is highly recommended so everyone can understand the SS reasons for these decisions.
These decisions do not have to be accepted and that is why Pghgirl recommended making an appointment with your senator.

Again, only his mother can seek help/assistance about your nephew and SS benefits but I would suggest she make an appointment with SS first so she can state exactly what they told her (maybe she has already been to the SSA office about this?).
What is the age of your nephew and what are his present living conditions? The senator may want to know this information also.
She will probably need his birth certificate as well as SS numbers of everyone involved and any legal papers she has pertaining to this situation. Especially any papers/letters she received from the SS agency.
Was the deceased paying court ordered support? Was support paid up-to-date when he died? Take any of this information with you when you see your/her senator.
I find some of the information supplied very confusing as dropping a benefit by $800 a month is quite a large step for SS to take although all 4 children would share the benefits and since no ages were stated it is possible the 2nd wife would also be receiving a benefit check if the children are still very young.

Another factor would be if the deceased adopted any of the children or if the mother was receiving court ordered child support for the 3 children.
As you can see, there are many factors to this case and many unanswered questions that will take someone (like the senator) to filter through and get answers and maybe changes. Her senator will get someone who is knowledgeable in this area to help her find answers.

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Robyn

February 4, 20190 found this helpful

Hi,

This does sound very complicated. I am sharing a general link on here about children.

www.ssa.gov/.../EN-05-10085.pdf

After having done what the others have suggested above, I would definitely get a lawyer involved. It is true that the only person that social security will work with is the mother. This is due to privacy laws.

I wish you the best!

Blessings,

Robyn

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